March 16: “Be Still”
♫ Music:
Day 28 - Tuesday, March 16
Title: “BE STILL”
Scripture: Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening came, He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Hush, be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
Poetry:
The Real Prayers Are Not the Words,
But the Attention that Comes First
by Mary Oliver
The little hawk leaned sideways and, tilted,
rode the wind. Its eye at this distance looked
like green glass; its feet were the color
of butter. Speed, obviously, was joy. But
then, so was the sudden, slow circle it carved
into the slightly silvery air, and the
squaring of its shoulders, and the pulling into
itself the sharp-edged wings, and the
falling into the grass where it tussled a moment,
like a bundle of brown leaves, and then, again,
lifted itself into the air, that butter-color
clenched in order to hold a small, still
body, and it flew off as my mind sang out oh
all that loose, blue rink of sky, where does
it go to, and why?
BE STILL
For this year’s Lent devotion, I was immediately drawn to Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm painting. In part, because I have always loved this particular narrative from the life of Jesus—but also because our current pandemic has felt like weathering an unpredictable and unrelenting storm. The graphic image of frail human beings battling intense forces of nature resonated with my heart as an apt visual metaphor for the chaos of the past year. The undercurrent of anxiety, instability, and tumult that we’ve all experienced may have led some of us to ask the same question that these frantic disciples posed, “Jesus, do You not care that we are perishing?”
Rembrandt’s astonishing ability to capture the interplay between light and dark immediately draws our attention to the powerful waves which are about to capsize the boat. The Gospel narrative tells us that “the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up.” Yet, Mark adds the subtle detail that “Jesus Himself was in the stern, asleep on a cushion.” I was surprised to learn that this event marks the only instance in Scripture where Jesus is said to have slept, and is also the only time the word "cushion" appears in the New Testament. I can’t help but wonder if Jesus, exhausted and weary, and found the only cushion available and went to sleep in the midst of the storm.
When awakened, Jesus simply told the raging elements to “Hush and be still” and it became perfectly calm. Reading Jesus’ words, “Be still,” immediately brought to mind the words of Psalm 46:10. In these days of uncertainty, upheaval and unrest, Psalm 46:10 invites us to “Be still and know that I am God.”
Be Still. A prayer in which we wait in silence before God, a moment of wordless acknowledgement, attention, and silent awe. And Mary Oliver’s poem invites us to do exactly that … to engage, not in the prayer that is composed of carefully chosen words, but the prayer of quietly paying attention. Pausing and allowing myself to honestly acknowledge that I do not know how to pray or what to pray, but in deep stillness, I open myself to God.
I believe that Mary Oliver and the psalmist are onto something very important. They recognize that our most genuine connections with God often come in the moments where we quiet ourselves enough to simply pay attention, when we take the time to notice what is taking place inside us and listen for His still, small voice.
In a conversation with Krista Tippet for an NPR Podcast, Mary Oliver said that “attention is the beginning of devotion.” Simone Weil says it like this: “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.” In other words, attention requires us to exercise intentionally as we fully invest ourselves in something or someone. In so doing, our focused attention becomes an act of generosity—or even an act of devotion.
I’d like to close by recommending three practices that I’ve adopted during the long months of the pandemic, which have helped me to be more intentional about paying attention to God and what He might be doing within me and around me.
1. Reading a psalm every morning. Psalms are enduring prayers that address the full range of human emotions and I’ve found they often supply words when I have no words of my own.
2. Sitting silently for five minutes. Five minutes of silence can feel surprisingly uncomfortable and LONG! But the act of slowing down, listening, and taking the time to identify and reflect on my thoughts and concerns has been incredibly calming and restorative.
3. Taking a 15-minute observation walk. The experience of being outdoors and paying attention to the subtle changes that I see taking place in my surroundings has strengthened my gratitude muscle and deepened my appreciation for the ways God reveals Himself through creation.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus,
Just as You spoke peace to the raging storm and sea,
Would you speak peace to my troubled heart?
You commanded them: ”Hush, be still,” and immediately they were calm.
How I long for my anxious heart to cease striving and know that You are God.
May I find quietness and strength as I enter into stillness with You.
Cultivate within me a quiet heart, like a baby content in its mother’s arms.
Amen.
Deborah Taylor
Provost and Senior Vice President
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.
Artwork & Artist:
Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (overall and detail)
Rembrandt van Rijn
1633
Oil on canvas
160 x 128 cm
Location: Whereabouts unknown since its 1990 theft from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts.
Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee is his only painted seascape. The detailed rendering of the scene, the figures’ varied expressions, the polished brushwork, and the bright coloring are characteristic of Rembrandt’s early style. The biblical scene captures the struggle of nature against human frailty. The panic-stricken disciples struggle against a sudden storm and fight to maintain control of their fishing boat. Awakened by the disciples’ desperate pleas for help, Christ rebukes them: “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” and then calms the strong wind and waves. Rembrandt creates a very human response in the disciples by meticulously painting their terrified response to the storm. Only one figure standing in the middle of the boat looks directly out at the viewer; his face familiar as one of Rembrandt’s many self-portraits.
Source: Adapted from Michael Zell, “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 145.
https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10953
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Storm_on_the_Sea_of_Galilee
About the Artist:
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606–1669) was a Dutch draughtsman, painter, and printmaker. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and the most important in Dutch art history. Unlike most Dutch masters of the seventeenth century, Rembrandt’s works depict a wide range of style and subject matter, from portraits and self-portraits to landscapes, genre scenes, allegorical and historical scenes, and biblical and mythological themes. His contributions to art came in a period of great wealth and cultural achievement that historians call the “Dutch Golden Age.” Having achieved youthful success as a portrait painter, Rembrandt’s later years were marked by personal tragedy and financial hardships. Rembrandt’s portraits of his contemporaries, self-portraits, and illustrations of scenes from the Bible are regarded as his greatest creative triumphs. His self-portraits form a unique and intimate autobiography, in which the artist surveyed himself without vanity and with the utmost sincerity. Rembrandt’s foremost contribution in the history of printmaking was his transformation of the etching process from a relatively new reproductive technique into a true art form. Because of his empathy for the human condition, he has been called one of the greatest storytellers in the history of art, possessing an exceptional ability to render people in their various moods and dramatic guises. Rembrandt is also known as a painter of light and as an artist who favored an uncompromising realism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rembrandt
https://www.biography.com/artist/rembrandt
Music:
“Soon Come, Weather Man” from the album Prisms 002
Lyrics
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling.
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling way down.
Up in the middle of a cloud
30k looking around.
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling way down
Up in the middle of a storm cloud
Light years away from the Lord I love.
People say the galaxy’s seeking
People think the universe breathing
With all these nations screaming in anger,
All I want to hear is your tongue.
Crystal balls in the middle of your pristine fall
Tryna make sense of the weather of your heart
People make gods like bodega make marts
Every single corner of our heart got stalls.
Callin callin ballers bawlin “Buy my bread and make me boss.”
Sorcery and stars friendship with wi-fi worshipping dogs.
Then we wonder why our God seems far.
Your feelings are drug dealer feelers dopamine darts.
Until they under the weatherman’s watch
Watch the rain get calm when the ghosts fly by on the waves you on
Silly ones where is your faith my loves?
I am the Lord of the storm.
I am the Lord of the storm.
I am the author of the deep beneath your feet
Below the sleet I am the refuge in the street
Sheep sleep beneath my wings softly
So who do you say I AM, we gonna see?
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling.
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling way down.
Up in the middle of a cloud
30k with life pushing me down.
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling
Sometimes I feel like I’m falling way down
But in your hands is where I’m falling
With no fears cause I’m held in the arms of your love.
Lyricist:
Esteban Shedd
Composers:
Esteban Shedd and Moral One
Esteban Shedd is the executive and creative director of Streetlights, a ministry that creatively engages global urban culture—primarily youth and young adults—with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Streetlights produces multimedia resources, like audio Bible books in various languages, curriculum, videos, and an app, to make the word of God accessible to everyone, regardless of their cultural background or literacy level. Shedd has an undeniable passion and call to reach younger generations with God’s transformational word and truth.
https://dare2sharelive.org/lineup/esteban-shedd/
Alert312 is an American Christian hip-hop music trio composed of MC Boogalu, legal name Esteban Shedd; vocalist, LoLo, legal name Loren La Luz (b. 1983); and DJ Moral One, legal name Aaron Lopez, a drummer from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 2009, they have released four studio albums: Alert (2009), Indian Colors (2010), Of Vice & Virtue (2013), and The Upside Eternal (2015). Alert312 runs a ministry in Chicago called Streetlights to facilitate literacy development while instilling and infusing biblical values and truths. This ministry is part of a greater organization, GRIP Outreach for Youth, where Shedd is a project director and Lopez is an assistant manager.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alert312
Performers:
Prism and Streetlights
Prism (often styled as PRiSM) is a Canadian rock band formed in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1977. They were originally active from 1977 to 1984 and have been active again from 1987 to present. Their classic lineup consists of lead singer Ron Tabak, guitarist Lindsay Mitchell, keyboardist John Hall, bass guitarist Allen Harlow, and drummer Rocket Norton. The band’s sound is a mix of album-oriented rock and pop rock. They have released a total of eight studio albums, three compilation albums, and one live album. Although Prism has charted on the U.S. top 40 charts, their success has been primarily in Canada, where they won the Canadian music industry’s Juno Award for Group of the Year in 1981.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prism_(band)
https://prism.ca/
Streetlights is a ministry of Creative Communicators, called to intentionally engage global urban culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ by producing, translating, teaching, and proclaiming God’s word so everyone can understand. The simple vision of Streetlights began in 2006 with the desire for a group of young men in Chicago, many with social and educational barriers, to know Jesus and understand his word. That vision was made a reality when God’s word was recorded word-for-word and set to a hip-hop soundtrack. After listening to the recording of God’s word in this unique format, the young men not only understood the passages they heard, but they all participated in profound dialogues about the spiritual truths they heard. The vision then matured into a desire to produce God’s word audibly in a format that thousands of young people just like them could hear and internalize for themselves with no barriers of illiteracy. And thus began Streetlights New Testament Audio Bible. Now upon completing a decade of ministry, Streetlights has produced vast amounts of God’s word in various formats, including audio, video, and print.
https://www.streetlightsbible.com/
About the Poet:
Mary Oliver (1935–2019) is an American poet who has won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Oliver’s poetry is grounded in memories of Ohio and her adopted home of New England. Influenced by poets Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau, she is known for her clear and poignant observances of the natural world. Her poems are filled with imagery from her daily walks near her home: shore birds, water snakes, the phases of the moon, and humpback whales. Oliver has been compared to poet Emily Dickinson, with whom she shares an affinity for solitude and inner monologues. “Mary Oliver’s poetry is an excellent antidote for the excesses of civilization,” wrote one reviewer for the Harvard Review, “for too much flurry and inattention, and the baroque conventions of our social and professional lives. She is a poet of wisdom and generosity whose vision allows us to look intimately at a world not of our making.”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/mary-oliver
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Oliver
About the Devotion Author:
Deborah Taylor
Provost and Senior Vice President
Biola University
Dr. Deborah Taylor is Provost and Senior Vice President at Biola and holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from Biola University and a Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University. Prior to coming to Biola, she was the principal of a K-8 private school. She has had the joy of being a faculty member, as well as serving in a variety of administrative roles, since coming to Biola in 2001. She has a lifelong love for beautifully written and illustrated children’s literature and currently finds great pleasure sharing her vast collection with her seven adorable grandchildren.