December 31: The Ascension of Christ
♫ Music:
Day 33 - Thursday, December 31
Title: THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST
Scripture: Psalm 68:18
Thou art gone up on high: Thou has led captivity captive, and received gifts for men; yea, even from your enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them.
Poetry:
The Bat
by Jane Kenyon
I was reading about rationalism,
the kind of thing we do up north
in early winter, where the sun
leaves work for the day at 4:15
Maybe the world is intelligible
to the rational mind;
and maybe we light the lamps at dusk
for nothing…
Then I heard the wings overhead.
The cats and I chased the bat
in circles—living room, kitchen,
pantry, kitchen, living room…
At every turn it evaded us
like the identity of the third person
in the Trinity: the one
who spoke through the prophets,
the one who astounded Mary
by suddenly coming near.
TO THE (UN)FINISHED 2020
How do you say goodbye (good riddance?) to a year like 2020? Certainly a year that took more than it gave.
At the time of this writing, I mostly feel like I want a mulligan, a free year to get back the joys and experiences that I lost (I don’t think my eldest daughter would elect to start her senior year of high school over, however much it has been flattened, but it might be a close call). But it doesn’t work that way, loss is loss, time has no mercy.
The last day of any year is a moment to take stock of how we have changed, those who have changed us, and of what we will leave behind when we have no more “new” years. But such reflection has been difficult in a year which has mingled fears over basic survival and the pain of systemic racism with such immediate, mundane worries as the scarcity of toilet paper, the (dis)comfort and fashion of face coverings, and mortal concerns over one’s internet bandwidth.
So, let’s all take a few minutes of silence to reflect on 2020 as we look at today’s artwork.
Despite being painted on a thin parchment substrate, this small painting has survived in the world for almost 600 years now, and a number of those years have been harder than 2020. This liturgical manuscript painting was designed by Lorenzo Monaco (Lorenzo the Monk) around 1410, but it wasn’t completed until 1431 by two lesser known artists, for Lorenzo Monaco had died of an infection, probably in 1424.
As an artist, I am touched by this faithful, posthumous realization of the artist’s design. It was the image, and its function within the worship community, that mattered more than its execution by any particular hand. These days it is hard to imagine such a handing-off of my paintings, so tied are they to my individual and idiosyncratic being in the world. Thus I feel driven to finish all that I can before the end of any given year, and the end of all my years.
How appropriate that a painting completed by the hands of others depicts the moment where Jesus bodily ascends, leaving others to be his Body, to realize his work. We know the rest of this story, the Holy Spirit will come, but this departure was and is still shocking. No doubt the disciples felt confusion and loss at this moment, right alongside awe and incredulity. The conflicting gestures and postures of the witnesses in Monaco’s design suggest some of these responses. In physically leaving Jesus demonstrated and affirmed the inherent limits of humanity, and in another startling act of humility, he left some unfinished work for them (and us) to do.
Perhaps in 2020, more than in any of my years, I have looked to the sky for answers, for direction, for any sort of reprieve or solace. I have strained against limitations, both imposed and inherent, felt the anxious ache of losing time and experience. I have survived, and not finished much. Yet we know that faith truly lives as we travel toward a destination we will not see, and in the work whose final form will not be realized until the Son of Man returns. As it is with Christ at the moment of his ascension, so it also is with us. And when he returns, may he find us faithful.
Prayer
Son of Man,
I look to sky, longing for your return,
because I am aware that, despite all my efforts,
I can’t add a single day to my life,
let alone a year.
Thank you for not giving me the power over to do so.
Thank you for the unfinished work you left for me.
Thank you for the unfinished work I will leave for others.
Thank you for being my righteousness.
Teach me to be faithful
to all sorts of work
in all sorts of weather.
Amen
Jonathan Puls
Chair of the Art Department
Associate Professor of Art History and Painting
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:
Initial V: The Ascension
Lorenzo Monaco
c. 1410
Completed c. 1431 by Zanobi di Benedetto Strozzi and Battista di Biagio Sanguini
Tempera and gold on parchment
40.2 × 32.7 cm
J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, California
The twelve apostles gather at the center of this elaborate letter V and gaze up in amazement at Christ, who rises into heaven on a blue cloud. The upward sweeping motion of the colorful acanthus leaves that climb up the letter reflects and enhances Christ's movement upward. While the figures' gestures and vibrant drapery are naturalistically portrayed, the scene is set against a highly polished gold background, which lends it an otherworldly feeling. This elaborate initial, which originally began the chant for the feast of the Ascension, came from a large gradual made for the Monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence, of which Lorenzo Monaco, the designer of this image, was a member. Zanobi di Benedetto Strozzi and Battista di Biagio Sanguini probably completed the initial more than a decade later.
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/223038/designed-by-lorenzo-monaco-and-completed-by-zanobi-di-benedetto-strozzi-and-battista-di-biagio-sanguini-initial-v-the-ascension-italian-designed-about-1410-completed-about-1431/
About the Artist:
Lorenzo Monaco (c.1370–c.1425) was one of the most important Florentine artists of the first quarter of the 1400s, the late Gothic-early Renaissance age. Although his given name was Piero di Giovanni, he adopted the name Lorenzo a year after he entered the Monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Florence. He is known primarily as a panel painter, but he also worked in the medium of fresco. Scholars believe he designed miniatures in illuminated manuscripts. Later in his career, he ran a large workshop outside the monastery and often collaborated with other artists. Monaco's work is characterized by softly modeled figures and vibrant colors set against gold grounds.
https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/5864/lorenzo-monaco-italian-about-1370-1423-or-1424/
Music #1:
“His Name is "The Lord Is Our Righteousness" from the album The Fullness of Time
Lyrics:
Praise the Redeemer, whose dauntless grace
Captives enthralled in a far-off place
Bought from their masters and brought to dwell|
Close by His mercy’s brimming well.
O let the rescued their Savior bless.
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
Praise to the Shepherd, the hope and stay
Of those whom sinfulness led astray.
Up from perdition He guides our feet,
Up into pastures green and sweet.
Come by the Gate into joy and rest.
Its name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
Praise the Messiah, Anointed One,
In the flesh come to us, God’s own Son.
Blest is the life that in Him abides
Who was for sinners crucified.
With hearts we believe and with tongues confess,
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
Praise to the Father whose favor rests
On us, who loved what His heart detests.
Even in wrath does His grace abound
To draw us upward from the ground.
Drawn into life by His sweet duress,
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
Praise to the Light by all light adored,
And with the angels proclaim Him Lord,
Lifted by love into lofts of peace,
Where streams of worship never cease.
All things in unified praise profess,
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
His name is “The LORD is our Righteousness.”
Performer and Arranger:
Jack Franicevich is preparing for ordination to the Sacred Order of Priests in the ACNA. He graduated from Biola and the Torrey Honors College with a B.S. in business ('15), Denver Seminary with an M.Div. ('20), and the Theopolis Institute with an Advanced Certificate in Biblical, Liturgical & Cultural Studies ('20). He is finishing an STM degree at Nashotah House, where he is researching liturgical and political theology in Exodus and Leviticus. In his free time, he tries to pursue his interests in harmonic theory, American thought, liturgy and worship in Scripture, and friendship.
Download his free EP here: https://jackfranicevich.bandcamp.com/releases
Lyricist:
Joshua Patch graduated from Biola in 2014 with a degree in English. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in Literature at the University of Dallas, where he is studying the English Renaissance. An amateur songwriter and poet, Joshua’s writing will appear in an upcoming issue of the Solum Literary Journal. He is married to Hannah (Biola 2015) and they have a newborn daughter, Ruth Marie.
Composer:
Joshua Patch, arr. by Jack Franicevich and Chris Waters
Christopher Waters is a former middle school humanities teacher who has just returned to America after completing an MA in Biblical Studies at Durham University. He grew up in Connecticut, went to college in Michigan, taught for six years in Phoenix, AZ, and has now moved to the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina to pursue training as a hospital chaplain after feeling a call to this vocation while completing a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education last Spring. In his spare time, Chris enjoys working on music projects, taking road trips, reading books, and going on adventures with his brothers.
Music #2:
Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 2: 13. Thou Art Gone Up On High
Lyrics:
Thou art gone up on high:
Thou has led captivity captive,
and received gifts for men;
yea, even from your enemies,
that the Lord God might dwell among them.
Messiah Performers/Musicians/Lyricists/Composer:
Unless otherwise noted, all Messiah performances are by Margaret Marshall, Catherine Robbin, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, Robert Hale, Charles Brett, Saul Quirke, the English Baroque Soloists, and the Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Biographical information for the performers and musicians can be found by clicking here.
About the Poet:
New Hampshire's poet laureate at the time of her untimely death at age forty-seven, Jane Kenyon (1947-1995) was noted for verse that probed the inner psyche, particularly with regard to her battle against depression that lasted throughout much of her adult life. Kenyon wrote for the last two decades of her life at her farm in northern New England and is remembered for her stoic portraits of domestic and rural life. Essayist Gary Roberts noted in Contemporary Women Poets, that her poetry was "acutely faithful to the familiarities and mysteries of home life, and it is distinguished by intense calmness in the face of routine disappointments and tragedies."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jane-kenyon
About the Devotion Author:
Jonathan Puls
Chair of the Art Department
Associate Professor of Art History and Painting
Biola University
Jonathan Puls (MFA, MA) is a painter, writer, and family man. He teaches drawing, painting, and art history courses in Biola’s Department of Art and currently serves as its Chair. Jonathan enjoys encouraging artists of all ages and kinds, and he tries to take all seriousness seriously. Puls also loves supporting creative work in all the arts at Biola and in the larger community. He, his wife, and his two daughters are constantly engaged in various visual art, music, and theater projects.