Where God Is at Home: Poems of God's Word and World, Illuminated by the Message - Softcover

Sr Irene

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0879466766 ISBN 13: 9780879466763

Publisher: ACTA Publications, 2019

Synopsis

Because Franciscan Sister Irene Zimmerman is about to fill that chair with poetic images of God from both the Word and the World, her verses illuminated by passages from Eugene Peterson s The Message and photos by Trappist Father James Behrens.

I began to experience something of the God-Mystery on the Iowa farm where I grew up, Sister Irene explains. Breezes rustled the drying corn or moved across fragrant hay fields. Plants rooted, sprouted, bloomed, gave fragrance in spring and food in autumn in the form of apples, cherries, peaches, potatoes. The animals sharing the turf with me offered eggs, milk, butter, meat. They used their unique voices they peeped, clucked, crowed, squawked, chirped, mewed, barked, mooed, whinnied, snorted to tell me of God s creativity, generosity, humor, beauty.

Sister Irene Zimmerman has learned to see like sun, as she prays at the end of her poem Solar Graffiti.

If I could learn to see like sun I too would move around the world, drawing peace on every wall till earth was one.

And now she shares that experience with all of us.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Why is God represented on the cover of this book of poems with a photograph of an inviting empty chair bathed in sunlight? Because Franciscan Sister Irene Zimmerman is about to fill that chair with poetic images of God, her verses illuminated by passages from Eugene Peterson's The Message and photos by Trappist Father James Behrens.

As she writes in her Introduction, "I began to experience something of the God-Mystery on the Iowa farm where I grew up Breezes rustled the drying corn or moved across fragrant hay fields. Plants rooted, sprouted, bloomed, gave fragrance in spring and food in autumn in the form of apples, cherries, peaches, potatoes. The animals sharing the turf with me offered eggs, milk, butter, meat. They used their unique voices"€"they peeped, clucked, crowed, squawked, chirped, mewed, barked, mooed, whinnied, snorted"€"to tell me of God's creativity, generosity, humor, beauty."

Sister Irene Zimmerman has learned to "see like sun," as she prays at the end of her poem "Solar Graffiti." And now she shares that experience with all of us.

About the Author:

About the Author

Early in her teaching career, Irene Zimmerman, OSF, was encouraged by a sister-colleague, herself a poet, to work at developing her God-given gifts. And work she did, publishing five volumes of poetry and presenting her poems, often accompanied by music, at community meetings, conferences, and other gatherings. Now retired after serving in a variety of ministries in the School Sisters of St. Francis, she continues to write and present her poetry, sing in church choirs, and enjoy God s Word and World.

About the Photographer

James Stephen Behrens, OCSO, is a Trappist monk of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. His reflections and photographs have appeared in books, including several published by ACTA Publications, and in print and on-line periodicals.

About this edition

• Publisher: ACTA Publications
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0879466766
• ISBN 13: 9780879466763
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 216