December 2: The Past in the Present
♫ Music:
Day 6 - Friday, December 2
Title: THE PROPHECY OF NATHAN & DANIEL
Scripture #1: 2 Samuel 7:12-13, 16
“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”
Scripture #2: Daniel 7:13-14
“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed."
Poetry & Poet:
“From Blossoms”
by Li-Young Lee
From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.
From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.
O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.
There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
The collection of texts from today’s reading points to the different senses of time that is part of this year’s Advent Project theme––In the song, “He shall reign forevermore,” the first stanza declares “light is breaking,” alluding to the sudden eruption into the present of Jesus’ birth as the fulfillment of what was promised long ago. Alternatively, the Scriptures from 2 Samuel and Daniel are proleptic and anticipatory, marking two separate moments in time, e.g. David receives a promise that his kingdom will be established forever, thus alluding to the first coming of Jesus, and Daniel receiving a vision of the second coming of Christ, when He will also reign forever. Finally, the Jesse Tree illustration in the Ingeborg Psalter and Li-Young Lee’s poem both, in a sense, look backwards, tracing the important persons and moments that lead to Jesus’s incarnation and the “sweet impossible blossom” (22), respectively.
I want to focus on the latter two, the Jesse Tree and Lee’s poem, to further reflect on how they speak to a key distinction between how God and humans experience time. God is the only one who can see past, present, and future all at once. That is to say, he can give the promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13, and at the same time know when the vision of Daniel 7:13-14 will be fulfilled. For humans, however, there is a sense in which we can only more fully understand our own lives when we consider it retrospectively, with greater knowledge from a future vantage point. In the moment, when we are experiencing our present, we may not necessarily see it as tending toward some pattern or shape. Correspondingly, it is similar to Jesse, the father of the future King David, most likely perceiving his youngest son as simply a shepherd boy, and not anticipating that he would one day serve as the future ruler of Israel, much less be part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. Yet in hindsight, after his son is crowned, Jesse could probably identify character traits or situations that pointed to David’s future self, contrary to what might have experientially seemed merely ordinary or insignificant in the moment.
So if meaning making and significance are assigned only retrospectively, how does that signify for our present selves?
Lee’s poem offers a thoughtful heart posture for us. The poem traces the process by which “from blossoms” (1) and the “laden boughs” (6) of a tree, as well as the “hands” (6) that picked them, the speaker is able to enjoy this “nectar at the roadside” (8). These first two stanzas are consciously backward looking, enjoying the present delight of peaches while also reflecting on their germination, growth, and ripening. The last two stanzas dwell further on how consuming the peach includes absorbing its origins (“to carry within us an orchard” [12]) and its environment (“not only the skin, but the shade,/not only the sugar, but the days” [13-14]). Thus the “joy” (18) that comes from eating “the round jubilance of peach” (16) consists in remembering its history, its process. Even the simple act of buying and eating peaches can become a moment of transcendental delight, an occasion for celebration and gratitude when we marvel at how the lovely fruit came to be.
Isn’t this a beautiful reminder for us during this Advent season to be more conscious about our present lives, how even the busy day-to-day moments––of dish washing, driving to work, fretting over holiday shopping or the too-many items on our to-do lists––can become occasions for recalling the past and noting how it has shaped our here and now? How can remembering the seemingly insignificant processes of our lives lead us to greater gratitude and joy? What are the God-enabled “blossoms” of our past that have led to the delightful “nectar” we can feast on today? Alternatively, which parts of our past still need to bloom, grow, and ripen, and how can we further entrust them to the faithfulness of our Savior?
Prayer:
God, show us how you are in control of our past, present, and future. Give us the eyes to see how you have been present throughout all of our lives, and lead us into a deeper trust in your loving companionship.
Amen.
Maria Su Wang
Associate Professor of English
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:
Jesse Tree
Ingeborg Psalter
Unknown artist
c. 1210
Tempera and gold on parchment
30 × 20 cm
Musée Condé
Chantilly, Paris
The Ingeborg Psalter is an early thirteenth-century illuminated psalter housed in the Musée Condé of Chantilly, France. It was created about 1210 in Northern France for Ingeborg of Denmark, the wife of King Philip II of France. It is unknown who commissioned the psalter for Ingeborg. It is one of the most significant surviving examples of early Gothic painting. The manuscript was a prayer book for private devotionals and contains a calendar, the one hundred-fifty psalms in Latin, plus other liturgical texts. The Tree of Jesse illustration shows Christ's family tree. Lying at the bottom is Jesse, the father of King David. The tree seems to grow out of his body. The figures in the center are Abraham (with a vielle), David (with a harp), Mary (with a book), and Jesus. The inclusion of Abraham refers to Matthew 1:1, "The generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” The three figures to the left are, in ascending order: Malachi, Daniel, and Isaiah. These prophets all hold scrolls. To the right, the prophet Ezekiel also holds a scroll. The figure below him is Aaron, holding his staff. Above Ezekiel is a female figure, the Cumaean Sibyl, who in the Middle Ages was considered a prophet of the birth of Christ.
https://udayton.edu/imri/mary/j/jesse-tree-ingeborg-psalter.php
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingeborg_Psalter
About the Music:
“He Shall Reign Forevermore: Song Session” (single)
Lyrics:
In the bleak midwinter
All creation groans
And for the world in darkness
Frozen like a stone
Light is breaking
In a stable for a throne
And he shall reign
Forevermore, forevermore
And he shall reign
Forevermore, forevermore
Unto us a child is borne
The King of kings
And Lord of lords
If I were a wise man
I would travel far
And if I was a shepherd
I would do my part
But poor as I am
I will give to him my heart
And he shall reign
Forevermore, forevermore
And he shall reign
Forevermore, forevermore
Unto us a child is borne
The King of kings
and Lord of lords
Here within a manager lies
The one who made the starry skies
This baby born to sacrifice
Christ the Messiah
Into our hopes
Into our fears
The Savior of the world appears
The promise of eternal years
Christ the Messiah
And he shall reign
Forevermore, forevermore
And he shall reign
Forevermore, forevermore
About the Performer:
Matt Maher (b. 1974) is a Canadian contemporary Christian music artist, songwriter, and worship leader who currently lives in the United States. He has written and produced nine solo albums to date. Three of his albums have reached the Top 25 Christian Albums Billboard chart and four of his singles have reached the Top 25 Christian Songs chart. Maher has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards in his career and was awarded the Songwriter of the Year at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards. Growing up, Matt’s parents recognized his musical talent, and he grew up taking piano lessons and immersing himself in a broad variety of music, including playing in concert and jazz ensembles, singing in a choir, and playing in a garage rock band. Maher started his post-secondary studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland and continued his studies in the jazz department at Arizona State University. Maher currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
www.mattmahermusic.com
About the Composers:
Matt Maher and Chris Tomlin
Chris Tomlin (b. 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader. Some of his most well-known songs are "How Great Is Our God," "Our God," "Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies)," and his cover of "Good Good Father." Tomlin has been awarded twenty-three GMA Dove Awards, and he won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Christian Music Album for his 2012 album. Because of his songs' popularity in many contemporary churches, Time magazine stated he may be the "most often sung artist anywhere." Tomlin wrote his first worship song at age fourteen. After graduating high school, he entered Tyler Junior College, planning for a medical career. Tomlin graduated and enrolled in Texas A&M University to study medicine. Tomlin participated in a Bible study led by Choice Ministries founder Louie Giglio and, in 1997, Tomlin partnered with Giglio to found Passion Conferences. In 2000, Tomlin signed onto newly founded sixstepsrecords, a subsidiary of Passion Conferences, and has released nine full-length studio albums. Tomlin has toured with many contemporary Christian artists, such as Delirious?, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, and MercyMe. In 2008, Tomlin started a new church with Louie Giglio in Atlanta, Georgia. The Passion City Church held its first service in 2009, and features Tomlin as one of its worship leaders. In 2019, Tomlin and his wife, Lauren, started Angel Armies, a nonprofit organization that works to bring people and ministry organizations together to attempt to solve issues related to vulnerable youth in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin
https://www.christomlin.com/
About the Poetry & Poet:
Li-Young Lee (b. 1957) is an Asian American poet. His maternal great-grandfather was Yuan Shikai, China’s first Republican President, who attempted to make himself emperor. Lee’s father, who was a personal physician to Mao Zedong while in China, relocated his family to Indonesia, where he helped found Gamaliel University. In 1959, the Lee family fled Indonesia to escape widespread anti-Chinese sentiment and, after a five-year trek through Hong Kong and Japan, they settled in the United States in 1964. Li-Young Lee attended the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Arizona, and the State University of New York at Brockport. Lee’s writing has been influenced by classic Chinese poets, such as Li Bai and Du Fu. Lee’s poetry is noted for its use of silence and, according to poet Alex Lemon in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, its “near mysticism” which is nonetheless “fully engaged in life and memory while building and shaping the self from words.” Though sometimes described as a supremely lyric poet, Lee’s poems often use narrative and personal experience or memories to launch their investigations of the universal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Young_Lee
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/li-young-lee
About the Devotion Author:
Maria Su Wang
Associate Professor of English
Biola University
Maria Su Wang teaches courses in nineteenth- and twentieth-century British literature, the Victorian novel, and world literature. She earned a B.A. at University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in English and minoring in French. Wang received her master’s degree and doctorate from Stanford University, where she completed a dissertation that compares narrative techniques in Victorian novels with concepts from continental sociologists. Outside the classroom, she enjoys traveling, hiking, cooking, and spending time with her husband and two children.