One of the great joys of being a pastor is being surprised and delighted by what the students I work with teach me. A recent surprise is how much I appreciated a poem written by a PhD candidate in biology. I feel like I was taught – and always assumed – that poetry was the domain of the humanities. Those in the sciences were more data-driven, factual types, and definitely not the sort of folks who would be inclined to use words in whimsical ways.

The following excerpt from the poem, “The New Plant and Animal Kingdoms” by Steve Roels illustrates how incorrect my original assumptions about science and poetry were. May you also enjoy it (full poem can be found at God and Nature magazine)

“Cleaning fossils today I was
wondering what species will be on the New Earth.
If the Leviathan was formed to frolic in the sea,
surely there will be more than just Homo sapiens
celebrating God’s eternal glory.
But could ALL of them be part of the Kingdom?
The saber-toothed cat could lie down
with the ground sloth, I suppose.
Might I rejoice in the strength of Apatosaurus
as Yahweh did in the Jurassic?
Perhaps only those species alive at Christ’s return
will join us, but if so, Lord, come quickly! ….”