A Most Excellent Devotional: Through the Valley

As announced here a few weeks ago by my colleague William Weedon, Concordia Lutheran Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario has produced a beautiful and useful devotional book by the poet Kurt Reinhardt entitled Through the Valley. Gottesdienst readers ought to be familiar with Kurt’s poetry anthologies. If not, I reviewed a collection of his poetry with high praise on this blog last year: Those who read Kurt’s poetry find their faith enriched.

Through the Valley is also a collection of poems, but it serves a different purpose than Kurt’s past anthologies. It is meant, in the author’s own words, to be “an encouraging devotional book for those passing through or traveling with someone through the darker shadows of this world.” It is well fit to this purpose, and I know of nothing better to give to Christians who are facing terminal illness in themselves or a loved one, who are the survivors of some tragedy, or who are struggling with loss. I have bought copies for this purpose.

The book constantly holds forth the promise of Jesus Christ for forgiveness and life, in rhyme and meter, in a way that is simple and repeated. This promise, rooted firmly in Kurt’s poems in Holy Baptism, is directly pointed at the final things that all Christians must face. Not every Christian has faced martyrdom by violence from the state, or plagues and wild beasts. Not every Christian has faced physical, demonic possession or crippling illness. But every Christian must face the devil’s lies about his defeat and trust that Christ is the true victor. Every Christian must face the passage through death to life, not only in his own mortality but also in those whom he loves.

Kurt acknowledges in his introduction that these poems are deeply personal. They have been borne out of his own service to his dying parishioners and, in particular, to a beloved friend’s wife, to whom the book is dedicated. Yet, even without this acknowledgment, we might have guessed something along these lines for nearly all of the poems are hymnic prayers, in the first person, crying out to God in both supplication and confession.

For example, Kurt helps us to confess, in our own voice, against death:

“O death, where is your victory? You lost the fight on Calvary! You have no right to make a claim On those baptized in Jesus’ name.” O Death, Where is Your Victory, 27.

He also teaches us to sing against Satan:

“Foul Satan, hear our vict’ry cry – “In Christ we live ne’ermore to die!” You plague us here with wrath and woe, And yet to heav’n we’re sure to go.

Your once great powers are undone, All vanquished by God’s only Son; He crushed your head upon the cross, The strike was yours, but yours the loss.

You were defanged, the venom gone, When on the cross you pierced God’s Son; Roar all you want, you were declawed When you did wound the Son of God. . .

So take your empty threats and go; Fear in our hearts you cannot sow; The torment from your lies must cease When Christ is with us in His peace.” Foul Satan, Hear Our Vict’ry Cry, 25.

Kurt also gives voice to caregivers and survivors. He helps us for God’s intervention, that God, in His mercy and according to His promise, to keep us faithful in the midst of the particular temptations that are suffered by those who mourn.

“O Lord of love, of life, of might, Be with us now, we pray, As we must pass through grief’s dark night To reach the dawning of the day.

Uphold us when our tears must flow For loved ones laid to rest, And by Your death help us to know They live among the blest.

The day will come when from the skies Your life-filled word will call, And from their tombs Your friends will rise To praise you one and all.” The Grief of Man Flowed down Your Face, 43.

And again:

The sorrowed night consumes my soul And I am at a loss; My suff’ring is beyond control Beneath this heavy cross.

Grief’s anger hurtles out from me With its demanding Why? Forsaken Son of Calvary, Who knew my hopeless cry,

I have no strength to cling to You, In love hold on to me. Fill up my thoughts with what is true In spite of what I see.” The Winds of Grief How through My Heart, 45.

There is not much variety in this book in tone, theme, or even meter. There are a few poems written in the third person. A few times Kurt puts words in God’s mouth to speak to us. For example, Christ says to us:

“Your past is buried in My grace, Your days ahead I died to save; Look up to Me and hope you’ll find To lift your heart and ease your mind.

Let not your thoughts be cloaked in gloom; Your life won’t end in death and doom; In joyous glory at My side, You ever shall with Me abide!” When Life’s Great Trials Cast You Down, 13.

The consistency of this message is a great aid to those whose minds are so overwhelmed with emotion that they struggle for words and rational thought. It is reinforced by the Bible passages and photographs that have been paired with the poems. The preferred simple meter of the book also helps the hymns to blend one into the other. The book works quite well for casual and random reading. It is just the sort of thing that can be placed on a nightstand with the certain knowledge that whoever opens it, and to whichever page, he will be served with a Gospel proclamation of personalized eschatology.

This isn’t to say that the poetry is weak in any way. There are some nice turns of phrase, such as “Forsaken Son of Calvary,” and some nice images, such as Satan being declawed; but, in the end, this is not a book about words, which poetry often is, but it is a book about the Gospel. In fairness, if I were to judge it as an anthology of poetry, I would not give it the high marks I used for Kurt’s previous work; but, so also, none of Kurt’s other books would serve so well in Hospice visiting rooms and the like. It is a devotional book. With great beauty and precision it addresses the most pressing concern of humanity with unerring Evangelical grace. I suspect that, because of this, it will prove to be both more popular and more enduring than Kurt’s anthologies.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t buy his anthologies if you haven’t already. You should. Buy those for yourself. Buy Through the Valley for your members. They are both available at a very reasonable cost at Lulu.