December 12: Beholding Beauty in the Secret Sacred Place
♫ Music:
Day 12 - Thursday, December 12
Title: Beholding Beauty in the Secret Sacred Place
Scripture #1: Song of Songs 2:13b–14 (NKJV)
Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away! “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
Scripture #2: Psalm 27:4–6 (NKJV)
One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
Poetry:
“How to be a Poet”
by Wendell Berry
(to remind myself)
i
Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.
ii
Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.
iii
Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.
BEHOLDING BEAUTY IN THE SECRET SACRED PLACE
The Holy Spirit makes us into living temples, dwelling places of the Lord, through His own great goodness. When the storm comes, having found the quiet and still place already, being already founded upon the rock, you will have the quiet and secure place still.
“One thing I have desired of the Lord,” the psalmist says. He asks to see the Lord, to dwell with him. And then, in the Song, we hear the answer, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!” God wants us to come to Him too. In fact, He is the very one who has given us this longing for Himself—we want Him because He wants us to want Him. Love calls out for love.
So how do we seek the Lord?
The spiritual discipline of silence and solitude is one of the best tools we have for seeking the Lord’s face. In my own life, I’ve found I had to start small. I’ve done things like driving in silence on an errand, not listening to anything, but turning my attention to Him. Or at least, thinking what I wanted to think about anyway, but consciously doing it with Him, thinking my thoughts in His presence.
I’ve tried to stay off screens on Sunday afternoons. I’ve spent time doing chores in silence, rather than listening to a podcast. I’ve taken up memorizing Scripture again, like I used to do when I was young—and oh! There’s something about having the Word not just in front of your eyes, but in your mind and heart, and there on the tip of your tongue. I’ve gone on retreats, away from the chatter of other people and noise—not often, but enough that it changed me.
None of this is done perfectly. So far from it! (If you know me, you know that’s true.) But the more space I make to spend with the Lord, the more space and time with Him I want.
In some ways, my mind and my heart are not nearly quiet enough yet. My hands are not yet as empty as they need to be, to receive all the good things that He wants to give me (a good measure, pressed down and flowing over).
We do these small little things, knowing that we have not cleared enough space in the fields of our hearts to grow so much as a small flower.
But in the insufficiency of our efforts, the Lord is at work, clearing space, so that even the enemies that we cannot discern are driven far from us (Deuteronomy 7:20). The Lord is weeding out the fields of our hearts and making them fertile ground.
Go into the secret place, go into the silent place. Start by doing what you can, and don’t worry right now about doing what you can’t. When you fall away, come back again. Anything you really want to do, you have to redo, always starting again, always coming back. That’s how it works when you’re a fallible creature. Start with ten minutes in the morning, and five minutes at night. Be quiet, and present yourself before the Lord, and ask to behold His beauty, to dwell in His presence.
Build on that. Keep going. If you get the merest taste of the cool, clear water of the river of God, nothing less will satisfy you.
In habitual time set apart in quiet with the Lord, you will have time to hear Him, to meditate on His Word, to repent and receive forgiveness, to be taught how to obey Him. And as Jesus said, the one who hears His words and does them is like a house founded upon a rock, that will not be destroyed in the day of trouble (Matthew 7:24–27).
Psalm 27 confirms this in its “therefore”: “for in the day of trouble” it says, “in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock.”
And what will we find there? What will we find there, alone with the God who loves us?
I mean, I already gave it away in how I asked the question, and you already know the answer, but it is so good to hear it in the way that Fanny Crosby tells it to us:
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand.
When you seek the Lord, what you will find is Him—what you will find is love.
What you will find is Him who is love.
What you will find is Him who loves you.
Prayer:
O God, grant that we may desire you, and desiring you seek you, and seeking you find you, and finding you be satisfied in you forever.
Amen.
— Francis Xavier, as printed in The Book of Common Prayer of the ACNA
Jessica Snell
Biola Class of 2003
Writer and Editor
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:
Solomon’s Temple (overall and detail view)
Gilded illuminated manuscript on vellum
Artist and Special Decorative Text Treatments: Donald Jackson
Scribe: Sue Hufton
Hebrew Script: Izzy Pludwinksi
© 2010
The Saint John’s Bible
Saint John’s University
Collegeville, Minnesota, USA
Used with permission
All rights reserved
www.saintjohnsbible.org
The completion of Solomon’s temple fuses together several elements in Israelite history. With the religious overtones associated with the dedication, the pro-monarchist faction of the Israelites (which had been prominent since the time of David) received official approval. The political capital now also became the religious capital; both the king and the Lord inhabited the same city, and all the elders, tribal heads, and ancestral heads were assembled to witness the event. Solomon’s prayer and blessing before the people established his legitimacy as king and sanctioned his decision to build the temple, citing the Lord’s promise to his father David. Solomon might be glorious, but the glory belonged to the Lord. The illumination of King Solomon’s temple mirrors two other illuminations found in the prophets: Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple as well as the vision at the Chebar. The structure of the temple with its gateways at the four points of the compass, and a delicate filigree version of the labyrinth pathway to the holy of holies, directly references the vision of the new temple. The two-winged guardians of the holy of holies have the four animal heads from the vision at the Chebar in Ezekiel. They peer out from amongst the smoke and power of the interior temple and tap into the mystery involved in close contact with the revelation of God’s power.
About The Saint John's Bible:
The Saint John's Bible is the first completely handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned since the invention of the printing press. After a Saint John’s University–sponsored calligraphy presentation in 1995, master calligrapher Donald Jackson proposed a handwritten Bible to Fr. Eric Hollas, OSB, the former executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John's University in Minnesota. Between 1996 and 1997, Jackson created the first sample illuminations for the proposed Bible while theologians at Saint John’s University developed an illumination schema for the project. The Saint John’s Bible, officially commissioned in 1998, was completed in 2011. During production, artistic director Donald Jackson oversaw a group of artists working in a scriptorium located in Monmouth, Wales. Using a mixture of the ancient techniques of calligraphy and illumination, the artists created illuminated manuscripts that were handwritten with quills on calfskin vellum decorated with gold and platinum leaf and hand-ground pigments. Gold leaf was used liberally to represent the divine, silver/platinum to reflect the principle of wisdom, and rainbows to show God’s faithful promises. A wide range of artistic styles, including iconography, abstraction, chrysography, and illustration, were incorporated to create a contemporary visual vocabulary for the sacred. A new script for the sacred text was devised by Donald Jackson to be readable, modern, and appropriately dignified. Meanwhile at Saint John’s Abbey and University in Minnesota, a team of biblical scholars, art historians, and theologians gathered weekly to develop the theological content behind the illuminations. This included not only developing the schema for the illuminations, but also identifying underlying themes and elements for the artists to incorporate. The Saint John’s Bible is divided into seven volumes and is two feet tall by three feet wide when open. It is made of vellum, with 160 illuminations across 1,165 pages. The Saint John’s Bible contains the text and notes of the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
https://saintjohnsbible.org/
About the Artist:
Donald Jackson (b. 1938) is one of the world's leading calligraphers and the artistic director and illuminator of The Saint John's Bible, a handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by the Benedictine Monastery of Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. At the age of twenty, Jackson was appointed to be a visiting lecturer at the Camberwell College of Art, London. Within six years, he became the youngest artist calligrapher chosen to take part in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s first International Calligraphy Show after the war and appointed a scribe to the Crown Office at the House of Lords. As a scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, he was responsible for the creation of official state documents. In 1985, he received the Medal of The Royal Victorian Order (MVO). Jackson is an elected fellow and past chairman of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and, in 1997, was named master of the six-hundred-year-old Guild of Scriveners of the city of London. He is the author of The Story of Writing and The Calligrapher's Art. Jackson and his wife, Mabel, live and work in the Hendre, a converted town hall and outbuildings in Monmouth, Wales.
https://saintjohnsbible.org/
About the Scribe:
Sue Hufton (b. 1957) trained as a teacher at Roehampton Institute in London, where she first saw books made by calligraphy students, which inspired her to attend Digby Stuart College to take the certificate and diploma courses in calligraphy and bookbinding. She later received a Crafts Council training grant to study letter drawing and carving. In 1987 she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators. She has taught calligraphy at all levels and has contributed articles for several books and publications. Sue lives on the south coast of England with her husband, who is a Methodist minister, and her two sons. Much of her work has a spiritual theme as both her work and faith are integral elements in her life. She has led retreats for calligraphers on Holy Island (Lindisfarne) where these two elements of work and spirituality are directly brought together within the context of a special place.
https://saintjohnsbible.org/Process/Sue_Hufton
Hebrew Calligrapher:
Born in Brooklyn and now living in Israel, Izzy Pludwinski has worked as a professional calligrapher for over forty years, teaching the subject in both England and Israel, and holding one-man shows of his work in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, London, and Tokyo. He has worked on a number of prestigious calligraphic projects, including work for the US and Israeli governments, and is the designer of a number of Hebrew fonts.
http://www.impwriter.com
About the Music: “He Hideth My Soul” from the album Hymns of Hope
Lyrics:
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
A wonderful Savior to me,
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,
Where rivers of pleasure I see.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,
He taketh my burden away,
He holdeth me up, and I shall not be moved,
He giveth me strength as my day.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
When clothed in His brightness, transported I rise
To meet Him in clouds of the sky,
His perfect salvation, His wonderful love,
I’ll shout with the millions on high.
He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock
That shadows a dry, thirsty land;
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand.
He hideth my life in the depths of His love,
And covers me there with His hand,
And covers me there with His hand
About the Composer/Lyrics:
Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) was an American missionary, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than eight thousand hymns and gospel songs, with more than one hundred million copies printed. She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. Crosby became blind at the age of six weeks from maltreatment of her eyes during a spell of sickness. At the age of fifteen she entered the New York Institution for the Blind, where she received an excellent education. She became a teacher in the institution in 1847 and continued her work there until 1858. During the vacations of 1852 and 1853, spent at North Reading, Massachusetts, she wrote the words to many songs for Dr. Geo. F. Root, the teacher of music at the institution. In addition to the thousands of hymns that she wrote, many of which have not been set to music, she published four volumes of poetry.
https://www.bibbvoice.com/2024/02/02/hymn-history-he-hideth-my-soul/
About the Performer:
Don Moen (b. 1950) is a singer-songwriter, pastor, and producer of Christian worship music. He produced eleven volumes for the Hosanna! Music series of worship albums and worked for Integrity Media for over twenty years. His discography reflects his passion to create resources for the church that lead people into an honest and intimate relationship with the Lord. In 2002, his peers recognized that lifelong commitment and presented him with the Ray DeVries Church Ministry Award. Don has also received a Dove Award for his work on the musical “God With Us” and has received multiple Dove Award nominations for his songs, CDs, and choral resources.
https://donmoen.com/
About the Poetry & Poet:
Wendell Erdman Berry (b. 1934) is an American novelist, poet, environmental activist, cultural critic, and farmer who was educated at the University of Kentucky, where he became Distinguished Professor of English in 1971. The intensity of his writing’s involvement with the human and natural characters of his native locality has gained Berry recognition as one of the leading writers of the twentieth century. A prolific author, he has written many novels, short stories, poems, and essays. He is an advocate of Christian pacifism, as shown in his book Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Christ’s Teachings About Love, Compassion and Forgiveness. He states that the theme in his writing is “that all people in the society should be able to use the gifts that they have, their natural abilities, and they ought to use them responsibly for their benefit as individuals and as a community.” Berry was named the recipient of the 2013 Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, an annual US literary award recognizing the power of the written word to promote peace.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wendell-Berry
About the Devotion Author:
Jessica Snell
Biola Class of 2003
Writer and Editor
Jessica Snell is a freelance editor who loves helping authors polish their books till they shine! She is also a writer, and her work has appeared in Compelling Science Fiction, Christ and Pop Culture, Focus on the Family, and more. In her free time, she reads, knits, and spends time with her husband and their four children. You can follow her on Twitter at @theJessicaSnell, and her website is jessicasnell.com.