February 17: Love Never Fails
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♫ Music:
Day 4 - Saturday, February 17
Title: Love Never Fails
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13:4-10
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
Poetry: The Only Animal
By Franz Wright
The only animal that commits suicide
went for a walk in the park,
basked on a hard bench
in the first star,
traveled to the edge of space
in an armchair
while company quietly
talked and abruptly
returned,
the room empty.
The only animal that cries
that takes off its clothes
and reports to the mirror, the one
and only animal
that brushes its own teeth—
Somewhere
the only animal that smokes a cigarette,
that lies down and flies backward in time,
that rises and walks to a book
and looks up a word
heard the telephone ringing
in the darkness downstairs and decided
to answer no more.
And I understand,
too well: how many times
have I made the decision to dwell
from now on
in the hour of my death
(the space I took up here
scarlessly closing like water)
and said I’m never coming back
and yet
this morning
I stood once again
in this world, the garden
ark and vacant
tomb of what
I can’t imagine,
between twin eternities,
some sort of wings,
more or less equidistantly
exiled from both,
hovering in the dreaming called
being awake, where
You gave me
in secret one thing
to perceive, the
tall blue starry
strangeness of being
here at all.
You gave us each in secret something to perceive.
Furless now, upright, My banished
and experimental
child
You said, though your own heart condemn you
I do not condemn you.
LOVE NEVER FAILS
Britt Wikstöm’s sculpture delightfully captures in solid material the tender flow of love that does not seek its own in the conferring of a cloak of warmth and the warmth of an acknowledging regard. We might recognize here the sisterly and brotherly love of the saints in Lenten community together. But I am also put in mind of Jesus’ injunction of enemy love. This love is displayed in the surrender of personal animus by giving not only the tunic demanded by a hostile suit - but your cloak too - as a demonstration of going the extra mile. Giving to the one who begs from you, and not refusing the one who would borrow from you (Matthew 5: 38-44), Jesus here highlights the holy demands of the law wherein scripture enjoins care for those whose indebtedness ought not to leave them abandoned:
“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. (Exodus 22:25-27, ESV)
Love is patient and bears all things. But today we expect to impatiently extract profit from time lost to our opportunities when we lend to others for their need, as if we had the gift of prophetic knowledge, in extracting interest, about the certainty of reward and personal benefit we had hereby lost. We are happy to let the vulnerable bear all things. Modern economics that pretends to certainty programmatically, ignores the fact that ‘we know in part and we prophesy in part.’ As we are entering into Lent, we pray all the more earnestly the daily plea that we be forgiven our debts as we have forgiven our debtors (Matthew 6:12). The world of debt and predatory lending is unforgiving, impatient, jealous for creditors, crassly boastful of its credit provision, keeping close account of late payments and defaults, and heedless of circumstance, heedless of love. Lending and ensuing debt fail for many in financial, relational, psychological, and even spiritual bankruptcy.
Poet Franz Wright, meditating on humans as ‘The Only Animal,’ points to the struggle to maintain integrity in the pressures of life. The temptation to just give up, and give into the siren call of death, of not answering the phone. Is this the call of one more creditor? Is it the burden of one more bill piling up on the mat?
Yet the poem gestures hopefully to the reality of that wondrous way of standing in the world that cannot be comprehended in the time of life between eternities. Rather than calculate, the world must be received as gift and challenge. When the perfect comes, when Jesus returns in the abundance of his reign, new creation fullness will overwhelm the need to know the future, to calculate returns on investment and opportunity costs. Accounts will be settled out of divine grace and judgment for good. True peace, where love thrives, will be our full experience. We will know security and mutual acknowledgement of worth before the one whose forgiveness, salvation and rule establish our common life in the Kingdom of God.
Against this hope of the perfect, indebtedness is lonely. Life spirals down and away from the supports and rhythms most people count on. But the call to love is a call to be a community of love; 1 Corinthians 13 is addressed to the local church of Christ, after all. The apostle Paul knows the Corinthians are as prone as we are today to compete for the scarce goods of spiritual recognition in ministry, status among our sisters and brother, displays of gifting that will elevate us or set others in our debt for their growth in discipleship. That competition excludes and isolates. Yet he, in imitation of Jesus, calls the church, even as the body that enjoys prophesying and speaking in tongues, to do so colored by love. These gifts of speech proclaim the truth of the coming kingdom where love will reign with the tenderness embodied in Wikström’s figures. That love is secured not by economic exchange, but by gift. Today’s poem recognizes what I believe every Christian approaching the gracious act of God in Jesus Christ through Lent must acknowledge: ‘the strangeness of being here at all.’ We are not utterly drowned by the debt of our sin, left bankrupt and bereft. Rather ‘You said, though your own heart condemn you, I do not condemn you.’ It is in the light of this reality that we examine our hearts for our covetous hold on our own security, jealously guarding the value of our loans as proof of our good stewardship of life as if life were an investment project of our own directing. In the light of this reality God meets us in Christ’s gift of himself.
As we reflect on the translated lyrics of today’s musical composition ‘Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ’s love has gathered us into one’, we are reminded of the call to us, via the Corinthian correspondence, to let go of our isolating competition, our striving for status, even our desire to do Lent well, and to love and receive love in hope of the fullness to come.
Prayer:
Lord God from whom all good things flow, Father of Lights, pour out your love into our hearts by your Holy Spirit, that we, walking toward the cross of your Son this Lent, may know again the joy of being forgiven our debts of honor, praise, love and obedience, as we are called to recognize, forgive, and receive in love those who have owed, or continue to owe us fellow feeling, respect and love. Meet today, with your bounty, those anxious about financial debt, bring peace in the silent spiral of suffering, and open up pathways out of isolation and struggle through the hospitality of us, your servants, we ask in Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Andy Draycott
Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics
Talbot School of Theology, Biola University
Information about the artists, poets, lyrics, artwork, composers, and musicians in the Lent Project may be found on the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Ceritas (2 views)
Britt Wikström
2004
Bronze
125 cm high
Cancer Research Center
University of Chicago Hospital
The tenderness and caring between these two figures is evident in this sculpture by Britt Wikström, who is able to express not only believable human gestures in simple abstracted forms, but also able to express a profound range of emotion. The act of giving and receiving is strong in each figure; both acts require humility and the love that today’s Scripture verses define. Wikström’s work, often done for hospitals and as memorials for loved ones, is a wonderful example of how an artist of faith can make God’s love present and palpable in today’s world.
About the Artist:
Britt Wikström (b. 1948) was born in Sweden. She studied sculpture at several art academies in Munich, Rotterdam, as well as the Royal Academy in Amsterdam. She has exhibited in various cities in Europe, the United States, and in the Netherlands, where she currently resides. She says of her work, “As a figurative sculptor I work primarily in commission for buildings, mainly in the services sector: schools, hospitals, sheltered workshops, etc. My work is concerned with the human figure and animals. The materials I use are primarily bronze, stone, and clay; the traditional sculpture materials. Because I see that art can have an important influence on public spaces, I want to put forward positive notes with my work, affirming that every human is precious and must be treated with respect. My faith/worldview indirectly influences my work as it influences all that I do and am. At times I use biblical narratives for their deep insights about life.”
About the Music:
“Ubi Caritas” from the album Ola Gjeilo
Lyrics:
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
[Translation]:
Where charity and love are, God is there.
Christ’s love has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And may we love each other with a sincere heart.
About the Composer:
Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) is a Norwegian composer and pianist living in New York. He is one of the most frequently performed composers in the choral world. An accomplished pianist, he is known for his trademark collaborations of improvisations played over his own published choral pieces. Although Norwegian by birth, it is Gjeilo’s adopted country of America that has influenced the composer’s distinctive sound the most, evolving a style that is both contemporary and familiar. His music, with its thick harmonies and rich textures, is often described as cinematic and evocative. Gjeilo has had a special collaborative relationship with the vocal ensemble VOCES8, and during the 2015/16 season was their Composer-in-Residence.
About the Performers:
Formed in 2005, VOCES8, an a cappella octet from the United Kingdom, has a diverse repertoire ranging from early English and European Renaissance choral works to their own original arrangements. The ensemble is dedicated to supporting promising young singers and awards eight annual choral scholarships through the VOCES8 Scholars Initiative at which amateur singers of all ages are invited to work and perform with the ensemble. VOCES8 tours extensively throughout Europe, North America, and Asia, and their artistic collaborations have included the Philharmonia Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, period ensemble Les Inventions, violinist Hugo Ticciati, and cellist Matthew Sharp.
About the Poet:
Franz Wright (1953–2015) was an American poet. He and his father James Wright are the only parent/child pair to have won the Pulitzer Prize in the same category. He earned his BA from Oberlin College in 1977. In his precisely crafted, lyrical poems, Wright addresses the themes of isolation, illness, spirituality, and gratitude. Critic Helen Vendler wrote in the New York Review of Books, “Wright's scale of experience….runs from the homicidal to the ecstatic....His best forms of originality: deftness in patterning, startling metaphors, starkness of speech, compression of both pain and joy, and a stoic self-possession with the agonies and penalties of existence.” Wright received a Whiting Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He taught at Emerson College and other universities, worked in mental health clinics, and volunteered his time at a center for grieving children.
About the Devotional Writer:
Andy Draycott is a British immigrant scholar living in Southern California with his family. He is a lifelong Charles Schultz’ Peanuts fan, enjoys reading novels and social history, cycling, running and baking. Currently he is an Associate Professor of Theology and Christian Ethics at Biola’s Talbot School of Theology. He counts God’s blessings in Christ, in local church, in family life, and in delightful work colleagues.