The Meaning of Holy Week: Two Poets as Our Guides – Isaac Watts & George Herbert

Summary: Earl Palmer and Dick Staub look at two poets that, whether known or unknown, have shaped our understanding of the Holy Week.  Earl says “the role a poet plays in helping us focus, in helping us understand the huge events of our lives and, also, to see and feel a resonance with great truths" is something we rarely are aware of and yet need to understand more. With that in mind, Earl expounds upon the poets George Herbert and Isaac Watts and how they approach the events leading up to Easter. Malcolm Guite's, “A Sonnet for George Herbert," is mentioned in this podcast. Below is the text, and if you wish to hear Malcolm reading his work you can do so at his site:   “Gentle exemplar, help us in our trials,With all that passed between you and your Lord,That intimate exchange of frowns and smilesWhich chronicled your love-match with the Word.Your manuscript, entrusted to a friend,Has been entrusted now to every soul,We make a new beginning in your endAnd find your broken heart has made us whole. Time has transplanted you, and you take root,Past changing in the paradise of Love,Help me to trace your temple, tune your lute,And listen for an echo from above,Open the window, let me hear you sing,And see the Word with you in everything."