December 9: After the Rain
♫ Music:
BELOVED
Scripture: Song of Solomon 2: 10-13
My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
My Dove, My Beautiful One
by James Joyce
My dove, my beautiful one,
Arise, arise!
The night-dew lies
Upon my lips and eyes.
The odorous winds are weaving
A music of sighs:
Arise, arise,
My dove, my beautiful one!
I wait by the cedar tree,
My sister, my love,
White breast of the dove,
My breast shall be your bed.
The pale dew lies
Like a veil on my head.
My fair one, my fair dove,
Arise, arise!
AFTER THE RAIN
There is nothing quite like the world after a rainstorm. I grew up in the plains of Oklahoma and Kansas, where thunderstorms were frequent. They rolled in from the western high plains, billowing clouds in ominous gray-green hues. Often accompanied by cold fronts, the storms passed through furiously and in their wake left a purity of air, colder and drier than before. The post-rain smell was different depending on the season. In the fall it was the smell of decaying leaves and crisped fields, mingling with fireplace smoke in the colder months. In the spring it was the smell of fresh greenery, like newly mown grass when it’s still a bit damp. In the summer it was the smell of hot concrete and thirsty trees releasing their tension in steam and oxygen.
After the rain, the world is at attention. Her senses are heightened, awake to the beauty and vigor and promise of life.
After the rain, “the flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come.” (Song of Solomon 2:12).
After the dewy wetness of night, “The odorous winds are weaving a music of sighs” (James Joyce).
In the storm and in the night, there is waiting. Stillness. Apprehension. Tension.
When the sun rises and the clouds clear, the world stirs. Hope. Resolution. A poetic dance of movement and rising, embodied so beautifully in Christopher Wheeldon’s "After the Rain Pas de Deux.”
This is the most natural of cycles. At any given second in time, the sun is rising somewhere in the world. Somewhere in the world the rain is giving way to clearer skies. Every second of life is full of death giving way to life, winter to spring, sleeping stillness to the bustling of life.
Why is this all worth noticing? Why do these most natural of phenomena so stir our hearts?
I think the Incarnation of Christ is the reason. In coming to be with us here, in living and sleeping on this dirt, in sheltering from storms and smelling that “after the rain” smell just like we do, the Creator gave new meaning to His creation. The groanings of nature were given a telos. Love and redemption replaced brute survival. The incarnation and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ became the key to understanding everything in existence.
The deep, deep love of Jesus frames every storm and every night in a new way, glorious tensions that allude to the glorious resolution already won.
“Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!”
Prayer
Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor,
and all blessing.
To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praise be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon
and the stars, in heaven you formed them
clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.
Amen
(St. Francis, “Canticle of the Creatures”)
Brett McCracken
Associate Director of Presidential Communications
Video: After the Rain Pas de Deux
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
About the Choreographer and Dance:
Christopher Wheeldon (b. 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet and the choreographer of The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He was born in Yeovil-Somerset, England, and began training as a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 through 18. In 1991, Wheeldon joined the Royal Ballet, London; and in that same year, he won the Gold Medal at the Prix de Lausanne compétition. In 1993, at the age of 19, Wheeldon moved to New York City to join the New York City Ballet where he was named a soloist in 1998. In December 2016, Mr. Wheeldon premiered his freshly choreographed Nutcracker with the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago.
Wheeldon’s After the Rain premiered in 2005 at NYCB’s annual New Combinations Evening, which honors the anniversary of George Balanchine’s birth with world premiere ballets. A ballet in two parts, the first section is set to Arvo Pärt’s Tabula Rasa, and features three couples. For the second section, only one couple returns, and performs a haunting pas de deux set to Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel. Originally performed by Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto, this was the last ballet Wheeldon created for Soto, before Soto retired from dancing in June of 2005.
About the Music:
“Oh, The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus”
Lyrics:
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o’er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o’er them from the throne!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
’Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, ’tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!
About the Hymn and Composer:
“O the Deep Deep, Love of Jesus" is a popular Christian hymn, written by the London merchant Samuel Trevor Francis (1834–1925). As a teenager, Francis had a spiritual turning point one night while contemplating suicide on a bridge over the River Thames. Experiencing a renewal of faith, he went on to author many poems and hymns, becoming a preacher in addition to his career as a merchant. “Deep Love” compares Jesus' love to the ocean in scope, emphasizing the limitless, unchanging, and sacrificial nature of God's affection for all of humanity.
About the Performers:
Audrey Assad (b. 1983) is the daughter of a Syrian refugee, an author, speaker, producer, and critically lauded songwriter and musician. She creates music she calls “soundtracks of prayer” on the label Fortunate Fall Records, which she co-owns with her husband. She is also one half of the pop band LEVV, whose debut EP peaked at #17 on the iTunes Alternative chart. In 2014, Assad released an EP, Death, Be Not Proud, which reflected on her recent encounters with loss and suffering--including her husband’s journey through cancer and chemotherapy.
www.audreyassad.com
Fernando Ortega (b. 1957) is an evangelical Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader, heavily influenced by traditional hymns as well as his family’s heritage in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Much of his current inspiration comes from the North American Anglican liturgy. From the late-70s to the mid-90s, he served in music ministry at a number of churches in New Mexico and Southern California. From 1993 to the present, Ortega has worked as a concert and recording artist, and has released 14 albums.
www.fernandoortega.com
About the Poet:
James Joyce (1882-1941) was an Irish novelist and poet. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde literary movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important authors of the 20th century. Though most of his adult life was spent abroad, Joyce's fictional universe centers on Dublin, Ireland, and is populated largely by characters who closely resemble family members and friends from his time there. Joyce's work has been an important influence on writers and scholars. In 1999, Time magazine named Joyce one of the 100 Most Important People of the 20th Century, and stated: "Joyce ... revolutionised 20th century fiction.”