March 24: On Vigilance
♫ Music:
Day 28 - Tuesday, March 24
Rung #20: ON VIGILANCE
Scripture: 1 Peter 5:8-11
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Poetry:
A Blind Woman
by Ted Kooser
She had turned her face up into
a rain of light, and came on smiling.
The light trickled down her forehead
and into her eyes. It ran down
into the neck of her sweatshirt
and wet the white tops of her breasts.
Her brown shoes splashed on
into the light. The moment was like
a circus wagon rolling before her
through puddles of light, a cage on wheels,
and she walked fast behind it,
exuberant, curious, pushing her cane
through the bars, poking and prodding,
while the world cowered back in a corner.
ON VIGILANCE
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.” We may not feel the need to be reminded of this today. We are currently living in an unprecedented season in which the whole world is urging us to be on the alert. Our world is living with an elevated state of alertness in matters of health and the measures being taken are also raising levels of concern about economic well-being.
But in this passage, Peter is not really writing about this kind of alertness. He is exhorting a church living in the pagan first-century Roman Empire to live faithfully for Christ, even, and especially, under difficult circumstances. Being sober and alert in this context means being aware of the ways in which the adversary seeks to derail believers from their faithfulness to Christ.
Many of us are facing difficult circumstances now. Many are living in fear for the health of loved ones. Many are left feeling financially insecure with the sudden closure of the workplace. Some people are fighting both of these fears and more. But these words bring comfort as Peter reminds us to view our present circumstances in light of eternity. It’s so easy to be weighed down by our present concerns, problems, and cares, which are very real and very weighty. But Peter reminds us that these last for “a little while” in comparison to the eternal reality to which we have been called and in which God will “perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish” his children of faith. If we chose to focus on the present sufferings alone, we will find ourselves in the posture of “inconstancy” (pictured on the left in this artwork by Giotto di Bondone). If we can view our present questions and concerns in light of this eternal promise, we can stand in the posture of “fortitude” (pictured on the right). It is not a self-induced fortitude—it comes as we stand in the power of the God who raised Christ from the dead. In this season of Lent, we are privileged to know that Resurrection Sunday is right around the corner. Jesus Christ was raised in power to overcome the effects of the fall and the present prowling of the enemy. In Lent, we know that our present sufferings are temporal and this emboldens our faith.
I encourage you to listen to the words of the song, “feel the night,” as you gaze upon these images of inconstancy and fortitude. The two paired together are an excellent reminder to us that we are not spared the battle that occurs before the resurrection – indeed, we face a roaring lion. But we can stand, battle-ready, with confidence because the God of all grace will strengthen and establish us! To Him be dominion forever and ever.
Prayer
Lord,
In this season of uncertainty, we remember your own suffering. In Gethsemane, you confessed to your disciples: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Matt. 26:38). And Peter reminds us to also be watchful—sober and alert. Help us to stand in fortitude against the schemes of the adversary. It is only in your strength that we can resist his schemes. It is only in your strength that we can stand in faith amidst a world of fear and anxiety, sorrow and pain. We remember that your suffering was ultimately overcome by your resurrection. This gives us hope as we know that we are raised with Christ and called to eternal glory in Him. We can stand in faith knowing that you will perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish us. We hold our present circumstances in light of this eternal truth and give you our sincerest thanks and praise.
Amen.
Dr. Jeanette Hagen Pifer
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Talbot School of Theology
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: (l to r)
The Seven Virtues and Vices: Inconstancy and Fortitude
Giotto di Bondone
1306
Fresco
120 cm x 55 cm
Cappella Scrovegni (Arena Chapel)
Padua, Italy
Among the multi-colored, faux painted marble slabs of the dado level (lower wall), Giotto painted illusionistic niches surrounding grisaille depictions of the Virtues on one side of the chapel and the Vices on the other.The canon of principal Christian virtues in the Middle Ages was made up of the three 'theological virtues' (faith, hope, and charity) and the four 'cardinal virtues' (justice, prudence, fortitude, and temperance). The cycle of seven virtues, sometimes paired with appropriate vices (not necessarily the seven Deadly Sins), was widely represented in medieval sculpture and fresco and often associated with the Last Judgment, like in the Scrovegni Chapel. Fortitude is positioned as a woman in armor with a shield, set against dark marble. She raises her weapon forcefully, prepared to defend virtue. In contrast, Inconstancy is situated on a sloping surface with a rolling disc. She tries to regain balance, leaning as her robe flies up, characterized by a permanent sense of movement as she constantly sways backwards and forwards. The seven vices depicted at the Scrovegni Chapel are desperation, envy, infidelity, injustice, wrath, inconstancy, and foolishness.
https://www.wga.hu/html_m/g/giotto/padova/7vicevir/index.html
About the Artist:
The Italian painter Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337) was born in Vespignano near Florence, where he died. He is often appreciated for his innovations in painting and for initiating the first impetus for the Italian Renaissance. Giotto imbued his figures with personality and tried to give expression to their faces and bearing, as is clearly visible from his major work: the frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, a.k.a. the Arena Chapel. Giotto may very well have been the first painter to succeed in creating unified compositions, as can be seen in the relationships between the figures and their surroundings as they interact through gesture and emotion. Giotto's work was celebrated during his lifetime to such an extent that Dante proclaimed Giotto to be larger than Cimabue, who was considered to be the most important Italian artist up until then. Few works may be ascribed to him with absolute certainty: a series of frescoes in Padua, more frescoes and altarpieces in the Santa Croce in Florence and a painting of the Madonna, presently on display in the Uffizi in Florence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giotto
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giotto-di-Bondone
About the Music:
“Feel the Night” from the album Feel the Night
The Lyrics:
For years I've stood I've held the line
Spoke into the night
And fought the devouring lion
A peace I know has held me in
As our Father draws close
With an army to begin
So I will feel the night
For the coming of The Lord
And I'll await the light
That I have seen before
Friend, I know you see it most
The dark before the dawn
Feels fierce and it feels close
But may you hear the angels voice
He says “Hold on one more hour
To me, will you boy?”
So I will feel the night
For the coming of The Lord
And I'll await the light
That I have seen before
We will praise Him
We will praise Him
He is coming
We will praise Him
About the Composer/Performer/Lyricist:
Strahan Coleman is one of New Zealand’s amazing, yet understated, musicians. Growing up on strains of Dylan and the rich legacy of old Christian folk troubadours, Strahan seemed always destined to seek the truth. His songs speak of that moment where “poetry kissed reality” and his modern Psalms wrestle with the same world that David did, the world that struggles to reconcile the face of heaven in this constant economic, political and spiritual upheaval. Strahan’s passion to engage God in a deeper, more meaningful way through the whole of his life is inspiring. His “need” to challenge others towards a bigger embrace of how our whole life connects with God and the world around us is worth connecting with. Simplicity is something Strahan and his family have been embracing, coupled with a developing critique of the dehumanization going on in the world around us.
Strahanmusic.com
https://francis-ritchie.com/introducing-strahan-coleman/
About the Poet:
Theodore J. Kooser (b. 1939) is an American poet. He served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004 to 2006. Kooser was one of the first poet laureates selected from the Great Plains and is known for his conversational style of poetry. Recognized for his poetry and essays that celebrate the quotidian and capture a vanishing way of life, Kooser’s poems reflect his abiding interest in the past while offering a clear-eyed appraisal of its hardships. His collections of poetry include Delights and Shadows (2004), Flying at Night: Poems 1965-1985 (2005), Splitting an Order (2016), and Kindest Regards: New and Selected Poems (2018). In partnership with the Poetry Foundation, Kooser founded “American Life in Poetry,” which offers a free weekly poem to newspapers across the United States. Commenting on his writing, Kooser has said, “I write for other people with the hope that I can help them to see the wonderful things within their everyday experiences. In short, I want to show people how interesting the ordinary world can be if you pay attention.” Kooser’s fame—including a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry—came late in his career. Upon graduating from Iowa State University in 1962, he taught for a number of years and then worked in the insurance industry until 1999. Through-out his insurance career, Kooser wrote poems, usually from five-thirty to seven o’clock each morning before he went to the office.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ted-kooser
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kooser
About the Devotion Writer:
Dr. Jeanette Hagen Pifer
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Biola University
Jeanette Hagen Pifer has served in a variety of ministry capacities including evangelistic and humanitarian work with orphans in the former Soviet Union, helping to facilitate for theological and ministry training around the world, and serving in a church plant in Whittier, California. She completed her Ph.D., studying under Professor John Barclay at Durham University in England. Her research focused on the Pauline concept of faith. Hagen Pifer has presented academic papers at a number of conferences in the U.S. and Europe. She also contributed to the Lightfoot Legacy, a three-volume set of previously unpublished commentaries by this foremost English NT scholar of the 19th century. Prior to coming to Biola, Hagen Pifer taught at Cranmer Hall in Durham, England, a theological college focused on training individuals called to full-time Christian service.