January 3: Marvelous Works
♫ Music:
Day 37 - Monday, January 3
Title: MARVELOUS WORKS
Scripture: Revelation 15:3; John 1:1-5, 14
“Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Poetry:
On Beauty
by Karen An-hwei Lee
I say to the lily asphodel,
onionweed—
How do you bear so much love
in this raw glow?
Blackberries
and bees swarm against our home.
Night carries an odor of the Mojave
flowing down from the high desert.
Full moon ails with a gouged eye,
and the sea, with its cool upwelling,
tosses and turns to the west.
What must I do to earn a living
on this Earth? I confess the one
who perished and was buried
rose again. Angels and stones
quaked
to yield new April light.
MARVELOUS WORKS
Few experiences are so universal as gazing quietly into the night sky and attempting to comprehend the magnitude of the universe. It is an experience both beautiful and at times so overwhelming as to be terrifying. Philosophers refer to this feeling as a "sublime" experience. The word "awe" was originally meant to invoke this same feeling. We don't often speak of "fear" in anything other than a negative sense, so the "fear of God" so often referred to in Scripture is often a jarring term to our ears. But that fear is a sublime fear, equal parts exciting and overwhelming, joyful and terrifying.
Whenever I find myself far enough away from the lights of the city, I take pains to spend some time alone under the canopy of stars, in a state of worshipful awe. And yet, these moments are far too few in my life. The stars are always there, ready to flood us with their sublime power. They are profound, and yet so ordinary that we often fail to look up.
For a thousand years, in the homes of Russian Orthodox Christians, a similarly paradoxical sort of worship took place. Painted icons, such as the Creation of the World by Lyuba Yatshiv, were often placed in the main living spaces in orthodox homes. Though they are technically paintings, they were seen more as windows: windows into divine glory. They were devotional objects, serving to direct the family's attention through itself into worship. Just like looking at the stars, the icons themselves were not the point, but they pointed toward an infinite beyond, the sublime power of the Creator.
They were almost always placed in the corner of the room, so that they would be visible from anywhere in the home. They were always there, reminding the faithful to keep their eyes trained above, while also reminding them God's eyes were always trained on them.
"And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."
The composition of Yatshiv's Creation icon implies not just God's careful crafting of the universe and everything in it, but his nurturing guidance over his creation. The order of creation, the procession of days of creation, the man and woman created in God's image and nestled in his hand, are all truths that lay beyond the limits of our imaginations. But we are called by the icon and by the night sky to return, to marvel, to see the faintest glimmers of profound glory that flicker past our eyes. In Revelation 15 we receive a different glimpse, and we experience, second-hand the angels' response to God's triumph over sin and death. "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty." We can't hear their song, or quake in the presence of the angels. Instead, we are reminded of all we cannot yet see and cannot yet comprehend, all that is shrouded in darkness that will one day be revealed.
Our word Apocalypse comes from the Greek "Apokálypsis," meaning "revelation." A word that mostly strikes fear should also fill us with profound hope: through the darkness, God will reveal Himself to us. Even though we cannot look into the face of God and live, his glory cascades into the endless expanse of his creation, the beautiful mystery of life on earth, into the lives and homes and hearts of those created in his image.
Prayer:
Lord, give us the discipline to turn our eyes from the everyday and to marvel in your wonders, to find joy in our awe of You, to worship you in all of the things we understand of you and all that we can't comprehend. You are infinitely greater than our imaginations can grasp. We fall before you in worship, and wonder in the gift you have given of coming to us, into our homes and into our hearts, both infinite but imminently present, now and forever.
Amen.
Devotion Author:
Luke Aleckson
Professor, Department of Art
Chair, Faculty Senate 2021–22
Executive Director, Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts
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:
Creation of the World
Lyuba Yatshiv
2019
Acrylic and gold on gessoed board
60 cm diameter
About the Artist:
Lyuba Yatskiv (b. 1977) belongs to a circle of Ukrainian artists from the city of Lviv in Western Ukraine who are revitalizing the ancient art of iconography that was all but lost during a half century of Soviet persecution. These new Ukrainian icon painters use time-honored and traditional techniques, but they reinterpret the established images of canonical iconography into a style that resonates with modern viewers. A graduate of the renowned Department of Sacred Art of Lviv National Academy of Arts, Yatskiv’s style conforms more closely to the traditional Byzantine manner. The artist comments, “I would never start working with a prepared, predefined concept. It is a line of the drawing that is prompting the development of a certain image; one only needs to listen to it, feel its vivid motion, and subtle plastic nuances.” Since 2002 she has been Professor at the National Academy of Arts in Lviv, Department of Sacred Art.
https://artes-almanac.com/onovlennia-ikonopys-liuby-yatskiv/
http://iconart.com.ua/en/artists/artist-4/lyuba-yatskiv
https://www.iconecristiane.it/2017/12/10/lyuba-yatskiv/
About the Music:
“Song of Moses” from the album I'm Amazed...(Live)
Lyrics:
And I saw another sign in Heaven Great and Marvelous
Seven Angels having the Seven Last Plagues
For in them was filled up
the wrath of God
And I saw as though a sea of glass
mingled with fire
and them that had gotten the victory
over the Beast, and over his image, and over his Mark
and over the number of his name
stand on the sea of glass
having the harps of God
and they sing the song of Moses
The Servant of God and the song of the Lamb
Saying...
Great and marvelous are thy works
Lord God Almighty
Just and True are Thy ways
Thou king of Saints
whom shall not fear Thee
whom shall not fear Thee
whom shall not fear Thee oh Lord
and glorify Thy name.
Great and marvelous are thy works
Oh Lord God Almighty
Just and True are Thy ways
Thou king of Saints
Whom shall not fear Thee
Whom shall not fear Thee
(Oooh) who shall not fear Thee oh Lord
And glorify Thy name.
Nations shall come and worship Him
(Oooh) Lord God Almighty
The judgement shall be then manifest
Thou king of Saints
Whom shall not fear Thee
And glorify Thy name.
Whom shall not fear Thee
(Oh oh oh oh) whom shall not fear Thee
(Oooh) whom shall not fear Thee oh Lord
And glorify Thy name.
For Thou alone art Holy
For Thou alone art Holy
Ooh Thou Hallelujah alone art Holy
And we glorify Thy Name
For Thou alone art Holy
For Thou alone art Holy
(Ooh) Thou alone art Holy
(and we glorify Thy Name)
And we glorify Thy Name
And we glorify Thy Name
(Thy name, Oh, oh, oh, yes we do)
And we glorify Thy Name
Thy Name
Thy Name
Thy Name
Thy Name
About the Performer:
The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir is directed by Carol Cymbala, the wife of Pastor Jim Cymbala. The 280-voice choir, which for the most part is composed of vocally untrained church members, has recorded three videos, three DVDs, and numerous albums, winning five Dove Awards and six Grammy Awards. Their concert venues in New York City have included Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and the Madison Square Garden Theater. They also had the honor of singing at the Billy Graham Crusades that were held in New York City’s Central Park and Flushing Meadows Park. The recognition that the choir has received has provided them with a wide-open door for ministry in presenting the gospel message through music to people all over the world.
https://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/the-choir
About the Composer:
Orchestration by Lari Goss
Lari Goss (1945–2015) was a singer, producer, music publisher, church choral music arranger, and songwriter. He got his start in music when he was ten years old and, over the next few years, the family group developed into the Goss Brothers, featuring Lari with his brothers Roni and James. The group signed a recording contract with Sing Records in 1962 and the brothers began to develop the craft of arranging music for other singers. In 1968, Goss was ordained as a minister. In the wake of his brother's death in 1980, Lari began to devote more of his time to producing and arranging music for other artists. He relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, where he eventually won his first Dove Award for his work on Phil Driscoll's 1983 album I Exalt Thee. As a result of those successes in the early to mid-1980s, Lari produced recordings for artists ranging in style from the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir to Glen Campbell, and he arranged and conducted music for major televised events including the Grammy Awards and the People's Choice Awards. Lari also produced a constant supply of church choral music over the years.
http://sghistory.com/index.php?n=L.LariGoss
About the Poet:
Karen An-hwei Lee (b. 1973) is a Chinese American poet, translator, and critic. She earned an M.F.A. in creative writing from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and a Ph.D. in literature from the University of California, Berkeley. Lee has received six Pushcart Prize nominations, the Poetry Society of America's Norma Farber First Book Award, the Kathryn A. Morton Prize for Poetry from Sarabande Books, and the July Open Award sponsored by Tupelo Press. Lee’s work appears in journals such as The American Poet, Poetry, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, Journal of Feminist Studies & Religion, Iowa Review, and IMAGE: Art, Faith, & Mystery. A recipient of an NEA Fellowship, in 2020 she became a Professor of English and the Provost of Wheaton College in Illinois.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/karen-an-hwei-lee
About the Devotion Author:
Luke Aleckson
Professor, Department of Art
Chair, Faculty Senate 2021–22
Executive Director, Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts
Biola University
Luke Aleckson is an Assistant Professor of Art at Biola University and is currently the Executive Director of the CCCA. He received his M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in sculpture and a B.S. in art from the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, Minnesota. Past positions have included serving as Department Chair and Professor of Art and Design at the University of Northwestern and the Director of Denler Gallery in St. Paul. Past exhibitions of his artwork have been held nationally, at venues such as the Chicago Cultural Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois. He maintains an active art practice in which he explores sculpture, digital modeling, video art, and installation art.