December 6: Purify Yourself
♫ Music:
Day 10 - Tuesday, December 6
Title: PURIFY YOURSELF
Scripture #1: Malachi 3:1–3;
“Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of hosts. “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness.
Scripture #2: 1 John 3:2–3
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Poetry & Poet:
“Removing the Dross”
by Thomas R. Moore
After snowstorms my father
shoveled the driveway where it lay
open to a sweep of wind across
a neighbor’s field, where the snow
drifted half way down to the paved
road, before snow-blowers, before
pick-ups cruised the streets with
THE BOSS lettered on red plows.
He heated the flat shovel
in the woodstove till the blade
steamed, like Vulcan at his furnace
removing the dross, then rubbed
a hissing candle on the steel
so the snow would slide unchecked
as he made each toss. He marked
blocks with the waxed blade, lifted
and tossed, lifted and tossed again,
squaring off against the snow.
PURIFY YOURSELF
To understand the fire in Malachi, we must first go back to Numbers 25 when a covenant was formed between God and Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest. God grants a covenant of peace and priesthood to Phinehas in a time where he was one of few who accurately served their role in reflecting God to the Israelites. The priest sees his people. He sees the sacrifices they bring and knows their sins, their celebrations, their sicknesses, their healing. The people see the priest, the one who in knowing them, casts their sins away and restores peace. It is the distortion of this reflection during Malachi’s time that reveals the need of The Messenger of the covenant. One who will come not to consume, but to refine in order to bring peace because God keeps his covenants. In Thomas R. Moore’s poem, I find it interesting that he recalls a time before snow plows like THE BOSS ruled the streets. My own experience with plows would lead me to compare these big red plows with the priests who have distorted the purpose of the sacrifice.
Years ago, my family and I lived in New York, where snow plows would come through with a merciless efficiency, clearing the roads, but compacting the snow into a barrier behind our car. Thus, the roads were clear, but our car was stuck. I imagine the slow precision of the shovel described in Moore’s poem. The meticulous care that it takes to clear the road in such a way that it can be used. The preparation of a shovel by the removal of dross so that it is useful for this kind of care.
Both in Moore’s poem and in Malachi, we see the care of a refining process, with Moore’s imagery of a shovel and Malachi’s imagery of refined silver. Silver also plays a focal point in Susan Savage’s still life. Her subjects are a linen cloth and silver bowl, materials that symbolize purity, alongside the crown of thorns and the altar, symbols of Christ’s sacrificial atonement. But the almost humanoid composition lends itself to be perceived simultaneously as a portrait, and I find that the longer I look at this painting, the more I seek to see what is reflected in the bowl. Can I see the reflection of the artist? Can I, somehow, see my own face? The use of pure silver as a reflective face of Christ reminds me of the role the priest has in truly seeing his people, of the Great High Priest and how he sees me.
Donald Winnicott, a pediatrician turned psychoanalyst, was fascinated with the face to face communication a parent and child share together. He described this communication as mirroring, whereby a caregiver’s face reflects an infant’s internal experience back to them in a more ordered fashion. Almost as though, through this kind of responsiveness, the caregiver is saying, “I see you, this is who you are.” In Winnicott’s own words, the child experiences this as, “When I look I am seen, so I exist.” How many times have I looked to someone hoping they will see deeper than the expression on my face? Those insecurities, anxieties, mistakes, choices, and sins that cling like dross to my soul and alter me. It is here that John, in his epistle, connects our own formation to seeing Christ as He is. In seeing Him, we are seen. As we see him more fully, we are revealed more fully. It is not lost on me that the process of mirroring is one that is inherently in the present, nor that its effects manifest over time. He is pure. We, on the other hand, are in a process of being purified. Perhaps this is why the passage from 1 John is bookended with reminders to abide in Christ.
The purity of the silver of Savage’s bowl and its reflectivity now speaks anew to the use of silver imagery in Malachi. The refiner’s fire that clears away the dross, the imperfections. A process that brings silver into the fullness of its characteristics: unreactive to the elements impervious to rust, soft and malleable, and the most reflective natural element (historically, this is why mirrors were made with a layer of silver). This is what God wanted to do all along, to make them more fully themselves, to more fully bear His image, and thus better reflect Him to the world. Sit face to face with the Father and let him see you. Present your heart to Him that He may reflect back to you the true order of your state. If grief, let him share grief with you. If joy, let him smile back at you. If stress or worry, let his refining remove those things which change your true self into some more earthly version. Let the removal of dross release your stiffness and allow you to be molded and formed again.
Prayer:
Father see me. Let me sit with you, abide in you. Slow down the busyness of today that I might see you more clearly, and in seeing become purified, resting in the hope that you are able to refine without consuming. Do not let me plow the road without awareness of its purpose, but let my preparations for the celebration of your coming reflect your care for us as your children.
Amen
Stacie Poston
Adjunct Instructor
Torrey Honors College at Biola University
Children’s Ministry Lead at Redeemer Church,
La Mirada, California
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:
Full Measure
Susan Savage
2007
Acrylic on canvas
18” x 24”
“My life has been like a silver vessel, valuable and useful, but prone to tarnish. Yet in the refiner’s hands, I stand redeemed. Because he inhabits my soul He is always with me, and making me new.”
–– Susan Savage
By elevating a simple, silver vessel to a place of contemplation, artist Susan Savage portrays something deeper and more spiritually significant in her work. As a symbol for the sacred, the simple elegance and refined presence of this silver vessel brings the viewer face-to-face with metaphors for biblical truths. Savage says that “it is my intent that my images reproduce the look of the visible world, but simultaneously offer something beyond mere physical appearances. The bowl emerges as a vehicle for a continuing story of meditation, mystery, truth, and reverent beauty. By taking the commonplace and lifting it up to a state of contemplation, the vessel exists to glorify, and it exists to signify. As my faith informs my vision, it becomes the reason for my work to exist. Consequently, I see my images as devotions, as a way to draw the viewer more deeply into contemplative meditation as it taps into one’s spiritual realm in some way. I like to think that my images are reminders of what we already know, but because the familiar is now somehow unfamiliar we pause as we are brought into a realm of transcendence, into a realm of revelation, even if words do not come easily.”
https://www.susandsavage.com/artist-statement
About the Artist:
Susan Savage is an American artist who received her B.A. in art and M.F.A. in painting from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She has had a long and rich career in secondary and higher education as a professor of art at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California. Savage’s metaphorical paintings of objects as vehicles for devotional contemplation and dialogue have connected her personal and professional life on many levels. Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums both locally and nationally, and her work has been the focus of several featured articles and publications over the years.
susandsavage.com
About the Music #1:
“Purify Me” from the album Hymns II
Lyrics #1:
Living God, consuming fire
Burn the sin from my life
Make Your will my desire
Take my life in Your hands
Purify me with Your love
'Til I shine far brighter than
Purest gold in Your eyes
Living God, consuming fire
Burn the sin from my life
Make Your will my desire
Take my life in Your hands
Purify me with Your love
'Til I shine far brighter than
purest gold in Your eyes
Living God!
About the Performers #1:
The 2nd Chapter of Acts was an early contemporary Christian music group composed of sisters Annie Herring and Nelly Greisen, and brother Matthew Ward. They began performing in 1972 and enjoyed a period of great success during the 1970s and disbanded in 1988. They started singing for local coffee houses and small gatherings, then gained the notice of singer Pat Boone, who arranged a contract for them to record and release two singles, "Jesus Is" (1972) and "I'm So Happy" (1973). The fledgling trio also came to the attention of 1960s folk singer Barry McGuire, who had recently become a Christian and was preparing to record his first Christian music album. The siblings provided background vocals for Seeds and McGuire's 1974 follow-up album Lighten Up. The trio released their debut album, With Footnotes, in 1974. This album featured "Easter Song," which would become a signature piece for the group and has been recorded by many other artists since. 2nd Chapter of Acts broadened their appeal with the release of Hymns and Hymns 2, reaching audiences with more traditional music. Hymns proved to be their best-selling release, receiving a Dove Award for "Best Praise and Worship Album of the Year" in 1987. They were recognized by the Gospel Music Association in 1999 by their induction into its Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
https://www.2ndchapterofacts.com/AboutUs.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Chapter_of_Acts
About the Composer #1:
Annie (Ward) Herring (b. 1945) is one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music. She was a member of the musical trio 2nd Chapter of Acts, for which she wrote most of the songs and sang lead and harmony vocals with her brother and sister. During her musical career with 2nd Chapter of Acts, she also recorded several solo albums. Herring's music and ministry was, in no small part, forged from personal family tragedy. In 1968 her mother died of a brain tumor and two years later her father also died, leaving her youngest sister, Nelly, and brother, Matthew, orphaned. Annie and her new husband, record producer Buck Herring, took in the two younger Ward siblings. Annie was a self-taught singer and songwriter who wrote and played her songs around the family piano. Her brother and sister would often join in as she played, and eventually they developed extremely tight and intricate harmonies. During her time with 2nd Chapter, Annie released two solo albums, Through a Child's Eyes and Search Deep Inside, as well as an album for children, Kids of the Kingdom. After 2nd Chapter disbanded, Annie continued her solo career and toured the U.S. through the 1990s and early 2000s. Though officially retired from touring, Annie continues today to make music and minister privately.
https://www.annieherring.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Herring
About the Music #2:
“Refiner’s Fire” from the Worship Project
Lyrics #2:
Purify my heart, let me be as gold
And precious silver
Purify my heart, let me be as gold
Pure gold
Refiner's fire, my heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You my Master
Ready to do Your will
Purify my heart, cleanse me from within
And make me holy
Purify my heart, cleanse me from my sin
Deep within
Refiner's fire, my heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You my Master
Ready to do Your will
Refiner's fire, my heart's one desire
Is to be holy
Set apart for you Lord
I choose to be holy
Set apart for You my Master
Ready to do Your will
Ready to worship
Ready to follow
Ready to do Your will
About the Performers #2:
Brian Doerksen with the TWP Band
About the Composer #2:
Brian Doerksen is a Canadian Christian singer/songwriter, conference speaker, and worship leader from Abbotsford, British Columbia. Doerksen, a member at a local Mennonite Brethren Church in British Columbia, graduated from the Mennonite Educational Institute in 1983. In his early twenties, he joined the staff of the Langley Vineyard Christian Fellowship and spent several years there as the worship pastor in the late 1980s and early 1990s. For many years Doerksen was part of the Vineyard Churches as well as Vineyard Music Group. In that context he has been extremely influential in the area of contemporary Christian worship music. He was a featured worship leader on many Vineyard worship CDs and has also taught extensively on worship leading and songwriting. Notable songs written by Doerksen include "Refiner's Fire" (1990), "Light the Fire Again" (1994), "Come Now is the Time to Worship" (1998), "Faithful One" (2002), "Hope of the Nations" (2003), and "Today (As For Me and My House)" (2008). More recently, Doerksen has been producing worship music through Integrity's Hosanna Music, including his albums You Shine (2002), Today (2004), Live in Europe (2005), Holy God (2006), and It's Time (2008). Doerksen received a Gospel Music Association Dove Award in 2003, only the second Canadian to be so honored. He is also a member of the music group the Shiyr Poets.
https://www.briandoerksen.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Doerksen
About the Poetry & Poet:
Thomas R. Moore is a widely published and acclaimed poet. As a young man, he spent time in New Zealand and his extensive travels led him to teach with the Peace Corps at universities in Iran, Mali, and Turkey. His poetry has been recognized with the Pushcart Prize and the Maine Literary Awards. Moore was selected in 2014 to be the writer-in-residence at the Elizabeth Bishop House in Nova Scotia, and his poetry has been included in multiple anthologies.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/thomas-r-moore
About the Devotion Author:
Stacie Poston
Adjunct Instructor
Torrey Honors College at Biola University
Children’s Ministry Lead at Redeemer Church,
La Mirada, California
Stacie Poston completed her graduate studies in biology, focusing on cell and molecular biology and immunology, before taking time to raise her family of four kids with her husband. Stacie is now a part of running the children's ministry at Redeemer Church, and enjoys stepping onto Biola's campus to discuss Great Books. She loves to see how God's hand is evident in all the big and small parts of life.