February 20: “Follow Me”
♫ Music:
Day 4 - Saturday, February 20
Title: “FOLLOW ME”
Scripture: Matthew 4: 18-22, Matthew 16: 24-26
Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Poetry:
Choices
by Tess Gallagher
I go to the mountain side
of the house to cut saplings,
and clear a view to snow
on the mountain. But when I look up,
saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in
the uppermost branches.
I don’t cut that one.
I don’t cut the others either.
Suddenly, in every tree,
an unseen nest
where a mountain
would be.
A CALL TO LIFE
One hundred and fifteen miles lie between St. Francis’ mountain hermitage of La Verna and the town of Assisi. Traversing this pilgrimage path was a delightful experience in simplicity. Only a pack of necessities and the task of walking a certain distance each day with my three companions. Strong snapshots of memory include the beauty of the soft hills of the Apennines, the friendly faces and kindnesses of those we met along the way, lunches beside wheat fields sprinkled with red poppies, and a thunderstorm that caused us to arrive drenched and shivering at the monastery door where we hoped to spend the night.
Stripping down to the essentials makes one contemplate the goods of life, particularly in the example of St. Francis, who came so often to mind at the towns and sites that were central to his story. When his father threatened him, demanding that he return all worldly possessions, Francis calmly took off his clothes and gave them to his father. This gesture proved symbolic of his later life and its complete abandonment of all the world holds dear, whether wealth, material possessions, status, reputation, or even family. A verse that he clung to at the beginning of his spiritual awakening and used as a rule for his order was that “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matt.16:24). He used the tau cross, seeing in it a constant reminder that he was crucified with Christ and now lived entirely for him. An emphasis on renunciation, however, can overshadow the fact that Francis gained far more than he cast aside. The flame of his love for Christ caused him to recognize that life was not bound up in lesser goods but in a much greater good. The embrace of that good resulted in the peace, courage, and lasting impact that that we now see as characterizing his life.
While we may not be called to vows of poverty like Francis, to a rejection of career and all earthly goods, each of us is called to the same level of complete and joyful consecration of one’s whole self and a rejection of the world’s values in following Jesus. Next month marks a year of COVID and the beginning of loss that we all have experienced in different ways, some much more profoundly than others, and in small ways as well as large. The sting of a little realization of loss came to me last week, when I saw a student’s face that I hadn’t seen in person for almost a year. In these weeks leading up to Easter, however, I do not want to be merely counting my losses, what has been taken away or what is lacking, but rather rejoicing in the abundance of the life gained in Christ.
Prayer:
I beseech Thee, O Lord, that the fiery and sweet strength of Thy love may absorb my soul from all things that are under heaven, that I may die for love of Thy love as Thou didst deign to die for love of my love.
----St. Francis of Assisi
Dr. Laurie Wilson
Assistant Professor
Torrey Honors College
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:
So That Whoever Enters See the Light (several views)
From the God and the World Exhibition
Madeleine Dietz
Duration: May–June, 2012
Installation of earth with thorny branches, light, steel altar cube
Lutheran Twelve-Apostles-Church
Project for the Rhineland Palatinate Cultural Summer
Frankenthal, Germany
For two months in 2012, a temporary art installation by artist Madeleine Dietz gave new meaning to the worship space of the Lutheran Twelve-Apostles-Church in Frankenthal, Germany. Diez replaced the normal central aisle leading down the center of the church to the altar with an impassable earthen pathway. Behind the altar she placed a thick fence of thorny branches. A yellow light from behind the partition of branches illuminated the altar, suggesting the presence of a heavenly light. With the use of soil, the artist alluded to creation and the transitory nature of human life. By disrupting the normal movements of believers, the earthen pathway forced them to find different approaches to the altar, a symbolic encouragement to keep exploring new directions in one’s faith. The thorny branches represent the challenges of faith, as well as the suffering and death of Christ. While the altar symbolizes our focus on God, the yellow light refers to eternal life, by which we receive by his grace and mercy.
https://www.artway.eu/content.php?id=1311&lang=en&action=show
About the Artist:
Madeleine Dietz (b. 1953) is a German postwar and contemporary installation artist. She lives and works in Rheinland Pfalz, Germany. Dietz studied at the School of Art in Mannheim and was particularly interested in books and illustration. She is known for her installations, unsettling performances, and videos done in symbolic locations such as churches or cemeteries. Her work is marked by a profound tension between opposing concepts: protection and threat; rise and decline; and life and death. Her work may be found in many museums and private collections, including the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Wilhelm-Hack Museum (Ludwigshafen), Museum of Contemporary Art (Neubrandenburg), and the New Museum (Weserburg). She has been awarded various fellowships and has worked in Paris, Florence, Houston, and Barcelona.
https://www.gallerysonjaroesch.com/madeleine-dietz
http://www.madeleinedietz.de/
About the Music:
“Wa Habibi” from the album Floodplain
About the Composer:
Traditional Syrian
Syria, one of the countries where Christianity originated, has a long history of church music. The Syrian chant continues to be the liturgical music of various Syrian Christians. Today we hear an instrumental version of the chant, originally sung from the perspective of Mary the Mother of Our Lord. An English translation follows: Oh my love, my love what a sad state you are in / Anyone who sees you will cry in melancholy, you gave your life for us / My love, what guilt you carry / What wounds they put on you, no cure has been found / When in the field at night you, our God, kneel to pray / The world was praying with you for you made prayer a great thing / The olives whipped; they called your name / My love, how can you leave like this; no fidelity is left in the world.
About the Performers:
The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco, California. They have been in existence, with a rotating membership of musicians, for over forty years. The quartet covers a broad range of musical genres including Mexican folk, experimental, pre-classical early music, movie soundtracks, jazz and tango, as well as contemporary classical music. More than 900 works have been written for them. Violinist David Harrington, from Seattle, Washington, founded the quartet in 1973. With almost forty studio albums to their credit and performances worldwide, they have been called “probably the most famous ‘new music’ group in the world,” and have been praised in philosophical studies of music for the inclusiveness of their repertoire. They have worked with many minimalist composers, including John Adams, Arvo Pärt, George Crumb, Henryk Górecki, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, Kevin Volans, and Laurie Anderson.
https://www.kronosquartet.org/
About the Poet:
Tess Gallagher (b. 1943) is an American poet, essayist, and short-story writer. Her many honors include a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts Award, and a Maxine Cushing Gray Foundation Award. Gallagher earned degrees from the University of Washington, where she studied with Theodore Roethke, and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Gallagher has taught at various institutions, including St. Lawrence University, the University of Montana, the University of Arizona, Syracuse University, Bucknell University, and Whitman College. Known for her accessible, intimate poetry, Gallagher has also written three short-story collections and has published numerous collections of poetry, including Instructions for a Double (1976), Willingly (1984), Amplitude: New and Selected Poems (1987), and Moon Crossing Bridge (1992). From her earliest work, Gallagher has written in a flexible free-verse style, braiding strands of confessional anecdote, everyday experience, and precise, even surreal, imagery.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/tess-gallagher
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tess_Gallagher
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Laurie Wilson
Assistant Professor
Torrey Honors College
Biola University
Dr. Laurie Wilson, an Assistant Professor in the Torrey Honors College at Biola University, received her master’s degree in Greek and Latin and her doctoral degree in classics from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, where she was an H. B. Earhart Foundation Fellow and a Postgraduate Fellow in the James Wilson Programme for Constitutional Studies. This background reflects her passion for classical studies and interdisciplinary research, which has focused on Augustine, Cicero, and writings from the American founders.