April 1: Christ, Our Refuge & Strength
♫ Music:
Day 31 - Friday, April 1
Title: CHRIST, OUR REFUGE & STRENGTH
Scripture: Psalm 91
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation.”
Poetry:
God’s Grandeur
by Gerard Manley Hopkins
The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with
toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell:
the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down
things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward,
springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with
ah! bright wings.
THE PERSON OF JESUS
Navigating suffering can feel impossible. We have all experienced suffering to one degree or another––especially during these last two years. The suffering of physical pain, emotional pain, or relational pain can be debilitating––for some this can even lead to being traumatized.
Scripture speaks to suffering often, and gives us an incredible response in the person of Jesus. The response to suffering is not a mantra, a three-step guide, or a pill but is found instead in relationship with the Lord. In our suffering the Lord invites us to be with Him. Just as Christ sought God in His own suffering, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 25:39), we too have a God who invites us to come to Him with our pain and suffering. In the midst of immense suffering, pain, and sorrow Jesus leans into His relationship with God and models for us how to bring our suffering to God the Father even in the most desperate of times. Just as Jesus turned to the Father, we too are invited to hold fast to Him––to call Him by name––to call Him “Abba! Daddy!”
Psalm 91 speaks directly to the pain of life and the suffering of existing with the response that the Lord is always with us and will provide for us. The song for today, “Psalm 91 - On Eagle’s Wings,” gives us the image of being securely held in the palm of His hand. As I reflect on that image, I think of my husband holding our children for the first time. They were so small, and as he held them in his arms, they cooed and were calmed because of the real and felt safety of being in their father’s reassuring arms.
Dr. Robert D. Stolorow, a leading psychoanalyst and philosopher in trauma-informed psychotherapy, describes trauma as “unbearable emotional suffering.” [1] If this is true, then this suffering can only be made bearable in the midst of a safe, relational home and relationship. In other words, we can bear most any type of suffering if we have a place to land with a safe person. When my kids get nervous, scared, or hurt, their immediate response is to reach for a safe person––either myself or my husband. We are all hard-wired to reach out towards safe, secure and loving relationships. In pain, regardless of how big or small, the Lord beckons us to reach out, hold onto, and find a safe relational home in His loving embrace.
In reading Psalm 91, I see an invitation into the family of God, into a home that provides protection, a loving response to fear, an embrace in the midst of suffering, and relational empowerment. The psalmist reminds us that: "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.” (v.5) In the course of suffering and threat we can trust to be welcomed and comforted by our Father. The poet for today, Gerard Manley Hopkins, emphasizes this familial and relational safety that the Lord brings reminding us that, “Because the Holy Ghost over the bent World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.” My kids coming to me in the midst of fear is not a childish endeavor, it is a human need. In addition to turning to the safe embrace of those who love us, our Father in heaven extends His arms wide open and invites us to find shelter in His loving embrace.
[1] R. D. Stolorow, “A Phenomenological-Contextual, Existential, and Ethical Perspective on Emotional Trauma,” Psychoanalytic Review 102, no. 1 (2015): 124.
Prayer
Abba, You have proven by the death and redemption of Jesus Christ that you desire to be with me. You love me. You want to be with me in every area of my life, including the areas of pain and suffering. Father, may I lean into You–into the shadow of your wings–into the palm of Your hand.
Amen.
Dr. Berry Bishop (Psy.D.)
Assistant Professor, MFT
Spiritual Formation
Director, MFT Program
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
About the Artwork:
Angel of the North
Antony Gormley
1998
COR-TEN steel
20 meters tall with wingspan measuring 54 meters
Near Gateshead, Tyne, and Wear, England
Photo #1 credit: Deljen Photography
The Angel of the North is a contemporary sculpture by artist Antony Gormley, located beside the A1 road in Gateshead, Tyne, and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is the largest sculpture in Britain. The work faced considerable opposition during its design and construction phases, but is now widely recognized as an iconic example of public art and as a symbol for northeast England. Gormley discussed the choice of an angel for the sculpture, suggesting that the image was multifunctional: it was a reminder of the industrial history of the site, beneath which miners had worked for centuries; a reference to the future, symbolizing the transition from the industrial to the information age; and a focus for human hopes and fears. The steel sculpture is 20 meters (66 ft.) tall, with wings measuring 54 meters (177 ft.) across. The wings are angled 3.5 degrees forward to create, according to Gormley, "a sense of embrace.” The angel, like much of Gormley's other work, is based on a cast of his own body.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_the_North
About the Artist:
Sir Antony Gormley, OBE (b. 1950), is widely acclaimed for his sculptures, installations, and public artworks that investigate the relationship of the human body to space. His work has opened up a critical engagement with both his own body and those of others in a way that confronts fundamental questions of where human beings stand in relation to nature and the cosmos. Gormley continually tries to identify the space of art as a place of becoming in which new behaviors, thoughts, and feelings can arise. Gormley won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1994. Gormley has been a royal academician since 2003, and was a trustee of the British Museum from 2007 to 2015. He is an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Institute of British Architects, holds honorary doctorates from Teesside University, Liverpool University, University College London, and Cambridge. He was the recipient of the Obayashi Prize in 2012 and is the 2013 Praemium Imperiale laureate for sculpture. Gormley was knighted in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to the arts, having previously been appointed OBE in 1998.
https://www.antonygormley.com/
About the Music:
“Psalm 91 - On Eagle’s Wings” from the album Psalms II
Lyrics:
You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord
Who abide in His shadow for life
Say to the Lord, "my refuge, my Rock in Whom I trust"
And He will raise you up on eagles wings
Bare you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm
Of His hand.
The snare of the fowler will never capture you|
And famine will bring you no fear
Under His wings your refuge
His faithfulness your shield
And He will raise you up on eagles wings
Bare you on the breath of dawn
Make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm
Of His hand
You need not fear the terror of the night
Nor the arrow that flies by day
Though thousands fall about you
Near you it shall not come
And He will raise you up on eagles wings
Bare you on the breath of dawn
And make you to shine like the sun
And hold you in the palm
Of His hand
About the Performers:
Shane & Shane is the combination of solo artists Shane Barnard and Shane Everett. After meeting in college, the duo began writing songs and touring the country, leading worship. Over fifteen years later, they’re writing more music than ever, with no intention of slowing down. Their desire has always been to glorify the Lord instead of themselves and they do so by writing music that is biblically based, lyrically rich, and sonically engaging. Over the past few years, Shane & Shane have dedicated their lives to encourage and equip worship leaders and their teams through an online resource called The Worship Initiative. The Worship Initiative is an equipping ministry and a collective of worship leaders that, over the past few years, has grown into a thriving community in and of itself.
https://www.shaneandshane.com/
About the Composer:
Father Jan Michael Joncas is an internationally recognized priest, liturgical composer, author, speaker, and professor. From 1980 to 1993, he served as associate pastor, campus minister, and parochial administrator at various parishes and Newman Centers in Minnesota. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame with a master's in theology and liturgical studies and summa cum laude with degrees in liturgical studies from Pontificio Istituto Liturgico of the Ateneo Sant'Anselmo. Among other notable works, “Salve Regina,” from O God of Past and Present, is a stunningly beautiful—and challenging—eight-part score for double choir. He has more than 20 collections of liturgical music. He has also published four books, including On Eagle’s Wings: A Journey through Illness toward Healing and more than 100 articles. The Michael Joncas Hymnary, now includes two volumes: Within Our Hearts Be Born, for Advent and Christmas, and We Contemplate the Mystery, for Lent and Easter. The collections feature original hymn texts set to traditional hymn tunes based on the Lectionary readings for each Sunday and holy day of the season. His songs are also featured on several of OCP's collections, including most recently “God of Might and God of Mercy," which appears on Our Common Home, a collaborate project based on Pope Francis' Laudato Si' encyclical. Father Joncas is currently Artist in Residence and Research Fellow in Catholic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.
About the Poet:
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) is regarded as one of the Victorian era’s greatest poets. He was raised in a prosperous and artistic family. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied classics. In 1867 Hopkins entered a Jesuit monastery near London. At that time, he vowed to “write no more...unless it were by the wish of my superiors.” Hopkins burned all of the poetry he had written and would not write poems again until 1875. He spent nine years in training at various Jesuit houses throughout England. He was ordained in 1877, and for the next seven years carried out his duties of teaching and preaching in London, Oxford, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Stonyhurst. In 1875, Hopkins, deeply moved by a newspaper account of a German ship, the Deutschland, wrecked during a storm at the mouth of the Thames River, began to write again. Although his poems were never published during his lifetime, his friend, poet Robert Bridges, edited a volume of Hopkins’ works entitled Poems that first appeared in 1918.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gerard-manley-hopkins
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. Berry Bishop (Psy.D.)
Assistant Professor, MFT
Spiritual Formation
Director, MFT Program
Talbot School of Theology
Biola University
Berry Bishop is the director of the MFT Program at Talbot. Bishop graduated from Talbot with a Master of Arts in spiritual formation and soul care, and then obtained her doctorate in psychology from Azusa Pacific University. Her primary research interest is in the area of trauma and spiritual direction. In addition to teaching, she continues to practice as a clinical psychologist. Bishop is married to Will, with two children, Patty and Liam.