December 8: The Prince of Peace
♫ Music:
WEEK TWO INTRODUCTION
TITLE: EXPERIENCING CHRISTMAS PEACE
December 8-14
In this age of anxiety the world seems filled with a slow but steady uncertainty that things are falling apart and on the verge of collapse. Information gleaned from technology continually bombards us with both personal and global crises. Seven hundred years before Christ, Old Testament prophets proclaimed one who would come to assuage the immobilizing fears of a troubled planet. Their message is as relevant in the 21st century as it was almost three millennia ago. Jesus, “The Prince of Peace,” came to this earth in humble circumstances and lived a life of humility in order to restore mankind’s severed relationship with God. He did this so that we might experience wholeness and peace, a peace that surpasses “all human understanding.” The inner peace that Christ provides is not of this world. It is a rest and tranquility in the midst of turmoil that can be attained only by abiding in the “God of Peace.” As we shall discover this week, peace plays a prominent role in the Advent adventure.
Sunday, December 8
Title: THE PRINCE OF PEACE
Scripture: Isaiah 52: 7, Isaiah 9: 6-7
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Poetry:
Descending Theology - The Nativity
By Mary Karr
She bore no more than other women bore,
but in her belly’s globe that desert night the earth’s
full burden swayed.
Maybe she held it in her clasped hands as expecting women often do
or monks in prayer. Maybe at the womb’s first clutch
she briefly felt that star shine
as a blade point, but uttered no curses.
Then in the stable she writhed and heard
beasts stomp in their stalls,
their tails sweeping side to side
and between contractions, her skin flinched
with the thousand animal itches that plague
a standing beast’s sleep.
But in the muted womb-world with its glutinous liquid,
the child knew nothing
of its own fire. (No one ever does, though our names
are said to be writ down before
we come to be.) He came out a sticky grub, flailing
the load of his own limbs
and was bound in cloth, his cheek brushed
with fingertip touch
so his lolling head lurched, and the sloppy mouth
found that first fullness—her milk
spilled along his throat, while his pure being
flooded her. (Each
feeds the other.) Then he was left
in the grain bin. Some animal muzzle
against his swaddling perhaps breathed him warm
till sleep came pouring that first draught
of death, the one he’d wake from
(as we all do) screaming.
THE FEET THAT COME IN PEACE
Feet stink! And they look weird. Missionaries’ feet in particular can be gnarly - toenails deformed by fungus, the contour of the skin reshaped by calluses that form over miles and miles of tough terrain. Yet our passage from Isaiah asserts, “How beautiful are the feet of them who bring glad tidings of peace!” I remember meditating on this passage once when attending a Linguistics Conference with other Wycliffe Bible Translators…and giggling as I pondered this passage while examining the feet in the room.
Feet anchor us to the earth, and therefore they get “earthy”, and dirty and muddy and even feces-coated in many parts of the globe - where sanitation means: “get that XXX out of the house and into the street.” Yet the prophet asserts, “How beautiful are the feet of them who bring glad tidings of peace!”
Jesus’ feet were beautiful once - baby smooth and sweet. Surely Mother Mary kissed them over and over again as she tended and cleaned her baby boy: “Sweet feet, sweet little feet.” But she’d have known the reality of the dirt and splinters that were coming once He started walking in that carpenter’s home. His feet would grow and change, and be changed by the pounding of the earth as He traveled dusty roads proclaiming the Good News of peace.
Jesus cared about feet, too. There are a surprising number of stories about Jesus and feet:
Walking on water, hiking from village to village, disciples listening at His feet, having His feet washed with tears, and of course– Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, knowing that His own feet would soon make their last journey in the dirt, and soon be ripped and shredded by nails on the cross. Our icon shows us the reality of where the nail scars are now permanently present and on display there on His glorified body: Jesus in Heaven, seated at God’s right hand, His work completed. Jesus is still fully God and fully man. Fully human! There in Heaven are His feet, scars and all. There are His beautiful feet that were worn and torn as He proclaimed God’s salvation, and torn open by the nails as He became God’s salvation. There are His wounds that brought and bought our peace.
Think of the incarnation miracle represented by Jesus’ feet! Consider this Advent the action of our great Savior who humbly poured Himself into the body of a Man complete with earthy feet. He literally took on the form of His dirty creation! The Creator joined His creation in order to re-create new life for us through His sacrifice of His body. Ponder the mystery of the molecules of His skin cells and sweat and blood becoming part of the humus and DNA of this world, this cosmos. Bow and worship this Lord.
And remember that His feet will once more walk this Earth. He will return to rule and reign and save all of us who have believed the message carried by those with beautiful feet. Know today, that as you go and tell the Good News of Peace into the dirty street – your feet are beautiful. Our song today provides great walking music, so sing as you go. As you go, you are presenting your body to God just like He presented His body to you: you are being like Jesus. We “image” our Lord Jesus in this way. We are a people of peace with beautiful feet.
Prayer:
Lord, I present myself to you, including my feet. Send me where You want, to proclaim Your peace and Your presence today.
Amen.
Betsy A Barber, PsyD
Associate Director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation
Associate Professor of Spirituality and Psychology
Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Christ the Prince of Peace, the Universal Ruler (2 views)
Gabriel Chávez de la Mora, O.S.B.
1987
Acrylic and gold leaf on wood
8ft x 8ft
Prince of Peace Abbey
Oceanside, California
Christ the Prince of Peace, the Universal Ruler is located in the Prince of Peace Abbey Chapel at a Roman Catholic Benedictine Monastery, located in Oceanside, California. Placed beneath the wooden panel of Christ is a granite block engraved with two titles: “Pantokrator,” a Greek word meaning “Universal King” and “Princeps Pacis,” Latin for “Prince of Peace.” Christ holds a book opened to the word “PAX,” Latin for “Peace.” The figure of Christ is inscribed within a thin circle symbolizing eternity and the entirety of creation. Within it, there is a symbolic representations of the sun, the moon, the winds, and the stars. The cross, representing salvation, symbolically extends to the ends of the universe. Symbols of the four evangelists are found in each corner: the ox for St. Luke, the lion for St. Mark, the eagle for St. John, and the man for St. Matthew. Circular arcs of red and gold are traced in a rectangular form around the figure of Christ. Red is often used in Christian iconography to depict the humanity of Jesus and gold represents his divinity. Christ's head and left foot extend beyond this linear boundary; Christ is God and man, and exists beyond all limitations of time, creation, and space.
https://www.princeofpeaceabbey.org/
About the Artist:
Fr. Gabriel Chávez de la Mora, O.S.B. (b. 1929) is a Benedictine monk and renowned Mexican architect dedicated to the design, renovation, and restoration of religious and sacred architecture. He began his studies in civil engineering at the School of Engineering of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico. In 1948, when the School of Architecture was opened at the University of Guadalajara, Fr. Gabriel became one of the first generation of architects graduating from the institution. In 1957, he took his monastic vows at the Benedictine Monastery of Santa María de la Resurrección in Ahuacatitlán, Cuernavaca, Mexico. Between 1973 and 1976, he participated in the building of the New Basilica of Guadalupe. In 1980 construction for the Prince of Peace Abbey Chapel, designed by Fr. Gabriel, was begun.
About the Music:
“Hail to the Lord’s Anointed” from the album Welcome to The Welcome Wagon
Lyrics:
Hail to the Lord's Anointed,
Great David's greater Son!
Hail, in the time appointed,
His reign on earth begun!
He comes to break oppression,
To set the captive free,
To take away transgression,
And rule in equity.
He comes, with succor speedy,
To those who suffer wrong;
To help the poor and needy,
And bid the weak be strong;
To give them songs for sighing,
Their darkness turn to light,
Whose souls, condemned and dying,
Were precious in his sight.
He shall come down like showers
Upon the fruitful earth;
Love, joy, and hope, like flowers,
Spring in his path to birth;
Before him, on the mountains,
Shall peace the herald go;
And righteousness, like fountains,
From hill to valley flow.
To him shall prayer unceasing
And daily vows ascend,
His kingdom still increasing,
A kingdom without end.
The tide of time shall never
His covenant remove;
His name shall stand for ever,
His Name alone is love.
About the Composers/Performers:
Welcome Wagon is a Gospel/Indie pop band from Brooklyn, New York. The group consists of Presbyterian minister Thomas Vito Aiuto and his wife, Monique. Their debut album, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon, was produced in 2008 by musician/singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. Vito Aiuto heads the Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, New York, which he started in 2005. The duo's debut album, Welcome to the Welcome Wagon, is a collection of intricate Christian folk songs that are modest and melodic renditions of sacred songs, delivered with "the simple desire to know their Maker—and to know each other—more intimately."
https://asthmatickitty.com/artists/the-welcome-wagon/
About the Poet:
Mary Karr (b. 1955) is an American poet, essayist, and memoirist from Texas. She rose to fame in 1995 with the publication of her bestselling memoir The Liars' Club. She is the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature at Syracuse University in Lima, New York. Her memoir The Liars' Club, which delves vividly into her deeply troubled childhood, was followed by two additional memoirs, Cherry and Lit: A Memoir, which detail her "journey from blackbelt sinner and lifelong agnostic to unlikely Catholic." Karr won the 1989 Whiting Award for her poetry, was a Guggenheim Fellow in poetry in 2005, and won several Pushcart Prizes for both her poetry and essays. Her poems have appeared in major literary magazines such as Poetry, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic Monthly.
https://www.marykarr.com/
About the Devotion Writer:
Betsy Barber, PsyD
Associate Director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation
Associate Professor of Spirituality and Psychology
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Betsy Barber has a clinical practice with specialization in the soul care and mental health of Christian workers. She teaches courses in spiritual formation, soul care, missions, maturity, and marital relationships. She has particular interest in spiritual formation and supervision of students in spiritual direction and mentoring. She has worked with her husband as a missionary in Bible translation and counseling ministries for 24 years. In addition to being a licensed clinical psychologist, she has background and training in spiritual direction.