December 3: The Day of the Lord
♫ Music:
WEEK ONE - INTRODUCTION TO THE WEEK
December 3 - December 9
This week’s readings concern the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. There are two traditional foci in Advent: the coming of the Messiah as the incarnated Son of God and his second coming in glory to judge the living and the dead. For two millennia these Christological events have served as the foundation for Advent observance. And no matter how we are adapting Advent in the twenty-first century church, we must not lose sight of these two foci. That is, even if Advent is used to make a statement about American consumerism during the Christmas holiday (and it is!), we must not think that the rich history of Advent observance can be reduced to a program in which we address a (primarily) first-world problem. Instead, we must place the first and second comings of Jesus Christ first and foremost in our eager anticipation of Advent. Without a focus on the comings of Christ there is, literally, no Advent.
Day 1 - Sunday, December 3
Title: The Day of the Lord
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Poetry:
A Song on the End of the World
By Czeslaw Milosz
[Translated by Anthony Milosz]
On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspout young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.
On the day the world ends
Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.
And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and the moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.
Warsaw, 1944
THE DAY OF THE LORD
This is the first day of Advent 2017, and we begin with a provocative portion of Scripture. Advent of course refers to the coming of Christ. As believers we focus not only on Christ’s first coming as a tiny babe to save the world, but also on his second coming, which is often referred to as the “Day of the Lord.” What will this day be like? Will it be a day of wrath or the day of salvation? For some it will be God's final judgment on an unbelieving world; for others it will be an outpouring of His love on those who have looked for His coming. This day, we are told, will come "like a thief in the night," and "as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman." For those who are awake, alert, expectant, eagerly waiting, "having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation," it will be a day of great rejoicing.
The terrible day of the Lord when "the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood" is mentioned by the Old Testament prophets and writers: Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, and Zephaniah, as well as the New Testament writers: Luke, Paul, and Peter. Czeslaw Milosz’s poem, “A Song on the End of the World,” depicts a normal day filled with the things that surround us, the things that bring us awe and delight like the sea, fields, the sound of violins, lightning, thunder, the sun, and moon. But the title of the poem reveals the horrible truth of Warsaw, 1944, when the poet witnessed the total destruction of his beloved city. The white-haired old man in his poem repeatedly repines, "There will be no other end of the world." Throughout history there have been horrific events that have led eyewitnesses to conclude that they must be in the midst of this terrible day of the Lord and that the end of the world as they understand it is upon them. They imagine that nothing worse could befall mankind than the cataclysm that they have endured. We wonder with fear what the final end of the world will actually be like.
Some scholars believe the day of Christ's return to earth will be the day in which He redeems His faithful believers, a day of new beginnings. Thus, we look forward with eagerness to that time, even as parents look forward to the birth of their child. The Visitation painting of the Italian High Renaissance painter Mariotto Albertinelli, the Studies of Embryos by the 16th-century Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, and the music of contemporary Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi--all reference this anticipation. Earlier this fall, I saw an ultrasound image of Noah in the womb of his mother Libna, the wife of a Biola graduate student. Suddenly, in the early morning of October 25, I was notified that her contractions had begun. I hurried to notify friends of the forthcoming event because this birth was considered by her doctors to be a high-risk birth. At 10:35 a.m., Noah, weighing six pounds and 13 ounces and measuring 19 1/4 inches long, entered our world three weeks earlier than his due date. Surprise! But the parents, Libna and Christian Gessner, were ready. So likewise, may we with great expectancy be ready for the Lord's second coming.
Pastor Jim Erwin from Washburn, Missouri (www.patheos.com), suggests five ways to prepare both for Christmas, as well as for Christ’s second coming. He chooses action words that begin with the letter “W” to help us remember what this Advent season is all about in light of I Thessalonians, Chapter 5. The words are: waiting (5:1-2), watching (5:3-7), working (5:8), witnessing (5:9-10), and worshipping (5:11).
Prayer:
Lord, with eagerness I wait for Your coming into my heart and life in greater fullness, more Christ-likeness, and with an increased awareness of the continuing presence of Your Spirit during this Advent Season.
Amen.
Dr. William Lock
Professor Emeritus of Voice and Church Music
Biola University
About the Artwork #1:
The Visitation, 1503
Mariotto Albertinelli
Oil on wood panel
232 x 146 cm
The Uffuzi Gallery, Florence, Italy
The greeting of the two pregnant women in the story of Advent, Mary the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth the mother of John, is perhaps one of the most compassionate, joyful glimpses into the heart of God. Both women, who have conceived through faith in the promise of God, comfort and encourage one another. The two babes in their wombs are also aware of this miraculous, expectant moment.
“When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” (Luke 1:41-44, NIV)
About the Artist #1:
Mariotto Albertinelli (1474–1515) was a High Renaissance Italian painter of the Florentine school closely associated with Fra Bartolomeo, and influenced by such artists as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. At an early age, Albertinelli became a pupil of the painter Cosimo Rosselli and a fellow-pupil of artist Fra Bartolomeo. The two pupils formed such a close relationship that in 1494 they started a joint studio in Florence, Italy. Albertinelli mastered Fra Bartolomeo’s technique to such extent that he could paint in a style that seamlessly blended with that of his partner. The closeness in style was such that for many years some doubts remained over who had painted certain works.
About the Artwork #2:
Studies of Embryos, 1510-1512
Leonardo da Vinci
Chalk, sanguine and ink on paper
Royal Collection at Windsor Castle
London, England
Leonardo da Vinci’s embryological drawings of the fetus in the womb and his accompanying observational annotations are found in the third volume of his private notebooks. These groundbreaking illustrations of the fetus reveal his advanced understanding of human development and demonstrate his role in the vanguard of embryology during the Renaissance. Leonardo’s methods of accurately portraying human anatomy through drawings and diligently mapping out characteristics of the body are widely considered to have been the foundation of modern anatomical illustration. Da Vinci studied human embryology with the help of anatomist Marcantonio della Torre and witnessed the fetus within a cadaver.
About the Artist #2:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, military engineer, and draftsman who studied music, anatomy, geology, botany, and cartography. He is considered the epitome of the “Renaissance man” known for his paintings and his inventions. He has been called the father of paleontology, ichnology, and architecture, and is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time. Credited with the inventions of the parachute, helicopter and tank, he epitomized the Renaissance humanist ideal. Among his artworks, the Mona Lisa is the most famous and The Last Supper is the most reproduced religious painting of all time. Few art works, together with his notebooks, which contain drawings, scientific diagrams, and his thoughts on the nature of painting, comprise an incomparable contribution to later generations of artists.
About the Music:
“Writing Poems” from the album Intouchables
About the Composer and Performer:
The music of Italian composer and pianist Ludovico Einaudi (b. 1955) is often characterized as introspective and hauntingly beautiful. Highly acclaimed for his many film scores, including music for the French blockbuster film The Intouchables, Einaudi also has a flourishing solo performance career. From a musical family, Einaudi grew to love music by listening to his mother play the piano. He began writing music as a teenager, and his classical composition style incorporates many influences including folk, ambient, pop, and minimal music. In “Writing Poems” a gentle wash of electronic sound gives way to a simple, sometimes halting melody full of longing.
About the Poet:
Czeslaw Milosz (1911–2004) was a Polish poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He ranks among the most respected figures in twentieth-century Polish literature, as well as one of the most respected contemporary poets in the world. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980. Born in Lithuania, where his parents moved temporarily to escape the political upheaval in Poland, Milosz left Poland as an adult due to the oppressive Communist regime that came to power following World War II. He lived in the United States from 1960 until his death in 2004. Milosz’s poems, novels, essays, and other works were written in his native language, Polish, and translated by the author and others into English. A witness to the Nazi devastation of Poland and the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, his poetry deals with the central issues of our time including the impact of history upon a moral being and the search for ways to survive spiritual assault in the world.
About the Devotional Writer:
Singer, conductor, teacher, and writer, William Lock has performed professionally in concert, conducted and adjudicated choirs throughout America, Canada, and Southeast Asia, and has taught music in a college setting for the past 56 years, 52 of these years at Biola University. He presently writes articles and book reviews on voice, conducting, and the Christian life.