December 27: The Grace of God
♫ Music:
Day 25 - Wednesday, December 27
Title: The Grace of God
Scripture: Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Poetry:
Prayer
by Marie Howe
Every day I want to speak with you. And every day something more important
calls for my attention—the drugstore, the beauty products, the luggage
I need to buy for the trip.
Even now I can hardly sit here
among the falling piles of paper and clothing, the garbage trucks outside
already screeching and banging.
The mystics say you are as close as my own breath.
Why do I flee from you?
My days and nights pour through me like complaints
and become a story I forgot to tell.
Help me. Even as I write these words I am planning
to rise from the chair as soon as I finish this sentence.
STANDING BAREFOOT
With trepidation I approached my mother’s hospital room in the spring of 2003. The day before we had received the devastating news that she had pancreatic cancer and did not have long to live. I was in grief. Many family members questioned God and His purposes. We were not sure how mom was handling this news. Nurses were leaving Mom’s room as I approached. One stopped me and with tears in her eyes said, “I cannot explain it. Every time I enter that room, I feel like I should remove my shoes because it feels like I am in God’s presence and I am on holy ground.”
Holy ground. . . in the presence of our holy, righteous God. Moses, in Exodus 3, is commanded to remove his shoes and not come near because God’s holiness is a burning fire. But is holy ground something to be feared or avoided? Today’s artist portrays a common man in working clothes, barefoot and in a position of supplication or surrender, and is aptly entitled, “On Holy Ground.” How can this be?
The Incarnation that we have celebrated this season declares that this earth and our daily lives are to be lived as if on holy ground. Frederick Buechner writes, “The incarnation means that all ground is holy ground because God not only made it but walked on it, ate and slept and worked and died on it.” We are to live out our ordinary, everyday lives in the awareness that we are on holy ground in the presence of God.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning beautifully expressed it:
Earth’s crammed with heaven
And every common bush afire with God:
But only he who sees takes off his shoes.
Our Scripture passage in Titus 2 sets the stage in which we live. Verse 11 tells us “the grace of God HAS appeared,” but verse 13 declares, “we are WAITING for the blessed hope.” We live in the suspension of time between the “has appeared” and “is yet to come.” But do not live in this time alone—God is present . . . and therefore it is holy ground.
Today’s poem by Marie Howe reflects “the mystics say you are as close as my own breath” but then pleads, “Why do I flee from you?” If we lack the awareness of the holy ground upon which we live, it is not because God is not present—it is our own perception of running away instead of running towards him. An anonymous Messianic Jewish blogger clarifies this for us.
This is holy ground . . .
When we can take that humbling step
And release our grip on the things of this life,
And grasp that heavenly view of pleasing Adonai.
Today’s haunting Taize melody sets the prayer of the Fourth Century Church Father, Ambrose of Milan, to music. “Il Signore ti Ristora” beautifully reflects this reality of living life and even facing death (as my mom was in that hospital room) in the presence of God . . . on holy ground. The song declares,
You restore me and embrace me; never will you reject me.
In your love, you run with joy to meet me.
Lord, you always seek me.
Today, let us remove our shoes and live our lives in this holy ground reality.
Prayer:
O Lord, teach me to seek you, and reveal yourself to me when I seek you. For I cannot seek you unless you first teach me; nor find you unless you first reveal yourself to me. Let me seek you in loving, and long for you in seeking. Let me find you in love, and love you in finding.
Amen
(St. Ambrose of Milan, c.340-397)
Dr. Dianne B. Collard
Montage International, Director
ACT Intl, Europe Ministries Director
ArtsCharlotte, Director
About the Artwork:
On Holy Ground, 1999, Ed. of 9
David Robinson
Bronze, steel
12” x 14” x 14”
On Holy Ground depicts a man in conventional business clothes standing barefoot with his shoes in hand. The reference of this work is to Moses in the wilderness, confronting God in the midst of the burning bush. “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,” God says, “for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”
About the Artist:
David Robinson (b. 1964) is a skilled Canadian figurative sculptor who is able to express the sacred in the secular. Re-defining the classical figure in contemporary ways, he incorporates metaphor and symbolism to confront and challenge the viewer. While Robinson’s work is primarily figurative, he often adds psychological and mythological elements to his subjects through the use of strings, cables, and precarious perches, which both connect and dissociate his figures from their environment, and further describe their inherent tension. Robinson’s sculptures explore dichotomies such as gravity and flight, religion and secularism, and individuality and mass culture. His work in materials ranges from traditional bronze, iron, steel, silver, and cement to hydrostone; they vary from intimate to overwhelming in scale. He has exhibited widely both nationally and internationally. He lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.
About the Music:
“Il Signore ti Ristora” from the album Taize
Lyrics:
Il Signore ti ristora.
Dio non Allontana.
Il Signore viene ad incontrarti.
Viene ad incontrarti.
Translation:
The Lord restores you.
God does not push you away.
The Lord comes to meet you.
About the Lyricist:
Ambrosius better known as Saint Ambrose (c. 340 – 397) was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He was the Roman governor of Liguria and Emilia, headquartered in Milan, before being made Bishop of Milan by popular acclamation in 374. Traditionally, Ambrose is credited with promoting the "antiphonal chant", a style of chanting in which one side of the choir responds alternately to the other. He is also known for composing “Veni Redemptor Gentium,” an Advent hymn. Ambrose ranks with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great, as one of the great Latin Doctors of the Church.
About the Composers/Performers:
Taizé is an ecumenical monastic community in Burgundy, France. Founded in 1940 for refugees of the German occupation, Taizé has since become a refuge for people from around the world seeking peace and unity. The brothers welcome pilgrims into their community to share meals and sing together. The songs of Taizé are short, easily memorized phrases from various languages sung over and over in contemplation. This repetition allows the meaning of the songs to sink deep into the soul and to continue in the quiet of the heart long after the music stops.
About the Poet:
Marie Howe (b. 1950) is an American poet who was named the 2012 State Poet for New York. Howe did not devote serious attention to writing poetry until she turned 30 when she was accepted at Columbia University where she received her MFA. She is presently on the writing faculty at Columbia University, Sarah Lawrence College, and New York University. After Howe's brother died of an AIDS-related illness, she co-edited a collection of essays, letters, and stories entitled In the Company of My Solitude: American Writing from the AIDS Pandemic that sought to foster open dialogue about the plight of AIDS in the United States. Her poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Poetry, Agni, Ploughshares, and Harvard Review. Her honors include a National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
About the Devotional Writer:
Dianne Collard received her MA and DMiss from the Cook School of Intercultural Studies at Biola University. She has served as a cross-cultural missionary for over thirty years. Currently, she is the Europe Ministries Director for Artists in Christian Testimony International and the Founder/Director of ArtsCharlotte in North Carolina. Dianne’s book, I Choose to Forgive: An Intimate Journey with God, which is about the healing freedom of forgiveness in the aftermath of her son’s murder, has been published in sixteen languages and is currently being made into a film.