Alvin G. Ens
Honorable Mention 2007 Christian Publishers Poetry Prize $20
Alvin G. Ens, an Abbotsford BC resident, writes mostly free verse. He has three books of published poetry: Musings on the Sermon (2002), meditations on the Sermon on the Mount and other scriptures; I Am the Poem (2005), selections of his years of teaching; and Rural Roots (2007), a reminiscence of his boyhood on a Saskatchewan farm in an ethnic village.
Alvin is a Mennonite, and the poem "Building" is a take off on Menno Simon's favourite verse, I Cor. 3:11. "Building" was used for Alvin's churchs dedication.
Building
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Cor. 3:11)
No other foundation is laid but this one:
Our faith in the Father and Jesus the Son;
God's Spirit indwells us; by this we may know
That we are his temple, and He loves us so.
Though we are God's building, we still need to grow;
In work and in worship we build and we sow.
The Lord will be testing what work each has done;
We build not in vain if we build on the Son.
Let each then take care that he builds on the Son.
The wisdom of ages will benefit none
Unless it is grounded in Jesus alone,
The Rock of all ages, the chief cornerstone.
Copyright ©2007 by Alvin G. Ens