A Mystery

A Mystery

Michael Stalcup

For all the metaphors you give in Scripture
and all the vast theologies we’ve penned,
our highest thoughts are never more than pictures
of mysteries we cannot comprehend.

“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?”
you questioned Job. You call us higher still:
to marvel at the ground of new creation
you laid upon that God-forsaken hill.

We do not grasp the heights of what you’ve done
or what it will be like to see your face
and to explore, in ages yet to come,
the bright and boundless vistas of your grace.

For now, we know in part, our joys still dim
compared to further up and further in.

---

Michael Stalcup
Poet & Missionary

Michael is a Thai-American missionary living in Bangkok, Thailand. His poems have been published in Commonweal Magazine, First Things, Sojourners Magazine, and elsewhere. He co-teaches Spirit & Scribe, a workshop integrating spiritual formation and writing craft. You can find his work at michaelstalcup.com.

Photography by Robert Bye