November 28: An Invitation to Intimacy and Hope
♫ Music:
Day 2 - Monday, November 28
Title: THE PROPHECY OF ISAIAH #1
Scripture: Isaiah 54:1-8
“Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited. “Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed; neither be disgraced, for you will not be put to shame; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore. For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth. For the Lord has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a youthful wife when you were refused,” says your God. “For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer.
Poetry & Poet:
“Blackbird Etude”
by A.E. Stallings
For Craig Arnold
The blackbird sings at
the frontier of his music.
The branch where he sat
marks the brink of doubt,
is the outpost of his realm,
edge from which to rout
encroachers with trills
and melismatic runs sur-
passing earthbound skills.
It sounds like ardor,
it sounds like joy. We are glad
here at the border
where he signs the air
with his invisible staves,
“Trespassers beware”—
Song as survival—
a kind of pure music which
we cannot rival.
AN INVITATION TO INTIMACY AND HOPE
In preparation for this contribution to the Advent Project, I began by reading the Isaiah passage and scanning the materials. I felt attracted to the painting, reminded of a precious time a few years back, when the Lord met me as I gazed at the beautiful night sky over Lake Powell. I hadn’t seen stars like that in years, and was moved with awe by Creation, the display of Majesty, just when I was wrestling and grieving over painful concerns in my life. The Glory of the Milky Way, shot through with flashing meteorites, evoked an internal connection with God’s redemptive promises like those spoken through Isaiah. I recalled that meaningful encounter, recalled His faithfulness, just as the artist intended.
Later, I considered the poetry and music. Oh, the music! Who better to sing of crying out, than a group of African American women, who’s heritage was one of captivity and suffering? Soaking in God’s Word expressed so beautifully has been a moving and intimate experience. And the import of the words; “God is your husband!” I’ve felt grief, sorrow and pain, but also peace, joy, even triumph as the voices repeatedly return to expressing confidence in God’s faithfulness.
Deeply touched, I shared the music with a group of Ukrainians I meet regularly online, and sometimes in person. They choose to stay and minister in their war-torn nation, despite a physical, emotional and psychological toll. We listened, opening our minds and hearts as Sweet Honey in the Rock sang the Isaiah passage. There were tears as we experienced God’s presence through the Word, and the voices who sang it, especially because we received it together. My Ukrainian friends expressed that their circumstances leave them feeling with nowhere to go, but to the Lord, their only source of hope. And their interaction with Him is in the biblical “music,” the Psalms. Example of what our poet A.E Stallings calls, “song as survival?”
I’ve spent several weeks now, prayerfully immersed in Isaiah, the poem, the painting, the music. Through it all, I enjoyed a deepened intimacy with the Lord, with my Ukrainian friends, others with whom I shared, and increased hopefulness. And, I confess, I wanted to write something profound that would deepen your intimacy and hopefulness. Praying more, I realized I don’t really have a profound word, but simply an invitation. An invitation to your own journey of exploration. Here are some ideas:
- Ask the Lord to meet you
- Read the passage, slowly, maybe aloud
- Close your eyes and listen to the music–(over 11 minutes, but worth it!)
- Contemplate the painting for several minutes
- Read and re-read the poem
And do this like a “great commandment person,” loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, being open to His presence in each arena. Pay attention to how you feel emotionally and bodily, to thoughts, senses, desires. And how about being a “second great commandment person,” and engaging with the Lord communally? My expectation is that as you journey, the Lord will meet you as he has my Ukrainian friends and me.
Prayer
Father, we long to be “great commandment people,” who love you and others with our whole being. In these last days, the already and the not yet, where we and the world still experience so much suffering, may we also experience a deepening intimacy with you. May we, out of that intimacy, be a people, prompted and empowered by your Spirit, to sing and cry out with a holy hope and powerful expectation in your fulfilled promises and the full establishment of your Kingdom at Jesus’ second coming.
Amen
Debbie Schuster
SentWell Missionary Care Team
Director, Deepen: Relational Spiritual Formation
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:
Pondering God’s Promise
Courtney Vander Veur Matz
2018
48" x 60"
Oil on board
Courtney Vander Veur Matz states of her work, “I have always loved the story in the Bible of Abraham and Sarah who were given a promise from God that He would ‘multiply their seed as the stars of the heaven’ (Genesis 22:17). It took a long time for this promise to be fulfilled. Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 when Sarah miraculously conceived and they were blessed with their son, Isaac, through whom came the twelve tribes of Israel and millions of descendants. Their promise was also a spiritual one, a promise that will yet be fulfilled in ways that are difficult for us to comprehend. I sometimes think about Sarah during those childless years, when she yearned to be a mother, and the promise, perhaps, began to fade and seem impossible. Maybe she looked up at the numberless stars, trying to stay hopeful and faithful. In those moments I imagine her remembering the works of the Lord; all that He did for those who came before, and all that He had done for her. In the Lord’s time, her faith was rewarded and the promise was fulfilled. ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord?’ (Genesis 18:14). ‘With God, all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26). When we look at the countless stars in the night sky we can remember the promise God kept to Sarah and have hope that he will do the same for us.”
https://courtneyvvmatz.com/store/pondering-gods-promise-print
About the Artist:
Courtney Vander Veur Matz grew up in Sandy, Utah, and has always been interested in art. As a child, she and her friend would sell drawings door-to-door in their neighborhood. She continued to make art and earned a B.F.A. from the University of Utah in 2005, and then studied painting with artist Jeff Hein at the Hein Academy of Art from 2010-2015. She currently resides in West Jordan, Utah, with her husband and two daughters, making time to paint as she raises her young children.
https://www.artrenewal.org/15thARCSalon/Home/Artist/27271
https://courtneyvvmatz.com/
About the Music:
“Sing Oh Barren One” from the album Sacred Ground
Lyrics
Empty and lonely I was,
Wordless and useless, I felt
Bounded and closed I wandered
Empty and useless I was
Then I lift my voice
Sing O barren one sing out and cry aloud
Sing O barren one and sing out cry aloud
Sing O barren one and sing out cry aloud
Sing O barren one and sing out cry aloud
Sing O barren one and sing out cry aloud
Sing O barren one and sing out cry aloud
Then I heard - thou that did’st not bear
Thou that did’st not travel with child
Break forth in the singing and ride out
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of a married wife
For more are the children of the desolate
Than the children of a married wife
Then I heard - open wide your curtains
I wonder
Empty and useless I am
Sing out and aloud
And cry aloud (7x)
About the Performers:
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble rooted in African American history and culture and remains among the most vibrant, versatile, and ever-relevant musical collectives in music today. Although the members of the group have changed over time, the music of Sweet Honey in the Rock has consistently combined contemporary rhythms and narratives with a musical style rooted in the gospel music, spirituals, and hymns of the Black church. As both a performance ensemble and as an ambassadorial African American organization, they are founded on the triumvirate missions of empowerment, education, and entertainment. The ensemble educates, entertains, and empowers its audience and community through the dynamic vehicles of a cappella singing and American Sign Language interpretation for the deaf and hearing impaired. Sweet Honey’s audience and community comes from diverse backgrounds and cultures throughout the United States and around the world, and includes people of all ages, economic/education/social backgrounds, political persuasions, religious affiliations, and differing abilities.
https://sweethoneyintherock.org/about
About the Composer/Lyricist:
Bernice Johnson Reagon (b. 1942) is a song leader, composer, scholar, and social activist, who in the early 1960s was a founding member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee's (SNCC) Freedom Singers in the Albany Movement in Georgia. In 1973, she founded the all-Black female a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, based in Washington, D.C. Reagon, along with other members of the SNCC Freedom Singers, realized the power of collective singing to unify the disparate groups who began to work together in the 1964 Freedom Summer protests in the South. “After a song,” Reagon recalled, “the differences between us were not so great. Somehow, making a song required an expression of that which was common to us all....This music was like an instrument, like holding a tool in your hand.” The Albany Singing Movement became a vital catalyst for change through music in the early 1960s protests of the Civil Rights era. Reagon devoted her life to social justice through music via recordings, activism, community singing, and scholarship. She earned her Ph.D. from Howard University, becoming a cultural historian centered on the role of music, and is an emeritus faculty member in the history department at the American University. She has also been a scholar-in-residence at Stanford University and received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.
https://www.bernicejohnsonreagon.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernice_Johnson_Reagon
About the Poetry & Poet:
A. E. (Alicia) Stallings (b. 1968) is an American poet who studied at the University of Georgia and Oxford University. In 2011 she was awarded a MacArthur Grant, and her 2018 collection of poetry, Like, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won numerous prestigious awards and has been widely anthologized. Often identified with the New Formalism movement, Stallings has emphasized the influence of ancient classical literature, which she has also translated into English. Her translations include works by Greek and Roman authors like Hesiod and Lucretius.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ae-stallings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._Stallings
About the Devotion Author:
Debbie Schuster
Co-leader, SentWell Missionary Care Team
Director, Deepen: Relational Spiritual Formation
Debbie Schuster co-leads SentWell, a global, multidisciplinary missionary-care team based in southern Spain. She also directs Deepen, a two-year program in spiritual formation and spiritual companioning designed for cross-cultural workers. Debbie is mom to three adults and their spouses, and grandmother of seven—she misses all of them terribly.