March 2: Looking Up From the First Rung of the Ladder
♫ Music:
Day 6 - Monday, March 2
Rung #1: ON RENOUNCING THE WORLD
Scriptures: Romans 12:2; Galatians 6:14
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. But far be it from me to glory [in anything or anyone] except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) through Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!
Poetry:
Holy Sonnets: Batter my heart, Three-person'd God
by John Donne
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
LOOKING UP FROM THE FIRST RUNG OF THE LADDER
The artwork for today’s devotional, the captivating icon representing John Climacus’s The Ladder of Divine Ascent, reveals one of the more challenging truths about our life as Christ followers: the whole time we are attempting to ascend up the ladder toward heaven, there are forces pulling us in the opposite direction. In the image, these hindrances are portrayed as chains that bind us and lead us downward, depicted most strikingly in the images of flying dark devils firing arrows, taking us captive, and guiding us toward Satan’s insatiable jaws. If we consider this honestly, we are often inclined to head in that direction without their assistance. This captures the crux of Donne’s poem; one of his most admired Holy Sonnets. Left to our own devices, we will find ourselves in the service of our closest enemies—sin and pride. Donne begins his poem with the shocking desire that the Trinity would assault his heart and tear down the fortress of his will. The poet employs a reversal of the knocking and seeking we should be engaged in as Christ followers: here God knocks on our hearts, and woos us with his divine breath and glory (“shine”). The Great Physician seeks to heal us of our infirmities. Employing the Metaphysical paradoxes this 17th-century priest delights in, Donne reveals with alliterative exuberance that we can only truly “rise” toward righteousness when we are knocked down with the bending, breaking, blowing, and burning that will renew us. Switching to metaphors of misplaced devotion and passion, Donne begs to be fully overtaken by God, because he has allowed himself to be held prisoner by an enemy that seeks our ultimate destruction. Such violence finds echoes in the work of John Climacus: “Those who aim at ascending with the body to heaven indeed need violence and constant suffering . . . until our pleasure loving dispositions and unfeeling hearts attain to love of God and chastity by manifest sorrow.” While this sounds like harsh medicine in an era of ease and instant gratification, the larger point that we must deny ourselves speaks frankly about the kind of life we are asked to lead as Christ’s disciples. We can never earn our way into the Kingdom of God, but we can reveal to the world, to ourselves, and to God, that we are devoted to righteous conduct.
Caroline Shaw’s “Partita for 8 Voices” enacts an aural assault on our attention in ways that parallel Donne’s thought-provoking sonnet. The name of her ensemble, Roomful of Teeth, projects that balance between vocal uplift and the gritty reality of our embodied selves. Simultaneously soothing and disorienting, the music serves as an appropriate soundtrack for lives that move in two directions at once. Making our way between the sounds that distract and those that inspire can be seen as required equipment for living in this world. Seeking the renewal of our minds that Paul encourages (Romans 12:1) will help to ensure that we are faithfully climbing in the right direction.
Prayer:
Lord, cause us to continually “plunge to the depths of humility” (Climacus) so that we might develop greater devotion to your ways and rise up in faithfulness to share your love to a hurting world. Let the only violence in our lives be the desire to put to death the earthly attachments that hinder our progress toward spiritual regeneration and wisdom. Help us to cultivate lives of faithful devotion, sacrificial service to others, and grateful generosity.
Amen
Marc Malandra
Professor of English
Biola University
For more information about the artwork, music, poetry, and devotional writer selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
To learn more about the themes of this year’s Lent Project, please go to:
https://ccca.biola.edu/lent/2020/#day-feb-25
About the Art:
The Ladder of Divine Ascent Icon
Unknown Artist
12th c.
St. Catherine’s Monastery
Mount Sinai, Egypt
The Ladder of Divine Ascent is a late 12th century icon at Saint Catherine's Monastery, Mount Sinai, representing the theological teachings of John Climacus in his treatise The Ladder of Divine Ascent, c. AD 600. The icon depicts monks ascending the ladder Jesus who stands ready to welcome them into Heaven. The ladder has 30 rungs representing the 30 stages of ascetic life. Their progress is supported by the prayers of angels, the saints, and the community, depicted at the top left and bottom right, respectively. The fierce and relentless battle for their souls is evident as demons attack armed with bows and arrows while others actively attempt to pull them from the ladder with hooks and rope. A gigantic black head emerging from the underground, representing the Devil himself, devours a monk who has fallen from the ladder into the Devil’s gaping, upturned maw. The icon, in keeping with Climacus’ teachings, emphasizes the need for constant vigilance by depicting monks who, though very near their goal, topple from the ladder into that eternal abyss.
Named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Saint Catherine's Monastery is situated at the foot of Mount Sinai, near the town of Saint Catherine, Egypt. The monastery is named after Catherine of Alexandria. Built between 548 and 565 on the order of Emperor Justinian I, the monastery is one of the oldest working Christian monasteries in the world. It contains the world's oldest continually operating library and an extensive collection of early icons because, due to its remote location, the monastery was not sacked during the Byzantine Iconoclasm. The monastery is controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai, part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
About the Artist:
Unknown Artist
About the Music:
“Partita for 8 Singers: No. 2. Sarabande” from the album Caroline Shaw: Partita for 8 Voices
About the Composer:
Caroline Shaw (b. 1982) is a New York-based musician, vocalist, violinist, composer, and producer who performs in solo and collaborative projects. She was the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for “Partita for 8 Voices,” written for the Grammy-winning Roomful of Teeth, of which she is a member. Recent commissions include new works for Renée Fleming with Inon Barnatan, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s with John Lithgow, the Dover Quartet, TENET, The Crossing, the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, Brooklyn Rider, the Baltimore Symphony, and Roomful of Teeth with “A Far Cry.” Caroline’s film scores include Erica Fae’s To Keep the Light and Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline as well as the short 8th Year of the Emergency by Maureen Towey. She has produced for Kanye West (The Life of Pablo; Ye) and Nas (NASIR), and has contributed to records by The National and by Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry. Caroline has studied at Rice, Yale, and Princeton, currently teaches at NYU, and is a Creative Associate at the Juilliard School. She has held residencies at Dumbarton Oaks, the Banff Centre, Music on Main, and the Vail Dance Festival.
http://carolineshaw.com/#bio
About the Performers:
Roomful of Teeth and Brad Wells
Roomful of Teeth is a GRAMMY-winning vocal project dedicated to re-imagining the expressive potential of the human voice. Through study with masters from vocal traditions the world over, the eight-voice ensemble continually expands its vocabulary of singing techniques and, through an ongoing commissioning process, forges a new repertoire without borders. Founded in 2009 by Brad Wells, Roomful of Teeth gathers annually at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) in North Adams, Massachusetts, where they have studied with some of the world’s top performers and teachers in Tuvan throat singing, yodeling, Broadway belting, Inuit throat singing, Korean P’ansori, Georgian singing, Sardinian cantu a tenore, Hindustani music, Persian classical singing and Death Metal singing.
https://www.roomfulofteeth.org/
Brad Wells is a conductor, singer, composer and the Founder/Artistic Director of Roomful of Teeth. Wells directs the choral program, oversees and teaches studio voice, and leads courses in conducting, arranging and voice science and style at Williams College in Williamstown, MA. Brad has held conducting positions at Yale University, Trinity College, University of California at Berkeley, and California State University, Chico, and has directed choirs of all ages. In 2007, Brad commissioned and led the Williams Concert Choir in the world premiere in Palestrina, Italy, of Judd Greenstein’s Lamenting, a work based on Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s settings of Hebrew letters from his Lamentations. A champion of Estonian choral music, Brad has led the U.S. premieres of works by numerous Estonian composers. As a singer, he has performed and recorded with such ensembles as Paul Hillier's Theatre of Voices, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and the California Choral Company. In 1998, he was the recipient of the Aidan Kavanagh Achievement Prize from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Brad has received a Doctor of Musical Arts from Yale University; a Master of Musical Arts from Yale University; a Master of Music from the University of Texas at Austin; and a B.A. from Principia College.
https://www.roomfulofteeth.org/brad-wells
About the Poet:
John Donne (1572-1631) was an Anglican cleric and one of England’s most gifted and influential metaphysical poets of his time. Raised a Roman Catholic, Donne later converted to Anglicanism. His work is distinguished by its emotional intensity and its capacity to deeply delve into the paradoxes of faith, human and divine love, and personal salvation. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include a variety of forms including: sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires, and sermons. His poetry is noted for its eloquent language, fusion of intellect and passion, and inventiveness of metaphor. In 1621, he was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London and also served as a member of Parliament in 1601 and in 1614. After a resurgence in his popularity in the early 20th century, Donne’s reputation as one of the greatest writers of English prose and poetry was established.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-donne
About the Devotion Writer:
Marc Malandra
Professor of English
Biola University
Marc Malandra is a Professor of English at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where he teaches American literature, composition, and creative writing. He lives with his spouse Junko and their cat Tora in Brea, CA.