April 14: The Spirit — Giver of Life
♫ Music:
WEEK SEVEN--HOLY WEEK
CHRIST SHOWS HIMSELF TO BE GOD BY THE WAY HE DIES
April 14 - April 20
We come once again to Holy Week, a profound week of somber reflection, deep meditation, and unfathomable wonder at the things that God has done for his beloved project, the human race. Christ, the perfect Son of God, the perfect human being, gave himself up voluntarily as a spotless lamb for the sins of the world. His self-offering was unique because he was not bound by mortality the way we are. He ascends the cross in glory “trampling down death by death,” achieving the work God has called him to accomplish--the redemption of mankind. Christ shows himself to be God by dying in self-sacrificial love for us. When he cries “It is finished,” Christ is declaring that God’s “human being” project is now complete.
Sunday, April 14
The Savior--Perfect in Character and Life
Scriptures: Luke 4:18-19, Matthew 21:9-11
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
Poetry:
From “Holy Week: Illuminations”
by Lisa Russ Spaar
Sunday
Already, the fresh week wastes to this folio
of late hours, a draft paschal and elite,
pastures flushing green in patches, wine-lipped
and dank with dusk, and--as I said--disappearing
with a terrible nostalgia. Who doesn’t feel it now--
the done and the undone? In this impendence,
I am the helplessly blossoming rack of forsythia,
of quince--bridal-leaf trembling, blotching
the day’s chilled, drawn and quartered pages
prematurely, arms risen, betraying my longing
even as my frail shadow lengthens--deepens--
into doubt. If this hour cannot pass unless I drink it--
THE SPIRIT—GIVER OF LIFE
My grandmother lived a life that gave honor to the Holy Spirit and encouraged me to develop a friendship with the Spirit. Grandma lived a life of holiness and was the first woman radio evangelist in Honduras. She was ex-communicato from the church because the Holy Spirit came upon her with an empowering experience that was different from that of the predominant tradition. Regardless of being kicked out of the church, she was not hurt. Instead, she took me to every Sunday service of the old Baptist church. I remember when they told us we could not come inside. She replied, “That is fine, but you can’t stop me from worshiping from outside.” And that’s what we did, we worshipped from outside. For me, going to church was more exciting that way. I could take my dog “inquietude/restless” and together with grandma, we worshipped from the margins. Theologian Orlando Costas was noted for saying, “The Spirit is with you in the margins of life.” I clearly remember sitting outside in the grass next to an old rustic wooden window, as people sat inside the church. I could see how hot and sweaty they were getting.
Meanwhile, from the outside we engaged with God. We raised our hands and welcomed the liberating presence and winds of the Holy Spirit. Grandma would say, “Oscarito, the Spirit is not inside, or upstairs or downstairs. His wind is everywhere.” The Spirit is with you always and delivers the broken hearted. My Grandma Lupita never knew of the Nicene Creed, which proclaims the Holy Spirit (Gk. pneuma, “breath” or “wind”) as the “Giver of Life.” The Giver of Life is sustaining you right now. The Spirit of Life is available for you, to thrust you into your future. So, “Don't worry, it’s going to be OK,” I could hear her saying that to us right now!
In the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit is the world/word-creating Spirit, the one through whom Jesus was conceived at birth and raised from the dead. It is the Holy Spirit whose very breath holds all things together and who has empowered the work and ministries of believers across time and still today. It is the Holy Spirit who hovers over our world now, still bringing form from chaos, light out of darkness, and life from death. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of Scripture, and who illuminates its readers today. It is the Holy Spirit who gives the Christian new life, who ministers to us the presence of Jesus, and by whom we worship and cry, “Abba Father!”
The Spirit, then, is worthy of our praise and adoration. Thus, from the standpoint of worship, we must decide whether the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, worthy to receive our adoration, faith, love, and our entire surrendering to Himself. R.A. Torrey says, “If the Holy Spirit is a person, and a Divine Person, and we do not know Him as such, then we are robbing a Divine Being of worship, faith, love, and surrendering.” (Torrey 1898, 227). Let us take time to worship and pray.
Spirit Of God, Descend Upon My Heart
George Croly, 1854
An intense, personal prayer for…
1. The Working of the Holy Spirit
Spirit of God descend upon my heart,
Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as Thou art,
And make me love Thee as I ought to love.
2. Illumination
I ask no dream, no prophet-ecstasies;
No sudden rending of the veil of clay;
No angel-visitant, no opening skies;
But take the dimness of my soul away.
3. More Fervent Love for Christ
Hast Thou not bid us love Thee, God and King?
All, all Thine own, soul, heart and strength and mind;
I see the cross—there teach my heart to cling;
O let me seek Thee, and O let me find.
4. Greater Holiness in our Walk with the Lord
Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
5. The Fullness of the Spirit
Teach me to love Thee as Thine angels love,
One holy passion filling all my frame:
The baptism of the heaven-descended Dove,
My heart an altar, and Thy love the flame.
Amen
Dr. Oscar Merlo
Director, Center for the Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
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:
Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Guatemala
Photographs from the street paintings during Holy Week
The Spanish tradition of Semana Santa (Holy Week) arrived in 1524 with the Spaniards to Guatemala. Almost 500 years later, Guatemala still holds one of the most elaborate Holy Week celebrations in the world. With grand processions, lavish floats, and intricately designed 'alfombras' (“carpets”), Antigua, Guatemala, hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year who yearn to be a part of the religious and cultural festivities – a mix of Spanish tradition and indigenous cultural beliefs. Each church displays an ‘alfombra’ which is made from colored sawdust, pine needles, fresh flowers, fruits, and vegetables, an offering to the saints. Guatemalans hang curtains, cloth bows, and paper decorations of purple, red, lilac, and yellow in doorways and windows to signify the suffering and royalty of Jesus. The procession on Palm Sunday includes 'andas' (“floats”) displaying scenes of the figures of Christ and the Holy Virgin of Sorrow. Holy shrines have evolved into complex works of art with sculptors and painters competing for the honorable position of decorating and creating scenes for Semana Santa.
About the Artists:
Unknown Community Artists and Volunteers
About the Music:
“Hosanna” from the album African Spirit
Originally entitled "'What the Lord Has Done in Me'"
Lyrics:
Let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Let the blind say, "I can see"
It's what the Lord has done in me
Let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Let the blind say, "I can see"
It's what the Lord has done in me
Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again
Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again
To the river I will wade
There my sins are washed away
From the heavens' mercy streams
Of the Savior's love for me
I will rise from waters deep
Into the saving arms of God
I will sing salvation songs
Jesus Christ has set me free
Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again
Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again
Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain
Hosanna, hosanna
Jesus died and rose again
Let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Let the blind say, "I can see"
It's what the Lord has done in me
About the Composer and Lyricist:
Written and composed by Reuben Morgan
© 1998 Hillsong Music Publishing
About the Performers:
The Soweto Gospel Choir was formed in Soweto, South Africa, by David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer, the group’s two choir directors. The more than 30-member ensemble blends elements of African gospel, Negro spirituals, reggae, and American popular music. Their albums Blessed and African Spirit won Grammy Awards for Best Traditional World Music Album in 2007 and 2008 respectively. The choir is an Ambassador for Nelson Mandela’s 46664 Campaign and has performed at Cape Town, Johannesburg, London, and New York, with many well-known artists. The choir is also an Ambassador for the 1Goal Campaign, which is an anti-crime advocate, and runs the AIDS orphans foundation, Nkosi’s Haven Vukani.
About the Poet:
Lisa Russ Spaar (b. 1956) received a BA from the University of Virginia in 1978 and an MFA in 1982. She is the author of several poetry collections, including Orexia (2017), Vanitas, Rough (2012), and Glass Town (1999). The Boston Review notes, “Lisa Russ Spaar’s intensely lyrical language—baroque, incantatory, provocative—enables her to reinvigorate perennial subject matter: desire, pursuit, and absence; intoxication and ecstasy; the transience of earthly experience; the uncertainties of god and grave; the dialectic between fertility and mortality.” She is also the author of The Hide-and-Seek Muse: Annotations of Contemporary Poetry (2013), a collection of poetry history and criticism, and she was a 2014 finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Citation for Excellence in Reviewing. She has edited multiple poetry anthologies, including Monticello in Mind: Fifty Contemporary Poets on Jefferson (2016). Spaar has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Library of Virginia Award for Poetry, and a Rona Jaffe Award, among other honors and awards. She is a professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Virginia.
About the Devotional Writer:
Dr. Oscar Merlo
Director, Center for the Study of the Work and Ministry of the Holy Spirit Today
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Dr. Oscar Merlo is passionate about empowering the new generations through the Holy Spirit and illuminating the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He has served in executive leadership positions for profit and nonprofit multinational organizations. Merlo has traveled extensively to over 35 countries in five continents and has experienced how God’s Missio-Dei is at work in diverse places such as: Cuba, Tel Aviv, Bissau, Istanbul, Guatemala, local communities in Los Angeles, and other places in the global South. He leads global plans in Evangelism & Transformation initiatives and has participated in social justice advocacy, the Latin America Free of Corruption Initiative and coordinated global leadership training programs. Merlo served as a co-founder of the OMEGA generation project; an initiative to mentor Latin-X millennials in the 21st century. He has developed EDEAM (School of Evangelists Alberto Mottesi) academic programs expanding to 136 international centers throughout Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. Oscar is happily married to Lexa, and they have two daughters.