December 16: Deliverance
♫ Music:
Day 19 - Thursday, December 16
Title: DELIVERANCE
Scripture: Luke 1:74-75; Psalm 18:37-39, 20-24
“To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”
I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. I have wounded them, so that they could not rise; they have fallen under my feet. For You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands. He has recompensed me. for I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me, and I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
Poetry:
For My People
by Margaret Walker
For my people everywhere singing their slave songs
repeatedly: their dirges and their ditties and their
blues
and jubilees, praying their prayers nightly to an
unknown god, bending their knees humbly to an
unseen power;
For my people lending their strength to the years, to
the
gone years and the now years and the maybe
years,
washing ironing cooking scrubbing sewing
mending
hoeing plowing digging planting pruning patching
dragging along never gaining never reaping never
knowing and never understanding;
For my playmates in the clay and dust and sand of
Alabama
backyards playing baptizing and preaching and
doctor
and jail and soldier and school and mama and
cooking
and playhouse and concert and store and hair and
Miss Choomby and company;
For the cramped bewildered years we went to
school to learn
to know the reasons why and the answers to and
the
people who and the places where and the days
when, in
memory of the bitter hours when we discovered
we
were black and poor and small and different and
nobody
cared and nobody wondered and nobody
understood;
For the boys and girls who grew in spite of these
things to
be man and woman, to laugh and dance and sing
and
play and drink their wine and religion and success,
to
marry their playmates and bear children and then
die
of consumption and anemia and lynching;
For my people thronging 47th Street in Chicago and
Lenox
Avenue in New York and Rampart Street in New
Orleans, lost disinherited dispossessed and happy
people filling the cabarets and taverns and other
people’s pockets and needing bread and shoes and
milk and
land and money and something—something all
our own;
For my people walking blindly spreading joy, losing
time
being lazy, sleeping when hungry, shouting when
burdened, drinking when hopeless, tied, and
shackled
and tangled among ourselves by the unseen
creatures
who tower over us omnisciently and laugh;
For my people blundering and groping and
floundering in
the dark of churches and schools and clubs
and societies, associations and councils and
committees and
conventions, distressed and disturbed and
deceived and
devoured by money-hungry glory-craving leeches,
preyed on by facile force of state and fad and
novelty, by
false prophet and holy believer;
For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better
way
from confusion, from hypocrisy and
misunderstanding,
trying to fashion a world that will hold all the
people,
all the faces, all the adams and eves and their
countless generations;
Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let
a
bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second
generation full of courage issue forth; let a people
loving freedom come to growth. Let a beauty full
of
healing and a strength of final clenching be the
pulsing
in our spirits and our blood. Let the martial songs
be written, let the dirges disappear. Let a race of
men now
rise and take control.
DELIVERANCE
In the cloister of the Collegiate Church in the commune of Saint-Émilion is a set of paintings by contemporary French artist Francois Peltier called “L’Apocalypse.” One of the paintings features a red-garbed Christ, flames shooting from his eyes and a sword protruding from his mouth. It’s probably not the first image that comes to mind when we reflect on Advent, but it completes a picture of our Lord as the Savior of the world. When Jesus returns, He will not come as a mild infant, but as an almighty conqueror in the final battle between good and evil.
When Christ was born, the news was bundled with a message of hope that God has come to emancipate His people from the darkness of captivity. Zechariah proclaimed as much when, filled with the Holy Spirit, he sang his famous song in Luke 2. In his proclamation of God’s promise “to rescue us from the hand of our enemies” we can hear echoes of David’s psalm that declares: “You humbled my adversaries before me.” Through Christ, God delivers us from the enemy.
Margaret Walker’s celebrated poem, “For My People,” first published in 1942, describes a “groaning” for deliverance. Walker, a key figure in the Chicago Black Renaissance, wrote these stanzas during a period defined by economic and political crisis, widespread poverty and racial injustice, and a world-wide trend of authoritarianism that culminated with WWII. The poem is intended as an encouragement not only for the author’s fellow African Americans, but for “all the adams and eves and their countless generations.” Walker’s compelling evocation of resilience (“Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a bloody peace be written in the sky.”) brings to mind Christ’s second coming and the establishment of a New Jerusalem successfully delivered from sin.
The contemporary worship song “The Battle Is Yours” is an exultant cry of hope in the midst of fire and storm. Paul Wilbur’s triumphant shout (“Victory is mine, because the battle is yours!”) finds common ground with the painter, psalmist and poet who all look forward to the day when Jesus—once a baby, now a crowned King—will finish the work that started with His birth. What is the purpose of this deliverance? The answer is found in Zechariah’s song: so that we “might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.”
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for coming to deliver your people. Though our hearts are heavy with the suffering around us, we take comfort in knowing that You have already won the battle against the darkness. Fill us with the light of your presence this Christmas.
Amen.
Devotion Author:
Nate Bell
Internship Advisor for Cinema and Media Arts Dept.
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:
Apocalypse of Saint-Emilion (section of painting)
Francois Peltier
2017–2018
38.5 x 5 meters
Acrylic on wood panels
Cloister of Collegiate Church of Saint-Emilion
Saint-Emilion, France
The Apocalypse of Saint-Emilion was a temporary artwork exhibited in the Collegiate Church of Saint-Emilion from December 2018 through July 2021. Unable to receive permission from the Saint-Emilion local government for permanent installation of a work of art, the church commissioned artist Francois Peltier to create the work on wooden panels that could then easily be removed. The parish, the Abbot of Rozière, and the artist are now negotiating with the state government to authorize the realization of a permanent Apocalypse painted a fresco on the walls of the church, as originally conceived.
About the Artist:
Francois Peltier (b. 1955) is a French painter. He is primarily known for his liturgical work on the Stations of the Cross in Bias, the Apocalypse of Saint-Emilion, and the Pilgrims of Emmaus de Conques. His paintings are marked by the influence of the Flemish Primitives and the artists Pieter Bruegel and Hieronymus Bosch. In 2009, he began to work more and more in sacred art for the Roman Catholic Church in France. He has exhibited in seven countries: France, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Peltier
http://apocalypse-saint-emilion.com/apo.html
About the Music:
“The Battle Is Yours”
Lyrics:
From the struggle there will come triumph
You are strong in my weakness
Out of pain, I see rejoicing
For You rise out of brokenness
For You rise out of brokenness
I will dance in the midst of the fire
I will sing in the eye of the storm
I will shout: You are faithful forever!
The victory's mine 'cause the battle is Yours!
From the valley there will come breakthrough
Hope will rise with our praises
Out of trials, You bring redemption
You give beauty for ashes
I will dance in the midst of the fire
I will sing in the eye of the storm
I will shout: You are faithful forever!
The victory's mine 'cause the battle is Yours!
Give thanks to the Lord
He is good, He is good
Hodu L'Adonai Ki Tov
Give thanks to the Lord
He is good, He is good
Hodu L'Adonai Ki Tov
I will dance in the midst of the fire
I will sing in the eye of the storm
I will shout: You are faithful forever!
The victory's mine 'cause the battle is Yours!
I will dance in the midst of the fire
I will sing in the eye of the storm
I will shout: You are faithful forever!
The victory's mine 'cause the battle is Yours!
The victory's mine 'cause the battle is Yours!
The victory's mine 'cause the battle is Yours!
About the Performer:
Paul Robert Wilbur (b. 1951) is an American Christian musician, worship leader, and guitarist, who primarily plays a Messianic-worship style of music. He has released albums with Integrity Music, Hosanna! Music, Epic Records, and Venture3Media during his career. His first known musical work, Up to Zion, a live album, was released in November 1991. Wilbur has been leading worship and ministering for over four decades in over seventy-five nations. He received a Dove Award for best live praise and worship album of the year and continues to minister to thousands in stadiums and churches around the world.
https://www.wilburministries.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wilbur
About the Composers/Lyricists:
Shae (Sharon) Chernoff Wilbur, Kurtis Parks, and Paul Wilbur
Shae (Sharon) Chernoff Wilbur is the oldest child of Joel Chernoff, a former member of the Messianic worship band Lamb. In 2006, Shae married Joel Wilbur, the son of popular worship singer Paul Wilbur. Sharon grew up in a Messianic Jewish home. Sharon eventually became a singer, and now Sharon and her father both sing backup for Paul Wilbur. Because Joel Chernoff is best friends with Paul Wilbur, Sharon and her husband Joel grew up together. In addition to singing, Sharon plays the guitar and writes songs.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6247896/bio
Having written over 1200 songs in every genre since the age of thirteen, Kurtis Parks truly understands the gift of music, and the potential for its impact on our world today. Some may recognize him as a top-fifty finalist on American Idol’s fourth season. Kurtis has also appeared on the Fox Morning Show and BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel Hour. He is also known for his song “Forever Changed,” written for his beloved Virginia Tech community after the 2007 tragedy. His song “Burn it All Down” hit Billboard’s Hot Gospel top twenty, and it was co-written with Joel Buckner, a fellow worship leader. With his latest solo release, “Hymn Like,” Kurtis hit Billboard Christian charts, and his songs are making their way to audiences of all ages, and churches of all styles. Many of his worship choruses are being sung around the world in churches every weekend. From 2010 to 2017, Kurtis served as the worship director at National Community Church, a multi-site church led by pastor and NY Times best-selling author Mark Batterson in the Washington, DC, area. In September 2016, Kurtis released his first book, Sound Check, a book on authentic worship, which showcases Kurtis’ passion to charge worship leaders to live a life of authenticity, on and off the stage. He’s spoken at events like the National Worship Leader Conference and the Chorale Festival, and he still travels throughout the year to churches, conferences, and festivals, leading worship, teaching clinics, and preaching.
https://www.kurtisparks.com/bio
About the Poet:
Margaret Walker (1915–1998) was an American poet and writer. She was part of the African-American literary movement in Chicago, known as the Chicago Black Renaissance. Her notable works include the poetry collection entitled For My People (1942), which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition and made her the first Black woman to receive a national writing prize, and the novel Jubilee (1966), set in the South during the American Civil War. In 1935, Walker received her B.A. from Northwestern University. She received both her M.A. and Ph.D. in creative writing from the University of Iowa. Walker became a professor of literature at Jackson State University, a historically Black college. Walker founded the Institute for the Study of History, Life, and Culture of Black People (now the Margaret Walker Center) and her personal papers are now stored there. Writer Richard Barksdale says of her work For My People: "The [title] poem was written when world-wide pain, sorrow, and affliction were tangibly evident, and few could isolate the Black man's dilemma from humanity's dilemma during the depression years or during the war years." He said that the power of resilience presented in the poem is a hope Walker holds out not only to Black people, but to all people, to "all the Adams and Eves.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Walker
About the Devotion Author:
Nathaniel Bell
Internship Advisor for Cinema and Media Arts Department
Biola University
Nate Bell is the Internship Advisor for the Cinema and Media Arts Department (CMA) at Biola. Nate is passionate about helping CMA students use their knowledge and creativity to find their vocation within the entertainment and media industry through internships, mentorships, and job placement. He assists students with film festivals and tracks and supports alumni as they progress in their careers. Nate is a practicing film critic for LA Weekly and loves chatting about all things cinematic. He is a graduate of Biola and received his M.A. in film from Chapman University in Orange, California. He lives in Whittier with his wife, Emily, and their two sons.