From Pastor to Poet: Rhyming the Entire Bible
A Poem and a Conversation with Kirk Jones, author of Good Soil
“Arrested and tried, tortured and whipped.
Our sins on His back, bloodied and ripped.
The King of the Jews, His body in shambles.
Was given a crown, fitted with brambles.
Stripped naked and bare, for the wrong that’d been done.
The Father lamenting, the death of His son.
Only His blood, would the arrangement suffice.
Man bit the apple, but God paid the price.
Nailed to a post, how fitting it’d be.
That sin’s birth and sin’s death, took place on a tree.
The Earth it did quake, as the curtain would tear.
The pierced Son of Man, man’s sin he would bear.
Three days in a tomb, Christ had been slain.
The innocent murdered, but it wasn’t in vain.
The reign of the Son, in the tomb had not vanished.
For while in the grave, He ransomed the banished.
He wrought life from death, shame turned to grace.
He swallowed sin’s poison, but escaped it’s embrace.”
— Excerpt from, Good Soil, by Kirk Jones. Get a copy of the full book here.
“A Pro Wrestler, a Dodgeball Champion, a Church Executive, and a Poet walk into a bar… all of them are Kirk Jones.” — Andrew Polfer
My husband Andrew and I have known Kirk for nearly twenty years and Andrew has served with him for about 12 of those. Turns out, he was a poet and we didn’t even know it!
I recently had the chance to pick up Kirk’s book, “Good Soil: A poetic approach to experiencing God’s narrative.”
It’s an abbreviated overview of the entire Bible — Genesis to Revelation — written in rhyme.
I can’t hype this book up enough. It’s hard to imagine the skill, cleverness, and mastery of the English language that is required for such an undertaking.
Good Soil. Go get it. Seriously.
Interview with the poet
We asked Kirk about creative writing, its place in the church, and how poetry and masculinity fit together. We also commissioned a new verse of rhyme from one of the craziest passages in the bible!
Make sure to read to the end for that gem.
Let’s dive in!
What inspired you to start writing poetry?
I started writing poems to my wife Jenni back when we were dating, writing simple rhymes about plans for a date night or clues for a scavenger hunt. But as the years went by, the poems got more elaborate; to the point that I started telling stories entirely in rhyme about our dating life. It’s easy to be creative when you’re in love and it’s easy to pen your thankfulness to the person that loves you back… I love my wife a lot, so she’s received a lot of poems over the years, ha!
It wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I was reading the Psalms and came across this passage:
“Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.” (Psalm 96: 1–3)
I thought about God’s marvelous deeds, His salvation plan, and the creation account. I thought about how intentional, strategic, and creative our God is. I thought about my love for God and His love for me, and I figured I probably needed to write Him a poem. So I did! It was okay… you don’t need to hear it. But it turned me on to this idea of writing a new song to the Lord. So, since I can’t carry a tune, I just started writing what I would call poetic praises to God as part of my devotional life. I’d write poems about salvation, or sometimes I’d just read a good verse and try to turn it into rhyme.
One Christmas Eve I was reading “The Night Before Christmas” to my kids and when I finished the story, my wife said “That book is so good! Too bad it’s all about Santa instead of Jesus… you need to write a biblically accurate version!” I set out to do just that and published “The First Christmas Eve” in the winter of 2020.
I really, really, really enjoyed writing that book!
So I began to wonder if I could “rhyme-ify” the whole Bible…
…or at least a general summary of the over-arching narrative. That’s kind of how “Good Soil” came to be; I’d read a few passages in the evening and then try to drum up how those verses would sound coming from Dr. Seuss. It took about 6 years before I finally published it, but I imagine I’ll keep adding to it until either:
1) I turn every verse into rhyme
or
2) I go to Heaven
How are poetry and creative writing relevant to the church today?
I’ve spent 19 years on staff at North Coast Church and the places I’ve seen creative writing consistently bless the church are:
1) Worship recording & songwriting
2) Scriptwriting
3) Communication
I think creative writing is essential to the function of the church based solely on the fact that the church is constantly publishing the Good News of Jesus Christ. And I see the fruits of that throughout all of our original song lyrics, event production, communication, and marketing that Jesus Christ is the risen Lord.
With that said, I don’t know if I’ve seen poetry find a successful AND consistent niche in the church world. I’ve been asked to read my Christmas Eve book before as a portion of a holiday service, and I’ve shared excerpts of “Good Soil” in messages I’ve preached, but I don’t regularly do anything with my poetry as a ministry channel under the church umbrella. However, that lack of consistency doesn’t make poetry any less powerful; portions of the Bible are poetry.
Art is art for a reason and if everything were art, probably nothing would feel like art.
Masculinity and poetry don’t often go hand in hand. Why do you think that is?
I have no idea. Cultural norms? David seemed to be quite the entertainer; perhaps the first biblical triple threat. He could sing, he could dance, he could act (he mostly convinced Uriah that his intentions were pure), and he wrote a lot of poetry. Was it more common back then for men to take the time to draft their thoughts on paper… even potentially as a creative outlet?
Personally, I’ve never given it much thought. I love Dr. Seuss books, I love rhyme, whimsy, being silly, and making up bedtime songs for my kids on the spot. Then I work a 50+ hour week, hit the gym, eat a Burger King Baconator, watch football & professional wrestling, and enjoy an occasional Coors Light.
The thing is, none of any of that really defines masculinity; not the poetry and not the sports.
Without going on a tangent, God’s Word and my family make it very clear what defines a man and how it’s measured. If I’m walking with God and loving my family & community, who’s to say I can’t rap about life a little bit? I digress.
The Bible is full of wild stories. Can you turn this one into a poem?
“But Jael found a tent peg and a hammer. She quietly went to Sisera. Sisera was very tired, so he was sleeping. She put the tent peg to the side of Sisera’s head and hit it with a hammer. The tent peg went through the side of his head and into the ground. Sisera died.” (Judges 4:21)
Sisera rallied the Canaanite clan
While Deborah and Barak made ready a plan
Sisera routed, forced to flee on his feet
Would hide in the tents, silent and discrete
By Jael’s swift hammer, the victory assured
And by Sisera’s head, the tent was secured
Where can readers find your writing?
So far I’ve published 3 books (all of which can be found on Amazon):
“The First Christmas Eve” a biblical account of the birth of Jesus to the rhythm of “The Night Before Christmas”
“Good Soil” a poetic approach to the Old and New Testament (heavily summarized mind you)
“The Time You Went to the Moon” a children’s bed-time story where your kid is the main character… what kid doesn’t love that?!
Let’s support indie authors like Kirk Jones! You can start right here by picking up a copy of one or all of the books he mentioned! I can personally attest that they are all well worth the read.
To quote Levar Burton, “But you don’t have to take my word for it!”
Thanks for reading!
All of my Disco & Lightning articles are available to read on Medium for FREE. If you’d like to support my writing, you can “Buy Me a Coffee,” by clicking the link below!
-Jen
