December 11: Praise God for His Everlasting Mercy
♫ Music:
Day 14 - Saturday, December 11
Title: PRAISE GOD FOR HIS EVERLASTING MERCY
Scripture: Psalm 118:1-4, 28-29
Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let Israel now say,
“His mercy endures forever.” Let the house of Aaron now say, “His mercy endures forever.”
Let those who fear the Lord now say, “His mercy endures forever.” You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Poetry:
Rock Me, Mercy
by Yusef Komunyakaa
The river stones are listening
because we have something to say.
The trees lean closer today.
The singing in the electrical woods
has gone dumb. It looks like rain
because it is too warm to snow.
Guardian angels, wherever you're hiding,
we know you can't be everywhere at once.
Have you corralled all the pretty wild
horses? The memory of ants asleep
in daylilies, roses, holly, & larkspur.
The magpies gaze at us, still
waiting. River stones are listening.
But all we can say now is,
Mercy, please, rock me.
GOD’S MERCY COMES
In seasons of challenge (and, wowza this has been one) my default response is to shrink, cover, and protect. When my uncertainty about the unknown clashes with that general atmosphere of anxiety, fear, and tragedy that has pervaded these last couple of years, I move to self-preservation.
My internal posture of crouching self-preservation lies in sharp contrast to the woman in Hanny Naibaho’s photograph. She stands in an open field, removed from the protective cover of the forest, arms wide and chest unprotected. She stands vulnerable to danger. And, she stands open to mercy.
Her posture is much like Mary’s. On hearing the angel—what I imagine would have been, at least in part, a terrifying experience—Mary’s response was not to shrink, cover and protect. On hearing that she would become pregnant without yet being married she did not turn away. Instead, she worshiped, arms open wide on behalf of the lowly, the poor, the humble, and those who fear the name of God (Luke 1:46-55). Mary stood open to mercy.
The Hebrew word translated as “mercy” in today’s Psalm has a wide and profound meaning. The word contains a sense of our Creator God’s lovingkindness as he regards the needs of his people. It speaks of the abundance of God’s goodness and favor and kindness upon all of creation. “Love,” “mercy,” and “lovingkindness” are interchangeable in various translations of Psalm 118 and other passages praising this aspect of God’s character. Mercy, we come to discover throughout scripture, is central to the character of God. In times of uncertainty, anxiety and fear, we are invited to open to God’s mercy, because God’s mercy comes.
The Richard Smallwood Singers’ rendition of Psalm 118 holds the contradictions of fear and anxiety alongside worship of God in his enduring mercy, as major and minor notes and riffs interweave in a slow build of praise. Smallwood has been public about his long season of debilitating clinical depression, and the ways God’s mercy carried him through the kindness of others. He composes and sings of what he knows. Written in the wake of the 2012 elementary school shooting at Sandy Hook, Yusef Komunyakaa’s poem holds the tension of tragedy, sorrow, and fear alongside God’s mercy, as all creation waits, listening, “because we have something to say.” Here, Komunyakaa does not stand in his openness to God’s mercy; his openness is expressed while curled in pain: “Mercy, please rock me.”
Naibaho’s photograph, Mary’s story, Smallwood’s song, and Komunyakaa’s poem offer postures of openness to God’s mercy. Whether arms outstretched or bodies curled in sorrow, God’s mercy and love and kindness come to us in the midst of the challenge, fear, anxiety, and sorrow. God’s mercy comes.
Prayer:
Lord God, your mercy endures forever.
Today holds joys and sorrows, goodness and hardship, peace and tension, and in the midst of these things, your mercy comes.
Whether we stand with arms outstretched or curled with the pain of the day, we open to your kindness and love, because your mercy comes.
Amen.
Devotion Author:
Lisa Igram
Dean of Student Wellness
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Exhale
Hanny Naibah
Color photograph
About the Artist:
Hanny Naibah is a professional photographer located in Jacarta.
Instagram: hannynaibaho
About the Music:
“His Mercy Endureth Forever (Psalm 118)” from the album Testimony
Lyrics:
Oh give thanks unto the Lord
For He is Good
For He is Good
For His mercy endureth for ever and ever
Thy art my God and I will Praise you
For His mercy endureth for ever and ever [x2]
The Lord is my strength and my song
He has become my salvation, my salvation
I will praise you oh Lord
You have become my salvation, my salvation
For this is the day that the Lord hath made
I will rejoice and be glad in it
For His mercy endureth for ever and ever
Oh Give thanks unto the Lord
His mercy endureth for ever [x8]
His mercy endureth for ever
And ever and ever
watching over me.
Performers:
The Richard Smallwood Singers are a chart-topping and award-winning gospel group formed in 1977 at Howard University, Washington, DC, by Richard Smallwood. The original members of the group included Wesley Boyd, Lisa Burroughs, Carolene Evans, Dottie Jones, Rickie LaFontaine, Raymond Reeder, Jacqueline Ruffin, Darlene Simmons, and Richard Smallwood. The Richard Smallwood Singers were the first Black gospel group to go to the Soviet Union. Smallwood and his singers also toured with a theatrical musical, Sing, Mahalia, Sing, starring Jennifer Holiday, which segued into a guest appearance on television's Ryan's Hope for ABC. The album The Richard Smallwood Singers, the group’s debut, spent eighty-seven weeks on Billboard's gospel chart. Their next project, Psalms, received a Grammy nomination. Two years later, another Grammy nomination came for Textures, the album that contained the classic, "The Center Of My Joy," co-written by Richard Smallwood with Bill and Gloria Gaither. The group continued to amass successive Grammy nominations with their next projects, Vision, Testimony, and Live at Howard University.
About the Composer/Lyricist:
Richard Smallwood (b. 1948) is an American gospel artist who formed The Richard Smallwood Singers in 1977. Smallwood graduated cum laude from Howard University with degrees in both vocal performance and piano. His recording career began in 1982 with the album The Richard Smallwood Singers. Smallwood won his first Grammy, along with a Dove Award, for his production on the Quincy Jones' gospel project Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration. Smallwood's music has been recorded by artists such as Destiny's Child, Yolanda Adams, Karen Clark-Sheard, and many more. He finished his master's degree in divinity from Howard University in 2004 and was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Smallwood's next project was recorded live at the Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center in New York. The concert features guests Kim Burrell on "Journey,” Kelly Price on "Morning's Breaking," Chaka Khan on "Precious Is Your Name," as well as The Hawkins Family, Tramaine Hawkins, and the original roster of singers who comprised The Richard Smallwood Singers. Among Smallwood's most popular songs are “Total Praise,” composed in 1996 while he was experiencing sorrow in his life, and “I Love the Lord,” popularized by singer Whitney Houston in the film The Preacher's Wife (1996).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Smallwood
About the Poet:
Yusef Komunyakaa (b. 1947) is an American poet. The son of a carpenter, Komunyakaa has said that he was first alerted to the power of language through his grandparents, who were church people: “The sound of the Old Testament informed the cadences of their speech,” Komunyakaa has stated, “It was my first introduction to poetry.” Komunyakaa served in the Vietnam War and was a correspondent for the Southern Cross. He earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado Springs, an M.A. from Colorado State University, and an M.F.A. from the University of California, Irvine. In his poetry, Komunyakaa weaves together personal narrative, jazz rhythms, and vernacular language to create complex images of life in peace and in war. In The New York Times, Bruce Weber described Komunyakaa as “Wordsworthian,” adding that the poet has a “worldly, philosophic mind…His poems, many of which are built on fiercely autobiographical details—about his stint in Vietnam, about his childhood—deal with the stains that experience leaves on a life, and they are often achingly suggestive without resolution.” Komunyakaa is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the William Faulkner Prize from the Université de Rennes, the Thomas Forcade Award, the Hanes Poetry Prize, and fellowships from the Louisiana Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has taught at numerous institutions, including University of New Orleans, Indiana University, and Princeton University. Currently he serves as Distinguished Senior Poet in New York University’s graduate creative writing program.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/yusef-komunyakaa
About the Devotion Author:
Lisa Igram
Dean of Student Wellness
Biola University
Lisa Igram’s work in higher education includes a variety of classroom teaching and co-curricular programming experiences in the U.S. and abroad. She currently serves as Biola’s Dean of Student Wellness, where she works with a team dedicated to developing proactive and preventative strategies to support students’ holistic well-being towards academic persistence and thriving. In addition to her administrative role at Biola, Lisa also adjuncts for Talbot School of Theology and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Divinity and Religious Studies at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, focusing on the value of our embodiment for our spiritual growth.