January 1: Aaron's Blessing
♫ Music:
Day 30 - Monday, January 1
Title: Aaron's Blessing
Scripture: Numbers 6:22-27
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
Poetry:
The Gift
By Li-Young Lee
To pull the metal splinter from my palm
my father recited a story in a low voice.
I watched his lovely face and not the blade.
Before the story ended, he’d removed
the iron sliver I thought I’d die from.
I can’t remember the tale,
but hear his voice still, a well
of dark water, a prayer.
And I recall his hands,
two measures of tenderness
he laid against my face,
the flames of discipline
he raised above my head.
Had you entered that afternoon
you would have thought you saw a man
planting something in a boy’s palm,
a silver tear, a tiny flame.
Had you followed that boy
you would have arrived here,
where I bend over my wife’s right hand.
Look how I shave her thumbnail down
so carefully she feels no pain.
Watch as I lift the splinter out.
I was seven when my father
took my hand like this,
and I did not hold that shard
between my fingers and think,
Metal that will bury me,
christen it Little Assassin,
Ore Going Deep for My Heart.
And I did not lift up my wound and cry,
Death visited here!
I did what a child does
when he’s given something to keep.
I kissed my father.
JOIE DE VIVRE
In the twilight of his life, facing the specter of a cancer that threatened to separate him from the joie de vivre (joy of life) he so famously celebrated in his paintings, Henri Matisse hired a young nun-to-be named Monique Bourgeois to nurse him through his recovery. Several years later and very unexpectedly, their paths would cross again, ultimately leading to a deep friendship that lasted to the end of the aging Matisse’s life. This unusual friendship also resulted in what he considered the crowning achievement of his long career: The Rosary Chapel in Vence, France. For the first time in his many decades as an artist, the notoriously agnostic Matisse explored a type of sacred joy that looked past an earthly life and toward the promise of another. As the Magi in Matthew 2 followed a star to give adoration to a King they did not know, Matisse pursued a mysterious joy, and in so doing realized what he considered his true masterpiece.
"The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
~Isaiah 9:2
Matisse’s newfound openness to exploring Christian iconography eventually led to his creation of Nuit de Noel in 1952, two years before his death. The vivid yellow star dominating the top panel of the piece is the central figure in a celestial dance, the halo of supporting casting joyous energy onto a landscape teeming with fluorescent life. With their infectious joy, the stars invite us to dance along, celebrating the emergence of a kingdom forming out of the darkness.
"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."
A face emerging in the darkness — the Lord's face — making Himself shine upon us: the image God chooses to impart to the Israelites. It was a blessing that Aaron and his descendants would repeat day after day, year after year, century after century, an unchanging affirmation of the Lord’s unshakeable covenant with his chosen people. Grace and peace, blessing and keeping, warmth and light.
And yet, in time, the priestly calling of Aaron, bestowed on him by God himself, spread past his small tribe. As a star appeared, that priestly calling flooded the world thanks to a young King, illuminated under its light in Bethlehem. A light that formed a path leading away from darkness, away from certain death. His face continues to shine on all who are called face Him. He invites us to become the supporting stars, the joyful guides, dancing with an infectious joy that compels others to join.
Prayer:
Lord, let the glory of your grace reflect from me, however dimly, and cause others to catch a glimpse of your beauty. Let me be a joy-filled beacon in the night calling others to your presence. Guide my face always toward yours. Teach me to watch your “lovely face and not the blade.” Still my heart so I can hear your voice quietly carrying me through the trials and pains of this life, toward the light of the Kingdom to come.
Amen
Luke Aleckson
Executive Director of the Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts
Professor of Art, Biola University
About the Artwork:
Nuit de Noël (Christmas Eve), 1952
Henri Matisse
Maquette: Gouache on paper on board
271.8 x 135.9 cm
Window: Stained glass
Museum of Modern Art
Manhattan, New York
Commissioned by the Time Life Company, this festive stained glass window was installed in Rockefeller Center on December 8, 1952, just in time for the holiday season. By this point in his prolific career, the 83-year-old Matisse had turned to using paper cut-outs in his art, as a result of a major surgery that left him wheelchair-bound. To make Nuit de Noël, the artist cut and pasted brightly colored paper into a preliminary maquette that was then sent to an Italian stained-glass craftsman for fabrication. In a comment to Alfred H. Barr Jr., then director of the Museum of Modern Art, Matisse compared the final, roughly 11-foot-tall window to a “performance by an orchestra.” The maquette and stained glass window were both donated by Time Life to the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
About the Artist:
Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse (1869–1954) was a French artist, known for both his use of bold color and his fluid original draughtsmanship. He was a printmaker and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter. Matisse is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso, as one of the artists who helped define the revolutionary developments in the visual arts of the twentieth century. His mastery of the expressive language of color and drawing, displayed in a body of work spanning over a half-century, won him recognition as a leading figure in modern art.
About the Music:
“Avodath an Hakodesh (Sacred Service): Part V: Yevorechechoh Adoshem” from the album Bloch: Schelomo & Avodath Hakodesh
Lyrics:
Y’vorech’cho Adonoy v’yishim’recho.
Omein.
Yo-eir Adonoy ponov eilecho vichuneko.
Omein.
Yiso Adonoy ponov eilicho,
V’yoseim l’cho sholom.
Omein.
Translation:
Now may the Lord bless you and guard you.
Amen.
And shine upon you the light of His countenance,
And be gracious unto you.
Amen.
And lift up to you His face and give you peace.
Amen.
About the Composer:
Ernest Bloch (1880–1959) was a Swiss-born American composer whose music reflects Jewish cultural and liturgical themes, as well as European post-Romantic traditions in the style of Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. Bloch’s principal training was in Frankfurt with Iwan Knorr, who most influenced Bloch's distinct musical personality. Bloch incorporated established and novel musical elements into highly dramatic scores, often influenced by philosophical, poetic, or religious themes. A master composer of music for strings, Bloch wrote four-string quartets, which are deeply emotional works and rank among the most distinguished achievements in the neo-classical and neo-romantic idiom of early 20th-century music. He was the director of the Cleveland Institute of Music and later the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Bloch composed a significant group of works on Jewish themes, among them is his sacred service “Avodath Hakodesh” which represents the full maturity of his use of music appropriate to Jewish themes and liturgy.
About the Performers:
The Swiss Radio Choir (Coro della Radio Svizzera) of Lugano, Switzerland, was founded by Edwin Löhrer in 1936 and over the years has won a worldwide reputation, particularly through radio and DVD recordings. Appearing in different forms that vary from madrigal ensembles to groupings with over sixty singers from various nations, the Choir is especially known for its performances of Renaissance and Baroque Music. The Choir has been directed since 1993 by Diego Fasolis who has further developed the Choir’s rich repertoire of concert performances and recordings.
The vocal group Cantemus is a choir of Lugano, Switzerland, founded in 1979. The choir is currently directed by Luigi Marzola. Since 2000, the choir has been known for its "Voice Workshop" for deepening individual vocal technique.
Portuguese baritone José Fardilha has performed for leading international opera houses and festivals since his debut in 1984. His most recent role was at London’s Royal Opera House during the 2016/17 season as Bartolo in The Barber of Seville.
The Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana (OSI), founded in 1935, works with the great names of orchestral conducting and with internationally acclaimed soloists, performing at major venues both in Switzerland and abroad. Consisting of forty-one permanent musicians, it has played a crucial role in the region’s musical development by helping to establish important festivals in Lugano, Locarno, and Ascona, Switzerland. The OSI has made numerous studio recordings both for radio and for important record labels such as Chandos, Hyperion, EMI and Deutsche Grammophon. Currently, the orchestra is under the direction of German conductor Markus Poschner.
About the Poet:
Li-Young Lee (b. 1957) is an Asian-American poet born in Jakarta, Indonesia, to Chinese parents. Lee's father, who was a personal physician to Mao Zedong while in China, relocated his family to Indonesia, where he helped found Gamaliel University. In 1959, the Lee family fled the country to escape anti-Chinese sentiment and finally settled in the United States in 1964. Li-Young Lee attended the University of Pittsburgh where he developed his love for writing. Classic Chinese poets, such as Li Bai and Du Fu, have influenced Lee’s writing. Many of his poems are filled with themes of simplicity, strength, and silence and are strongly influenced by his family history, childhood, and individuality.
About the Devotional Writer:
Luke Aleckson is an Assistant Professor of Art at Biola University and is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts. He received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in sculpture and a BS in art from the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, Minnesota. Past positions have included serving as Department Chair and Professor of Art and Design at the University of Northwestern and the Director of Denler Gallery in St. Paul. Past exhibitions of his artwork have been held nationally, at venues such as the Chicago Cultural Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois. He maintains an active art practice in which he explores sculpture, digital modeling, video art, and installation art.