March 6: Psalm 51
♫ Music:
Thursday, March 6—Day 2
“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.
Joel 2:12-13
Psalm 51
(Taken from the Amplified Bible)
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David; when Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to the multitude of Your tender mercy and loving-kindness blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly [and repeatedly] from my iniquity and guilt and cleanse me and make me wholly pure from my sin!
For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned and done that which is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment.
Behold, I was brought forth in [a state of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].
Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.
Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean [ceremonially]; wash me, and I shall [in reality] be whiter than snow.
Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice.
Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted and return to You.
Deliver me from blood guiltiness and death, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness (Your rightness and Your justice).
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; You find no pleasure in burnt offering.
My sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.
Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
Then will You delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, justice, and right, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then bullocks will be offered upon Your altar.
Crying Triptych
Patty Wickman
Oil on canvas
About the Artist and Art
Patty Wickman (b 1959) earned her M.F.A. at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In 1984, she accepted a teaching position at San Jose State University; a year later she joined the art faculty at U.C.L.A., where she is currently Associate Professor of Painting and Drawing. Wickman’s spiritual beliefs and upbringing are continually a driving force for her work, with themes of lamentation, grace, and mercy present throughout. Wickman affirms that her artistic intent lies in her being "drawn to figures and situations that manifest a weakness, vulnerability, or brokenness — situations in which the possibility of grace and redemption are most present." She wants the figures to "maintain a delicate strength, balance, and dignity amidst their surroundings, seeking a state of being within the paintings that is visually analogous to the state of contemplative prayer."
http://www.loraschlesinger.com/wickman.html
About the Music
A Hymn to God the Father lyrics:
Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,
Which was my sin, though it were done before?
Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,
And do run still, though still I do deplore?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more.
Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
With thou forgive that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallowed in a score?
When thou hast done, thou hast not done,
For I have more
I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun
My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;
But swear by thyself, that at my death Thy Son
Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;
And having done that, Thou hast done;
I fear no more.
About the Composer
John Donne (1572-1631) was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. It is assumed that Donne wrote the poem “A Hymn to God the Father” in 1623, following the death of his wife Anne and his recovery from a fatal disease a few years later. This hymn was set to music by John Hilton, during Donne’s lifetime, and was probably sung in some English churches during the seventeenth century
About the Performers
The King’s Men are a six member, vocal a cappella ensemble from the Conservatory of Music at Biola University. Their director, Walt Harrah, arranges the music they sing. They represent the university in concerts throughout Southern California and beyond.
http://academics1.biola.edu/music/booking/kings-men/