December 26: Seeing Salvation
♫ Music:
Day 26 - Thursday, December 26
Title: Seeing Salvation
Scripture #1: Psalm 63:1–8 (NKJV)
O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You;
my flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed,
I meditate on You in the night watches. Because You have been my help,
Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.
Scripture #2: Luke 2:25–35 (NKJV)
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.” And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Poetry:
“Candelmas”
by Denise Levertov
With certitude
Simeon opened
ancient arms
to infant light.
Decades
before the cross, the tomb
and the new life,
he knew
new life.
What depth
of faith he drew on,
turning illumined
towards deep night.
SEEING SALVATION
“Seeing salvation,” what does that mean? More importantly, perhaps, what does it mean in the midst of all our seeking and searching? Today, we revisit the witness of ol’ Simeon – a man of justice and devotion, but above all, a man of patience and longing. More than anyone else around the young Jesus, Simeon embodies the kind of eager expectation these devotions want to stir up.
Now, while we tend to focus on this climactic moment in Luke 2, we should probably acknowledge the many years of waiting that preceded that great meeting with the infant Messiah. Consider the most important thing Luke tells us about Simeon: “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” To carry around such a promise for years would inevitably change you, dramatically.
So, the image of Simeon needs to be an arresting one, and for this reason, Kostko Markovych’s icon offers us poignant insight into the old man’s experience. Markovych’s images experiment with form and composition in ways that depart from strict iconic conventions and might seem innovative. This is not in service to originality, for the artist says that he tries “to make them as soft and warm as possible” in hopes of a fresh transmission of the spirit of love, faith, and hope.
Indeed, the looming structure of the old man – the deep lines in his face and the sloping curve of his shoulders – do not let us forget about the many years of waiting, but rather, in the presence of his aching hope, we peer with him down upon the Christ Child who holds the scroll and all its answers for what is to come. And, like the many icons that bend time so well, the many years, and even decades of anticipation collapse together into a holy moment of intense glory and revelation. With the deepest joy, Simeon holds our salvation in his very hands.
So, what of us then? Will we have to wait a lifetime like Simeon? Maybe, we will. But maybe we won’t.
Denise Levertov’s poem provides an astounding picture to put beside such questions. Her brief, but beautiful meditation ends: “What depth/ of faith he drew on,/ turning illumined/ towards deep night.” She commends him in concert with how the church has celebrated Simeon for ages, as a man of great faith. Faith that can turn “towards deep night.” And yet, we should not let a beautiful affirmation distract us from the profound thing he himself experienced. As Levertov suggests so delicately, he was “illumined” in that moment of meeting the Christ child because there “he knew/ new life.” Yes, new life is here. It’s breaking in all around us; we just need the eyes of Simeon to see it.
So, let’s be like ol’ Simeon. Await illumination. Give yourself over to the seeking, the thirsting, the longing for God. Look for him in the sanctuary but meditate on him in the night watches. Let your soul follow close behind him and his right hand will uphold you.
Prayer: Simeon’s Prayer
“Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”
Dr. Taylor Worley
Visiting Associate Professor of Art History
Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois
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:
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Kostko Markovych
2021
Acrylic on gessoed wood panel
40 x 40 in.
After Mary had fulfilled the forty-day ritual of purification after giving birth, she and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem for the ceremonial dedication of a male firstborn child in obedience to the Torah (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12–15). Upon bringing Jesus into the temple, they encountered the “just and devout” Simeon, who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that "he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ" (Luke 2:26). Upon taking Jesus into his arms, Simeon then uttered the prayer that would become known as the "Nunc Dimittis," or "Canticle of Simeon," which prophesied the redemption of the world by Jesus (Luke 2:29–32).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presentation_of_Jesus
About the Artist:
Kostko Markovych (b. 1968) is a contemporary Ukrainian artist and iconographer who works mainly in the field of sacred art—iconography, murals, mosaics, sgraffito. He studied at the Trush Lviv State School of Applied and Decorative Arts (now the Lviv National Academy of Arts). Since 1998, Markovych has been teaching at the Department of Sacred Art of the Lviv Academy of Arts. Of his work he said, “I still try to keep my icons within their sacred purpose, both stylistically and conceptually. That is to say, I do not seek originality for its own sake but rather wish that icons transmit the spirit of love, faith, and hope…Icon art is likely the most exquisite and refined manner of knowing God and expressing His love in an artistic way."
https://iconart-gallery.com/en/artists/kostko-markovych/
About the Music: “Lord, Now Lettest Thou Thy Servant Depart in Peace” from the album Rachmaninoff: Vespers
Lyrics: (English translation from the Book of Common Prayer, 1662)
Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart
in peace according to Thy word.
For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared
before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles
and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
The “Nunc Dimittis,” also known as the ""Song of Simeon or the "Canticle of Simeon," is a canticle taken from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 29 through 32. Its Latin name comes from its incipit, the opening words, of the Vulgate translation of the passage, meaning "Now you let depart." Since the fourth century, it has been used in Christian services of evening worship such as compline, vespers, and evensong.
About the Composer:
Sergey Vasilyevich Rachmaninov (1873–1943), born in Semyonovo, Russia, is today remembered as one of the most formidable pianists of all time and the last truly great composer in the Russian Romantic tradition. At the St. Petersburg Conservatory, his burgeoning talent came into full flower; he received the personal encouragement of Tchaikovsky, and, a year after earning a degree in piano, took the conservatory's gold medal in composition for his opera Aleko (1892). His All-Night Vigil was composed and premiered in 1915. Russia was in political turmoil at the time. It’s not surprising that Rachmaninov was looking to write something more introspective than usual. The composer, an Orthodox Christian, had a deep and very personal religious faith, which he expressed beautifully through this unaccompanied set of choral prayers. They are separated into two parts: the evening vespers and the morning matins, both full of exquisitely rich harmonies. Rachmaninov considered All-Night Vigil his greatest musical achievement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Rachmaninoff
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergey-Rachmaninoff
About the Performers:
One of Russia's leading choirs, the St. Petersburg Chamber Choir is actively involved in continuing the rich traditions of Russian and European vocal music. Founded in 1977, the choir is made up of professional musicians who have completed their studies at Russia's top musical institutions. Besides receiving numerous national awards, it has excelled in the international arena, winning prizes in Hungary in 1986 and in Germany and Italy in 1989. In 1994, the choir was awarded a Grammy for Best Choral Performance for their rendition of the Vespers by Sergei Rachmaninov. On the back of these successes, the choir has launched an extensive international touring career, and has received widespread critical acclaim in the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe. The choir's broad repertoire includes Renaissance music, Bach's sacred compositions, nineteenth-century music, and contemporary works, many of which were composed for the choir. In this way the choir has attracted the attention of many well-known conductors and soloists. The choir tours extensively in Europe and regularly visits the United States.
https://www.singers.com/choral/stpetersburgchamberchoir.html
About the Poetry & Poet:
Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was educated entirely at home and claimed to have decided to become a writer at the age of five. When she was twelve, she sent some of her poetry to T. S. Eliot, who responded by encouraging her to continue writing. At age seventeen, she had her first poem published in Poetry Quarterly. Her poems of the 1950s won her widespread recognition and her book With Eyes at the Back of Our Heads (1959) established her as one of the great American poets. Levertov went on to publish more than twenty volumes of poetry, and was also the author of four books of prose. Levertov’s conversion to Christianity in 1984 was the impetus for her religious poetry. In 1997, she brought together thirty-eight poems from seven of her earlier volumes in The Stream & the Sapphire, a collection intended, as Levertov explains in the foreword to the collection, to "trace my slow movement from agnosticism to Christian faith, a movement incorporating much doubt and questioning as well as affirmation."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/denise-levertov
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Levertov
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Taylor Worley
Visiting Associate Professor of Art History
Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois
Taylor Worley is visiting associate professor of art history at Wheaton College and director of a research project on conceptual art and contemplation. He completed a Ph.D. in the areas of contemporary art and theological aesthetics in the Institute for Theology, Imagination, and the Arts at the University of St. Andrews and is the author of Memento Mori in Contemporary Art: Theologies of Lament and Hope (Routledge, 2020). Taylor is married to Anna, and they have four children: Elizabeth, Quinn, Graham, and Lillian.