House of Words: Finding Comfort in the Dwelling Space of Sheltering Mercy
by Kathryn Sadakierski
A Review of Sheltering Mercy: Prayers Inspired by the Psalms by Ryan Whitaker Smith and Dan Wilt
239 pp., hardcover, $19.99
Brazos Press
February 2022
ISBN: 9781587435461
Food, water, shelter. At the base of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, they’re considered the most essential elements required before a person can reach their full potential. But as Ryan Whitaker Smith and Dan Wilt illustrate in their visceral compendium of prayers responding to the Psalms, Sheltering Mercy, there is more to shelter than the provision of material needs. The conversations with God inscribed in the pages of this collection read like poetry, capturing not only the essence of the melodic Psalms, but their emotional core. Reflecting on both the inward and outward effects of sin and guilt, the authors strike at the crux of the matter: the human need for God.
Succinct and accessible, Smith and Wilt’s prayers provide an introduction to the spirit of the Psalms, but the Psalms’ expressive beauty is best felt when reading them as a companion to this work, further informing readers’ understanding of the prayers in this collection. Verse references are provided for each poetic prayer, inviting readers to engage in lectio divina (to reflect on and pray with the Psalms) themselves.
Comprised of 75 prayers, Sheltering Mercy could be read as a daily devotional to digest the breadth and depth of each free-verse piece, which are meant to honor the uncontainable nature of God in eschewing formal rhyme schemes. The outgrowth of a collaborative effort, Sheltering Mercy is not meant to be a substitute for, or a commentary on, the Psalms, but a creative response that can inspire readers to revisit what may be familiar passages in the Bible with a fresh perspective, not seeing them merely as dusty remnants of the time before Christ’s coming to Earth, but as deeply interlinked with today.
Though Sheltering Mercy’s prayers are very much written in the same vein as the Psalms, the songs from the Old Testament of the Bible (foreshadowing the events of Christ’s ministry to be chronicled in the New Testament)—embodying their spirit, without deviating too far from the source material—they remain relevant and relatable to contemporary times, touching on the challenges faced by people of faith in a secular society. The authors make allusions to politics and division, underscoring feelings experienced by the faithful of being suppressed, misunderstood, and ostracized for one’s beliefs in a “murmuring marketplace” run by those who “walk in bondage / and call it liberty; / who worship self / and call it freedom,” now as then, but the truth unburdens the weary heart: “Why do I fear the lies of the lost / when You are a shield around me?”
The conversations with God inscribed in the pages of this collection read like poetry, capturing not only the essence of the melodic Psalms, but their emotional core.
Following the soul’s quest for meaning, from the depths of despair to the dizzying heights of joy, Sheltering Mercy is an ode to the shelter God offers through every season of life. Just as the word stanza itself means “room,” it’s apropos that each contemplative prayer in the volume is treated like a monastic cell of sorts—moving from poem to poem, the reader gets the sense of walking through a house, segueing through compartmentalized feelings ranging from sorrow and fear to trust and contentment.
Echoing each other, the prayers have a repetitive quality, like one extended refrain, so that if they serve as rooms, they are spaces adorned with similar accents, making it clear that they’re part of the same dwelling place. They circle like ripples in a pond, moved by the same impetus, a stone thrown, its impact still felt: the initial seed of a question, prompting one to seek an answer to the world’s mysteries. These prayers go to show that the journey of faith is not linear. Some days may be marked by optimism and conviction, while on others, faith may be shaken as new challenges present themselves.
The cycle between feelings of conviction and doubt repeats. Home is an overarching theme unifying the poems, however different the emotions written about in each may be. Signifying God’s steadfastness, it’s the rock that anchors amidst changes roiling outside.
These prayers go to show that the journey of faith is not linear.
Connecting suffering and persecution to the life of Jesus Christ, the experiences related in the prayers mirror those of the Son of God himself; in identifying with Christ through difficult times in which faith is tested, the authors characterize true mercy as stemming from the love of God, in redeeming humankind through the greatest sacrifice. Psalm 22, “Stripped of Glory”—a prayer weighing feelings of desperation and abandonment while reckoning with what seems to be God’s silence—evokes Jesus’ crucifixion, when, on the cross, he asks his Father why he has forsaken him:
Abba,
where have You gone?
In my greatest hour of need;
when all my strength has been wrung from me
like water from cloth,
You are nowhere to be found.
In turmoil, I cry out to You,
but my words return to me.
Like the one above, many of the prayers in Sheltering Mercy are written from the vantage point of one whose heart is crying out to God in pain, seeking deliverance from trials. But in this excruciation, the speaker gradually recognizes the gift of empathy to be reaped, even from a soil that seems untillable. Mercy comes to mean the insight of God to give one the crosses that will best teach them what they need to learn, to ultimately be self-actualized, and achieve the goal of heaven. Understanding sprouts as an offshoot from the womb of suffering, allowing one to grow in spiritual maturity, overcome strife, and sever the ropy ties of disconsolation holding one back. Then, as the authors express, true joy can be felt, inspiring praise and gratitude to rise above like a mountain peak, glorifying God:
all this… heartache
will be like a forgotten dream,
when You make Your home with us;
when Christ our King fills His cup;
and we all,
with one voice,
sing the Story of Your Mercy.
The authors’ prayers are revealing and vulnerable in examining struggles with trust in God’s presence and plan, but may have benefitted from a more cohesive personal narrative including poems drawn from everyday life, considering how the messages of the Psalms remain true in the current context of modern living, with its constant change, fast-paced technologies, demands of work and family. Slice-of-life poetic prayers about the holiness to be found in all things, even the most ostensibly mundane, could have offset the more traditional, historic poems, not only creating a richer contrast between past and present, but more concretely showing their overlaps. Even so, there are lovely moments of eloquence in Sheltering Mercy’s prayers that are often confessional, sincere, and powerful:
I am illumined by Your life,
Your face shining upon me:
a dim mirror,
awaiting glory.
How could I turn back to what I once was?I was just a beggar at the door of grace,
but You welcomed me in.
While Sheltering Mercy is not a radically new lens on the Psalms so much as a timeless reinforcement of Christian truths, it provides interesting angles into all it means to find shelter, pearls of wisdom stressing that shelter does not always equate to ease, a guarantee of comfort, but also imparts hope amid suffering. In their prayers, Smith and Wilt underscore that even when there is wrongdoing in the world, God will set things to rights, upending worldly views of what constitutes justice and equality: “Indeed, the ground is level at the foot of Your cross, / and all who kneel there, / peasant or king, / find rest for their souls.”
…shelter does not always equate to ease, a guarantee of comfort, but also imparts hope amid suffering.
Sheltering Mercy, while giving hardship a clear-eyed gaze, never ignoring suffering in the world, or the varied forms it may take, is itself a shelter constructed with words that affirm and comfort, lining the story of the human condition not with silver, but with the gold of God’s loving sovereignty.
Beyond basic needs being met, as the collection explores, there is a longing for more, for an assurance that one is not alone, but heard, seen, even when tears are hidden from the world, and that human suffering isn’t for naught, a purpose guiding all. Sheltering Mercy’s songs of solidarity extend a reassuring hand to offer just this. At its center is both the discovery of God’s mercy towards the individual, and the power of the individual to shed light by being compassionate to others, modeling their actions on God’s mercy to create shelter, where everyone can feel loved, knowing that they belong in the arms of God. We’re part of a “patchwork quilt of grace: / stitched, / frayed, / one.”
Readers are called not to give up but to seek solace in God’s mercy, realizing that it is always available, if the spirit is willing to ask God for it, the heart open to forgiveness—towards others, and the self, never too scarred to come before God, who gave us Christ to take on death’s scars, bearing the weight of human sin to save souls. It’s fitting that the book ends with the word “Amen,” meaning “I believe,” a testament to fortitude and resiliency, the choice to proceed into the future with God, holding onto faith, and the shelter it brings, no matter what may come.
Kathryn Sadakierski’s essays, reviews, and poems have appeared in anthologies, magazines, newspapers, and literary journals around the world, including Agape Review, Amethyst Review, Christian Courier (Canada), Critical Read, Ekstasis Magazine, Literature Today, and Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts. In 2020, she was awarded the C. Warren Hollister Non-Fiction Prize. She holds a B.A. and M.S. from Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts.
