March 28: Galatians 6:14
♫ Music:
Friday, March 28—Day 24
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galatians 6:14 and Galatians 2:20
GALATIANS 6:14
Can nothing settle my uncertain breast
And fix my rambling love?
Can my affections find out nothing blessed?
But still and still remove?
Has earth no mercy? Will no ark of rest
Receive my restless dove?
Is there no good, than which there’s nothing higher
To bless my full desire
With joys that never change; with joys that never expire?
I wanted wealth; and at my dear request,
Earth lent a quick supply;
I wanted mirth to charm my sullen breast;
And who more brisk than I?
I wanted fame to glorify the rest;
My fame flew eagle-high;
My joy not fully ripe, but all decayed;
Wealth vanished like a shade,
My mirth began to flag, my fame began to fade.
The world’s an ocean, hurried to and fro
With every blast of passion:
Her lustful streams, when either ebb or flow,
Are tides of man’s vexation:
They alter daily, and they daily grow
The worse by alteration:
The earth’s a cask full-tunned, yet wanting measure;
Her precious wind, is pleasure;
Her yeast is honor’s puff; her less are worldly treasure.
My trust is in the Cross: let beauty flag
Her loose, her wanton sail;
Let countenance-gilding honor cease to brag
In courtly terms, and veil;
Let ditch-bred wealth henceforth forget to wag
Her base though golden tail;
False beauty’s conquest is but real loss,
And wealth but golden dross;
Best honor’s but a blast: my trust is in the Cross.
My trust is in the Cross: There lies my rest;
My fast, my soul delight:
Let cold-mouthed Boreas, or hot-mouthed East
Blow till they burst with spite:
Let earth and hell conspire their worst, their best,
And join their twisted might:
Let showers of thunderbolts dart down and wound me,
And troops of fiends surround me,
All this may well confront; all this shall never confound me.
Francis Quarles, English Poet (1592-1644)
Prayer
Lord, in the cross alone I glory--recognition laying down,
greatest treasures count as worthless--standing next to Heaven’s crowns.
In the cross alone I glory ever reaching for the prize,
pressing on and laying hold of that for which my savior died.
Never will I seek the glory that was never meant for me,
always heavenward reflecting all to Jesus to receive.
In the cross alone I glory nothing of my own to give,
only that which Christ has offered for my soul that I may live.
(Bethany Dillon & Matt Hammitt)
Quarles, Frances, “Galatians 6:14,” edited by Robert Atwan & Laurance Wieder, Chapter into Verse: Poetry in English Inspired by The Bible, vol. 2, Gospels to Revelation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), pp. 290-291.
Love
Larry Cohn
Digitally manipulated photograph
Printed on Metal
About the Artist and Art
Larry Cohn is a photographer, painter, and graphic designer. Love is one of Cohn’s works exhibited in Three/In/One at Saddleback church. It is a part of a series of digitally manipulated images of crosses in everyday environments. Cohn says that he sees crosses all over the place – in the tiles of his kitchen floor or in architectural crossbeams - and if they are of interest visually or symbolically, he captures them. This particular series was sparked by a spilt cup of tea on the tiles of a kitchen floor, the reddish tea interacting with the brown grout and white tiles to spark Cohn’s interest. The final piece was a result of meditation on the icon of a cross, and digital manipulation. Cohn says, “The actual creation process is one of revealing and or concealing until the image visually communicated what my meditations where stirring up inside me. An active and ongoing meditation being sparked and fueled by what was coming off my monitor into my heart and head.”
Using a sublimation process, the printed image (pigment, binders and solutions) are fused with heat to the metal substrate. It is not until the heating at the proper temperature and pressure that the image reveals itself as a new creation. As the light is revealed in the image the metal shines through, glowing, when hidden from light the works take on a different appearance altogether.
Each piece in this series is paired with an original Haiku written by Jacob Ryan Feld.
Love
Son burns night & day,
a fire set by hatred. Still—
Love is the kindling.
http://www.inkontxt.com/
http://www.inkontxtvisualworld.com
About the Music
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross lyrics:
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the prince of glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride
See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose such rich a crown
O the Wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live
O the wonderful cross, O the wonderful cross
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless
Your name
Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
About the Performers
Singer songwriter Matthew Ward (b 1958) is one of the pioneers of Contemporary Christian music. He is best known as a part of the trio, 2nd Chapter of Acts in which he sang and performed with his sisters, Annie Herring and Nellie (Ward) Greisen. During his musical career with the 2nd Chapter of Acts from 1973 to 1988 he also recorded solo albums and continues to perform his solo work to this day.
http://www.matthewward.com/
About the Composer
Isaac Watts was an English Christian hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymn writer, he was credited with writing at least 750 hymns. Many of these remain in use today and have been translated into numerous languages. The hymn “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” was first published in Hymns and Spiritual Songs in 1707. It is considered a significant hymn because of its innovative departure from the early English hymn style of only using paraphrased biblical texts.
About the Poet
Frances Quarles (1592 – 1644) was an English poet, born to a family with a rich history of royal service, who attended the University of Cambridge before becoming cupbearer to Princess Elizabeth in 1613. He is most famous for his Emblem book (a didactic illustrated book of emblematic images with explanatory text or rhymes, quite commonplace in the 16th and 17th centuries) published in 1635 and entitled The Emblems. Each “emblem” consists of a paraphrase from a passage of Scripture, expressed in ornate and metaphorical language, followed by passages from the Christian Fathers, and concluding with an epigram of four lines. Each was paired with a grotesque and sensational etching, engraving, or woodcut print. The Emblems was immensely popular with the common people, but the critics were merciless. Alexander Pope in the Dunciad spoke of the Emblems, “Where the pictures for the page atone/And Quarles is saved by beauties not his own.”