When I was praying one morning for a sorority house with some Ichthus girls in it where God has been and is clearly at work, I got a picture of the actual house encased in light–like that really strong rubber liner people get sprayed in/on their truck beds, but made of light instead. (The light then drove out the darkness within the house, and zooming up like a Google Maps view I saw that part of town and even onto campus being illuminated by the light coming from the house.) You’re welcome to pray that vision for the house as well if you’d be willing; it’s the Gamma Phi Beta house to be specific!
So the first stanza of this poem was drawn from that vision, but the poem itself isn’t about that house specifically, but is as broad as life itself and as narrow as each one of our lives.
The word HaShem is Hebrew for “the Name” and is itself a name for God. (For the most basic and a most amazing biblical revelation on God’s Name, check out Exodus 33:14-34:7. So foundational. And so powerful, ESPECIALLY when one considers the very name of Jesus.)
HASHEM Your name is a coating of thick bright light With effortless grace It drives out the night Your name is a balm from acres of jars That heals and restores as It murmurs of stars Your name is a ranger uncloaking his glory With drawn sword in hand Embracing the story Your name is a club with seven-inch spikes A triune monster-slayer That drops all the mikes Your name’s a crescendo of salvation fire An inferno of bliss Rising higher and higher Your name is ecstatic a wild dance of glee A frenzied surrender A life-dealing spree Your name is a stream once pent up now loosed That strips out the stains and Unravels the noose Your name is a word that once spoken runs free And leads stormy hearts To the most ancient tree Your name is a Lion sitting over his court The magnificent center My magnificent fort