Poetry is inspiration… Watch the 2minute YouTube clip ‘Interview with God- Inspirational Poem’ and try to answer the following: What is it telling us about God? What messages is it trying to convey?

Mystery of God Focus Question: How do I understand the ‘otherness’ of God through different religious traditions? Learning Objective: To explore the concept of God in a work of Poetry. Last Lesson The Concept of God in Art This Lesson The Concept of God in Poetry Next Lesson Hindu Ideas about God

Task 1: What does this tell us about God? The Divine Image BY WILLIAM BLAKE To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness. For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care. For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love, the human form divine, And Peace, the human dress. Then every man, of every clime, That prays in his distress, Prays to the human form divine, Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace. And all must love the human form, In heathen, Turk, or Jew; Where Mercy, Love, and Pity dwell There God is dwelling too. Task 2: Are there similarities and differences between the idea of God in Blake’s poem and his painting (above)? Task 1: What does this tell us about God?

Task 4: What understanding of God does the writer have? There is a lot of poetry in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms, that deals with the mystery of God. Read the beginning of Psalm 97 and do the activities on the right. Task 3: Copy the Psalm into your OneNote and highlight the most important words. Task 4: What understanding of God does the writer have? Psalm 97 The Glory of God’s Reign 1 The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side. 4 His lightning's light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him.

Expressions of God in Poetry Task 5: Look up Psalm 104. Copy it into your OneNote and answer/ do the following: Highlight the most important words. What does it tell us about God? How does it express the mystery of God? When you are finished with a-c, copy Isaiah 49:1- 13 (from our Online Bible- NRSVCE) and spend some time quietly reading it. Answer: What is it saying about God?

Plenary Did this give you a better understanding about the Mystery of God? Add to your questions you’d like to ask about God.

Choose your own tasks based on your confidence on the topic! Find another poem about God and copy it into your OneNote. Don’t forget to add the necessary Harvard-style reference, where you got your poem from. Underline all important words in your poem, then explain in your own words what information you learn about God. How can you apply what you have learned about God (and/ or his messages to humankind) to your own life? What evidence can you find in our Online Bible that God is always around and within us? Copy and paste the passage into your OneNote and briefly explain how this passage expresses it. Now write your own poem to convey your own idea of God. Justify: “Poetry is meant to invoke experiences, it emphasizes the role of the senses, calling to mind memories and feelings in stirring and sometimes turbulent ways; therefore, it is an important tool to try to understand the mystery of God.” Do you agree or disagree to this statement? Why or why not? Choose your own tasks based on your confidence on the topic! Tip: Work at your own pace, this is not a race!