December 14: Perfect Peace
♫ Music:
Saturday, December 14
Title: PERFECT PEACE
Scripture: Philippians 4: 4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, take pleasure in Him]; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit [your graciousness, unselfishness, mercy, tolerance, and patience] be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God. And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours]. Finally, believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.
Poetry:
What Was Told, That
by Rumi
(translated by Coleman Barks)
What was said to the rose that made it open was said
to me here in my chest.
What was told the cypress that made it strong
and straight, what was
whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made
sugarcane sweet, whatever
was said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil in
Turkestan that makes them
so handsome, whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush
like a human face, that is
being said to me now. I blush. Whatever put eloquence in
language, that's happening here.
The great warehouse doors open; I fill with gratitude,
chewing a piece of sugarcane,
in love with the one to whom every that belongs!
MAKING ROOM FOR CHRIST’S PERFECT PEACE
“Don’t Worry,” says Martin Creed. He’ll say it again too; no less than seven works of neon light with this message emerge throughout his career. Within a body of work made up of almost involuntary, reflexive gestures, “Don’t Worry” must be a theme he can’t get away from. Whether it’s Creed’s “Don’t Worry” or Paul’s “Do not be worried or anxious about anything,” we all find it a difficult thing to hear; let alone to obey.
But let’s not deceive ourselves. God’s peace is not given to the peaceful. Rest is reserved only for the tired and troubled. These conditions, however, are usually the last things that we want to admit about ourselves. We hope that God might not see us as exhausted and as anxious as we secretly know that we are. Despite our best efforts, however, he knows. He sees us as we are and moves toward us in grace. God’s peace meets us in the blur, in the noise, and in the unease.
Indeed, Christ’s word of peace is only a word for those who worry and those who ache. It’s for those who are unable to avoid the grief they feel or cover over the emptiness that sorrow has hollowed out inside of them. Christ seeks out this emptiness carved out by loss and hurt, because it’s the holy place where God intends to meet with us. In fact, he has allowed us to experience this depleting sorrow for exactly this reason. To fill up our emptiness with himself. As hard as it may be to believe, God permits this hollowing out just so there’s more room within us for his peace. So, stop and receive it as such. Just pause before your own emptiness and wait. Don’t be tempted to feel the need to do something with it. If at all possible, let it be; so that patience with the pain can become, quite simply, a portal for God’s peace.
Advent invites us to a deeper waiting, and as often as not, Advent’s waiting will not be quiet, calm, or nice. Waiting demands patience, and we have precious little to spare. But Christ’s peace is already ours, especially when we know ourselves to be anything but quiet, calm, or nice. We long for the peace “which transcends all understanding,” but we don’t really know what that looks like. Perhaps, that kind of peace is just the patience of trusting Christ’s own words that, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” That simple patience has the ability to change everything. Consider, then, the words of Adel Azer Bestravros, the Egyptian theologian and servant of the Coptic Church:
Patience with God is faith.
Patience with self is hope.
Patience with others is love.
Trust that the good that God can do with our patience is far more beautiful than anything we could achieve on our own. Patience is all he asks today, because patience makes room for Christ’s perfect peace: “Where peace flows in; and joy pours out.” But if you can’t help it and if you really must do something, then, just sing. Singing really helps with the waiting.
Prayer:
“Give us your peace, Lord, and give us grace to sing the pilgrim songs you have given us; so that anticipating the day in which you will bring us home and all will say, “The Lord has done great things for them!” we may trust the promise of your word that those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy and those who go out weeping with seed to sow will return singing and carrying their harvest with them. Through Jesus Christ, our Emmanuel, we pray.
Amen.”
– adapted from Psalm 126
Taylor Worley
Associate Professor of Faith and Culture
at Trinity International University
Deerfield, Illinois
About the Artwork:
Work No. 890 DON’T WORRY
Martin Creed
Neon lights
2008
505 mm x 500 mm x 60 mm
Tate and National Galleries of Scotland, UK
Work No.890 DON’T WORRY consists of the phrase ‘DON’T WORRY’ spelled out in yellow neon capital letters. The work is always displayed in a corner so that the word ‘WORRY’ is hung on the adjacent wall to the word ‘DON’T’ at the same height. As is the case with many of Creed’s artworks, Work No. 890 DON’T WORRY is one of a series of almost identical works. The work is a reminder to cast our cares upon the Lord in prayer, trusting that He knows about every problem and circumstance of our lives.
About the Artist:
Martin Creed (b. 1968) is a contemporary British musician and artist known for his challenging installations that incorporate everyday objects. Creed studied painting at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. In 2001 Creed won the Turner Prize, the UK's prestigious prize for contemporary art with his installation entitled Work No. 227: The lights going on and off (2000) - which consisted of an empty room in which the lights switch alternately on and off. Creed's win of the Turner Prize provoked questions about the installation art as a true art form. Creed also fronts a rock band, Owada, which performs internationally and sometimes plays a part in some of his artwork. The artist currently lives and works in London. Today, his works are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, and the Tate Gallery in London, among other institutions.
http://www.martincreed.com/
About the Music:
“Joy Pours Out” from the album Be Held
Lyrics:
Peace you leave me, peace you give me
A gift no one can give
A kind that fills your heart, and makes you sing
And from the first, You have loved me
And I am in Your keep
So home to Your safe harbour, take me
Won't You come, and lay my weary heart down down
Where Your peace flows wide, at that river's mouth
Won't You come, and lay my weary heart down down
Where Your peace flows in, and Your joy pours out
You know I need a place to hide, and here I am again
Your quiet whisper leads me here
And here is where I remember, that You led me here before
And oh how I love knowing Your name
Where Your peace flows in, and Your joy pours out
That's when the joy pours out
That's when the joy pours out
That's when the joy pours out
When the peace flow in, and the joy pours out
Where Your peace flows in, and Your joy pours out
Jesus Your peace flows in, and Your joy
Where Your joy pours out
About the Composers:
Julie Clark and Christy Nockels
Julie Clark is an award-winning songwriter and vocalist with a sound that is direct yet full of emotion. Her original songs touch on the human experiences of love and lust; heartbreak and obsession; and the struggle between temptation and commitment. She was awarded First Place in the Great American Song Contest in the Folk/Acoustic category, was named Folk/Acoustic Artist of the Year at the Virginia Music Awards, and has received numerous honors in The John Lennon International Songwriting Competition. Clark maintains a busy touring schedule of performances at premiere festivals and clubs. “I love it when people are moved by songs I’ve shared with them,” Clark explains, “That human connection is what keeps me going. It keeps me driving long distances and striving to reach my potential as an artist, and as a person.”
https://julieclark.net/
About the Performer/Composer:
A worship leader for many years, Christy Nockels (b.1973) knows how music can usher people into the presence of God in powerful ways. As the daughter of a pastor, she grew up singing in church. In 1993 she met her husband, Nathan, and they went on to record an independent record with fellow worship leader Charlie Hall under the name Sons & Daughters. Christy’s voice gained a national prominence when she and Nathan formed the duo Watermark, recording four acclaimed albums before Christy’s solo career. Nockels released her acclaimed solo debut, Life Light Up and spent much of the next two years touring with musician and singer Chris Tomlin. On her newest album, Let It Be Jesus, Christy’s prayer is "to further explore Biblical truths that elevate worship and bring Christians closer to the Creator. "
https://christynockels.com/
About the Poet:
Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273), known as Rumi, was born in Afghanistan. Rumi was descended from a long line of theologians and mystics. When Rumi was a young man, his family settled in present-day Turkey, where Rumi lived and wrote most of his life. When his father died in 1231, Rumi became head of a madrasah or spiritual learning community. Rumi's mourning for the loss of a friend, Shams Tabriz, led to an outpouring of more than 40,000 verses, including odes, eulogies, quatrains, and other styles of Eastern-Islamic poetry. The resulting collection, The Works of Shams Tabriz, is considered one of Rumi's masterpieces and one of the greatest works of Persian literature. For the last twelve years of his life, Rumi dictated a single poem to his scribe resulting in the masterwork, the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi (Spiritual Verses)) which consists of sixty-four thousand lines, and is considered Rumi's most personal work of spiritual teaching.
https://poets.org/poet/jalal-al-din-rumi
About the Devotion Writer:
Taylor Worley
Associate Professor of Faith and Culture
Associate Vice President of Spiritual Life and University Ministries
Trinity International University
Deerfield, Illinois
Taylor Worley serves as Associate Vice President of Spiritual Life and University Ministries as well as Associate Professor of Faith and Culture at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois. He completed a Ph.D. in the areas of contemporary art and theological aesthetics at the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Taylor is married to Anna, and they have four children: Elizabeth, Quinn, Graham, and Lillian.