December 30: My Redeemer Lives
♫ Music:
Day 32 - Wednesday, December 30
Title: MY REDEEMER LIVES
Scripture: Psalm 16:10; Job 19:25-26
But thou didst not leave His soul in hell; nor didst thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption. I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.
Poetry:
From "In Memoriam A.H.H. "
by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer,
Nor other thought her mind admits
But, he was dead, and there he sits,
And he that brought him back is there.
Then one deep love doth supersede
All other, when her ardent gaze
Roves from the living brother's face,
And rests upon the Life indeed.
All subtle thought, all curious fears,
Borne down by gladness so complete,
She bows, she bathes the Saviour's feet
With costly spikenard and with tears.
Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers,
Whose loves in higher love endure;
What souls possess themselves so pure,
Or is there blessedness like theirs?
MY REDEEMER LIVES
This year of our LORD 2020 demonstrably revealed our fragilities and wanderings as the Covid-19 viral pandemic raised its ugly head. Our confidence in technology, leadership, governance, policies, and the systems and structures underpinning our society faltered. The pandemic exposed the broken social, political, economical, and spiritual underbelly of the greatest country in the world. While debate about what to do, who’s to blame, and what leader will arise to save us rages on, we are confronted by our Scriptural interlocutors, David and Job, who cry for attention from the depths of their own personal scourge and affliction.
Woe to us if we have not already cried with David “Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You…You are my Lord; I have no good besides you” (Psalm 16:1,2). His plea guides us his fellow desperados to the only source of true salvation, the LORD. It is not Sheol itself that stirs utmost fear; no, David’s cry magnifies the fear of abandonment in the midst of great suffering. We are afraid of being alone in the valley of the shadow of death. Only the LORD stands by his promise to be with us while sufferer in life, even unto death. That’s a promise no politician, no scientist, no vaccine, no leader, no family member nor friend, can keep. That’s the promise David clings to, for he will not be abandoned, come Sheol or high water. The LORD’s promise is sure – no one can flee his presence, not the Holiest One nor those made holy by the sprinkling of blood.
Likewise Job, the archetypical suffering soul in body and spirit, is the object of his friend Bildad’s analysis (“His strength is depleted, disaster lies ready for him to stumble. Parts of his skin are eaten away…Job 18:12-13a). Job is abandoned by friends who cannot manufacture no matter how hard they try a measure of empathy in the onslaught. “God is persecuting me, will you also?” Job questions them (19:22). We’re likewise quite smart as we offer each other platitudes like “we follow the science”, or fist-bumps instead of hand-shakes, or head-shakes at those who still do hand-shakes. But even the best of friendships suffer when social distancing, isolation, and unknown dangers lurk.
Yet Job knew what his Redeemer would do when the dust of death had settled, when the science would be laid bare having done the best it could do (for which we are all thankful!). When his skin had been destroyed, Job knew that he would see His Redeemer living, standing firm in that very dust, not as a stranger (19:27) but as a true friend. Job’s friends offered their advice and counsel out of their own frailty while Job wasted away. Job’s Redeemer offered himself voluntarily out of his own frailty. The friend who would die would be the redeemer who would save. We too are saved to see God in our present devastation and dwell with the living Redeemer safe and secure. We too are saved to offer ourselves in love to our neighbors as we love ourselves, to dwell with them in their misery. For this year of our LORD 2020 is the year he came to dwell anew with us.
Prayer:
We know that our Redeemer lives. We are desperate for you. May your love cast out the fear raging in our souls. May the scourge that envelopes us, the pervasive loneliness of our pain and haunting abandonment, be the very dust we stand in with you, proclaiming your glory, nearness, and healing love.
In the name of Jesus,
Amen.
Greg Enas, Ph.D.
Biola Alum 1978
Co-founder Citizen 7 Indy, Polk Stables, Indianapolis Guild
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:
Easter Panels: (l to r)
The Angel at the Tomb
Christ’s Victory over the Gates of Hell and Death
Christ Appearing to Mary in the Garden
The Angel Guarding the Entrance to Paradise
About the Artist:
Tanja Butler (b. 1955) was born in Germany and moved to the United States as a young girl. She received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Albany. Her artistic practice has focused on liturgical art, illustration, and community service projects. She is inspired by Byzantine icons, American and European folk art, Persian manuscripts and textile patterns, African art, Early Christian art, Russian Suprematist paintings, Cubism and Fauvist color. Informed by studies in art history and time working in Italy, she was particularly influenced by the frescoes of Fra Angelico in the Monastery of San Marco in Florence. Her collection of 600 graphic images, Icon: Visual Images for Every Sunday, was published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Her work is included in the collections of the Vatican Museum of Contemporary Religious Art; the Billy Graham Center Museum at Wheaton; the Boston Public Library; the DeCordova Museum; and the Armand Hammer Museum of Art, UCLA. In 2014 she retired from her position as an associate professor of art at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, where she taught painting, drawing, liturgical art, and illustration and frequently integrated service opportunities in her courses.
www.tanjabutler.com
Music #1:
“Hayat (Life)” from the album Home (Deluxe Edition)
Lyrics:
(Chorus in Arabic)
Hope’s alive
I can feel it flood my mind
Like a rising sun, like it’s just begun
With hope in Life
There’s a dream coming alive in me
I can feel the love that is strong enough
To set me free
Waves in my heart wind in my sail
Puts me in a place where Love will prevail
There is Love
There is Hope
There is Peace
Performers:
Charles Jones is a phenomenal pianist and vocalist, as well as music producer. The Los Angeles-based artist has worked and toured with Andra Day and groups like Vulfpeck, ScaryPockets, and worship collective United Pursuit.
https://twitter.com/imcharlesjones
Souzda Ammo is a refugee from Afrin, Syria. She tried to outlast the war in Syria, but as a hospital worker she was constantly exposed to shelling and violence. Worn down, she eventually fled to Lebanon. Once there, Souzda met record composer-producer Jay Denton, whose life mission is to give a voice through music to those whose voices are silenced. The album For Home, recorded in Beirut and Los Angeles, originated to help Syrian and Iraqi refugees be heard. It provided a space for them to communicate the grief of being far from home alongside the reality of deep hope for the future.
https://www.facebook.com/souzdaammo/
https://www.unhcr.org/refugeebrief/the-refugee-brief-9-december-2019/#:~:text=When%20Souzda%20Ammo%20fled%20her,producer%20and%20singer%20Jay%20Denton.
Composers/Lyricists:
Charles Jones, James Arthur Denton, and Souzda Ammo
James Arthur Denton is an American singer/songwriter/producer who combines genre-blending styles with storytelling lyrics and dynamic melodies. After a couple years songwriting in Nashville and touring with The Band Perry, he returned to LA to record and release his first full album debut, Locked. His music gained exposure through shows such as The Walking Dead, Sons of Anarchy, and The Bachelor, as well as ESPN and the Olympics. This gave Denton the opportunity to start his own studio, ENDURE Studios, in Los Angeles. In 2019 Denton traveled back and forth to Lebanon and wrote/recorded an album with Syrian refugees in Beirut. Returning to the US, he paired up the songs with US based artists in LA to create a global album blending languages, styles, and stories. The full deluxe edition album, For Home, was released in 2020 with a documentary about the project. Denton continues to write and produce both for the ENDURE Studios artists and himself and he is planning the next international project in East Africa in 2021.
https://www.jaydenton.com/
Music #2:
Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 3: 1. I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
Lyrics:
But thou didst not leave His soul in hell;
nor didst thou suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.
I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though after my skin worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh shall I see God.
Performer:
Adele Addison (b. 1925) is an African-American lyric soprano who performed in the classical music world during the 1950s and 1960s. Although she did appear in several operas, Addison spent most of her career performing in recital and concert. Her performances spanned a wide array of music from the Baroque period to contemporary compositions. She is best remembered today as the singing voice for Bess (played by Dorothy Dandridge) in the 1959 movie, Porgy and Bess. Known for her polished and fluent tone, she can be heard on numerous recordings. Many of her recordings were made with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Leonard Bernstein.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_Addison
About the Poet:
Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was a British poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. He published his first solo collection of poems, Poems Chiefly Lyrical, in 1830. Although decried by some critics as overly sentimental, his verse soon proved popular and brought Tennyson to the attention of well-known writers of the day. Tennyson's early poetry, with its medievalism and powerful visual imagery, was a major influence on the Pre-Raphaelites. As source material for his poetry, Tennyson used a wide range of subject matter extending from medieval legends to classical myths and from domestic situations to observations of nature. Few poets have used such a variety of styles with such an exact understanding of metre; like many Victorian poets, he experimented in adapting the quantitative metres of Greek and Latin poetry to English. He also expressed a concern common among Victorian writers about the conflict between religious faith and expanding scientific knowledge. A common thread of grief, melancholy, and loss connects much of his poetry, possibly reflecting Tennyson's own lifelong struggle with debilitating depression. T. S. Eliot famously described Tennyson as "the saddest of all English poets,” whose technical mastery of verse and language provided a "surface" to his poetry's "depths, to the abyss of sorrow".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred,_Lord_Tennyson
About the Devotion Author:
Greg Enas, Ph.D.
Co-founder of Citizen 7 Indy, Polk Stables,
Indianapolis Guild of Redemptive Entrepreneurs
Dr. Greg Enas is a Biola alumnus (1978) and the husband of Kim and father of Chris, Bryan (Lidia), and Doug. Outside their home, a menagerie of cats and a puppy, he serves alongside his friends as Vice Chair of Chorus Inc. (https://chorusinc.com ) and co-founder of a number of ventures including Citizen 7 Indy (https://www.citizen7indy.com ), Polk Stables (https://www.polkgroup.org/polk-stables), and the Indianapolis Guild of redemptive entrepreneurs associated with Praxis (https://home.praxislabs.org).