April 19: The Hymn of the Crown
♫ Music:
Day 49 - Tuesday, April 19
Title: THE HYMN OF THE CROWN
Scripture: Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
For He has founded it upon the seas,
And established it upon the waters.
Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face. Selah
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory. Selah
Poetry:
from The Triumph of Love
by Geoffrey Hill
XVII
If the gospel is heard, all else follows:
the scattering, the diaspora,
the shtetlach, ash pits, pits of indigo dye.
Penitence can be spoken of, it is said,
but is itself beyond words;
even broken speech presumes. Those Christian Jews
of the first Church, huddled sabbath-survivors,
keepers of the word; silent, inside twenty years,
doubly outcast: even so I would remember—
the scattering, the diaspora.
We do not know the saints.
His mercy is greater even than his wisdom.
If the gospel is heard, all else follows.
We shall rise again, clutching our wounds.
THE HYMN OF THE CROWN
When taking in the creative materials for today's devotion, the collective images of “lifting up” resonated with me in connection with the psalm. The words of today’s psalm are rich across three stanzas; they speak to God as Creator, to who we are called to be as worshipers, and to an imperative for the city of Jerusalem to let the King enter. But the words that stick out are these: “Lift up your heads.” The hymn/worship song “Crown Him (Majesty)” infuses both the text by King David and the sculpture by Sedrick Huckaby with an atmosphere of the throne room as we worship Christ the Crowned.
How incredible to think that the collective invitation toward King Jesus across these works is one of lifting, not bowing.
"Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in." It is not only the city gates but we as individuals who receive this imperative. What an amazing King, one who invites us to be lifted up. His humility is our exaltation; the very nature of his bowing low to death is what empowers our rise. Death was Christ’s entrance into glory, and at Easter, we celebrate our inclusion into this.
The Crowned One, the King of Glory, here meets the lowly. Sedrick’s sculpture is made of local newspapers from his home state of Texas. I had the opportunity to see this larger-than-life work at a gallery last year. Walking around it, I found snippets of text, the corner of a coupon for groceries, and the word “Dallas'' folded and crumpled into the form. I found words in English and some in Spanish, words that came from many local newspapers. In the midst of intense and tragic times, where global security is shaking, in the midst of this, we find the scraps the artists used, the often-discarded pulp of headlines, op-eds, and advertisements. These form a majestic head lifted up, a Living Sacrifice, a human image pointing us to the scriptural truth that to live is to join Christ in His death and resurrection.
This is where I situate the poem by Geoffrey Hill. It does not at first direct us to look upward at our Glorified King but to an internal place of hearing, silent huddling, and to a global view that encompasses those outcasts who have been scattered. But, “if the gospel is heard all else follows.” So the poem as it closes directs us to a place beyond, where we, like Christ, rise. And in that rising, we join our King.
Yes, let us lift up our heads to the Crowned One so that He may enter the gates to meet us in our world charred and damaged, strewn with detritus and sorrow and suffering, yet all teeming with redemptive potential. Because this is now His world again in deeper ways, this earth that is “the Lord’s, and everything in it.” We can hold to the hope that His redemption and resurrection will eventually be worked out across the earth, reaching ultimate fulfillment in the age to come. One day we will all bow to the Lord of all, but today, let us lift! Let the gates of your eyes, ears, and hearts be lifted up to this Crowned King of Glory.
Prayer
O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer, I lift my head to seek your face. On earth, may I find you with me in the scraps of life while knowing you are enthroned in heaven. Each day, may I crown you in my life as King. [For those able: take a moment to physically lift your head up in gratitude and praise.]
Amen
Steven Homestead
Artist, Musician, and Composer
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:
A Living Sacrifice (2 images)
Sedrick Huckaby
2021
Wood and newspaper pulp
72 x 36 x 16 in.
The title of Sedrick Huckaby’s monumental sculpture Living Sacrifice is drawn from Romans 12:1: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” The sculpture of a young Black man with a lifted head seems to imply that here is a faithful servant who is ready and prepared to receive the "King of Glory.” In Psalm 24:7, David’s appeals to Jerusalem to make room for the King of Glory to enter the city was a poetic summons to the whole city to welcome the Lord. What David was saying when he was lifting up this song of praise to his God was that the Lord is coming in power, glory, and honor and that “every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord!" (Romans 14:11). In Luke 21:28, Jesus personalizes the phrase "lift up your heads" by saying, "When these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh."
https://www.bibleref.com/Psalms/24/Psalm-24-7.html
About the Artist:
Sedrick Ervin Huckaby (b. 1975) is an American artist known for his use of thick, impasto paint to create murals that evoke traditional quilts and for his production of large-scale portraits that represent his personal history through images of family members and neighbors. Huckaby has worked with images from quilts for many years, moving them from background components of portraits into the subject of his work. His work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. Huckaby is a native of Fort Worth, Texas. While in high school, he attended classes at the Modern Art Museum, where he met fellow artist Ron Tomlinson, who encouraged Huckaby to pursue art as a career. He studied art at Texas Wesleyan University before receiving a B.F.A. from Boston University in 1997 and a M.F.A. from Yale University in 1999. He has lectured on the Grant Hill Collection of African American Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, and through The Artist's Eye series at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. He is currently an associate professor of painting in the department of art and art history at UT Arlington, where he has been teaching since 2009. He is married to artist Letitia Huckaby.
https://huckabystudios.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedrick_Huckaby
https://www.bridgeprojects.com/artists/sedrick-huckaby
About the Music:
“Crown Him (Majesty)” from the album Burning Lights
Lyrics:
Crown Him with many crowns
The Lamb upon His throne
Hark! How the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own
Awake my soul and sing
Of Him who died for me
And hail Him as thy matchless King
Through all eternity
Majesty, Lord of all
Let every throne before Him fall
The King of kings
O come adore
Our God who reigns forevermore
Crown Him the Lord of life
Who triumphed o'er the grave
And rose victorious in the strife
For those He came to save
His glories now we sing
Who died and rose on high
Who died eternal life to bring
And lives that death may die
All hail, Redeemer, hail
For He has died for me
His praise and glory shall not fail
Throughout eternity
About the Performers:
Chris Tomlin with Kari Jobe
Kari Jobe (b. 1981) serves as a worship pastor at Gateway Church in Southland, Texas. She has been established as one of the Christian music industry’s premier female vocalists with her Dove Award–winning, self-titled debut album. She has released three follow-up albums, and has been nominated for a number of additional prestigious accolades. For nearly two decades as a well-respected worship leader, Kari Jobe has been using her gifts to lead people into the presence of God. Jobe is currently working on new music that will include a studio version of "The Blessing." Originally from Texas and now residing in Nashville, she tours the country with her husband, Cody Carnes, and their two boys, Canyon and Kingston, and they both serve at their home church, The Belonging Co.
https://www.karijobe.com/
About the Composers:
Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher, and Ed Cash
Chris Tomlin (b. 1972) is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, and worship leader. Some of his most well-known songs are "How Great Is Our God," "Our God," "Whom Shall I Fear," and his cover of "Good Good Father." Tomlin has been awarded twenty-three GMA Dove Awards, and a Grammy Award. Because of his songs' popularity in many contemporary churches, Time magazine stated he may be the "most often sung artist anywhere." During high school, he learned to lead worship in his youth group. After graduating high school, he entered Tyler Junior College, planning for a medical career. Tomlin graduated and enrolled in Texas A&M University to study medicine. Tomlin participated in a Bible study led by then Choice Ministries founder Louie Giglio and in 1997 Tomlin partnered with Giglio to found Passion Conferences. In 2000, Tomlin signed onto newly founded sixstepsrecords, a subsidiary of Passion Conferences and has released nine full-length studio albums. Tomlin has toured with many contemporary Christian artists, such as Delirious?, Steven Curtis Chapman, Michael W. Smith, and MercyMe. He has headlined several tours, and has also joined Passion Conferences for national and global tours and events. In 2008, Tomlin started the Passion City Church with Louie Giglio in Atlanta, Georgia, where he is one of its worship leaders. In 2019, Tomlin and his wife, Lauren, started Angel Armies, a nonprofit organization that works to bring people and ministry organizations together to attempt to solve issues related to vulnerable youth in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Tomlin
https://www.christomlin.com/
Matt Maher (b. 1974) is a Canadian contemporary Christian music artist, songwriter, and worship leader who currently lives in the United States. He has written and produced nine solo albums to date. Three of his albums have reached the Top 25 Christian Albums Billboard chart and four of his singles have reached the Top 25 Christian Songs chart. Maher has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards in his career and was awarded the Songwriter of the Year for an artist at the 2015 GMA Dove Awards. Maher was born and raised in Newfoundland, Canada. His parents recognized his musical talent, and he grew up taking piano lessons and immersing himself in a broad variety of music, including playing in concert and jazz ensembles, singing in a choir, and playing in a garage rock band. Maher started his post-secondary studies at Memorial University of Newfoundland and continued his studies in the jazz department at Arizona State University. Maher lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
www.mattmahermusic.com
Edmond Martin Cash (b. 1971) is a producer, songwriter, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. He was named the "Producer of the Year" at the Gospel Music Awards for four consecutive years (2004–2007) and gained recognition for his work with Christian singer Chris Tomlin. In addition to several Grammy nominations and countless BMI Citations of Achievement, Cash has produced or written with artists such as Steven Curtis Chapman, Vince Gill, Dolly Parton, Colin Bernard, Amy Grant, David Crowder Band, Kari Jobe, Dave Barnes, Caedmon's Call, Casting Crowns, and Annette Lee. He is a member of the band We the Kingdom. Cash gained further recognition as a songwriter for having co-written and produced "How Great Is Our God," which earned him five Dove awards. Cash is also a recognized musician with credit for acoustic and electric guitar and backing vocals; album credits for playing banjo, mandolin, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer organ, harmonica, Rhodes, programming, synthesizer, piano, drums, bass guitar, percussion; and for both string and choir arrangements.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Cash
http://edcash.com/
About the Poet:
Sir Geoffrey William Hill (1932–2016) was a British poet, a professor of literature and religion, and the former co-director of the Editorial Institute at Boston University. Known as one of the greatest poets of his generation writing in English, and one of the most important poets of the twentieth century, Hill lived a life dedicated to poetry and scholarship, morality, and faith. He attended Oxford University, where his work was first published by the US poet Donald Hall. From 2010 to 2015 he held the position of professor of poetry at the University of Oxford. Following his receiving the Truman Capote Award for Literary Criticism in 2009 for his Collected Critical Writings, Hill was recognized as one of the principal contributors to poetry and criticism in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Hill’s work is noted for its seriousness, its high moral tone, extreme allusiveness, and dedication to history, theology, and philosophy. Hill's poetry encompasses a variety of styles, from the dense and allusive writing of King Log (1968) and Canaan (1997) through the simplified syntax of "The Pentecost Castle" in Tenebrae (1978), to the more accessible poems of Mercian Hymns (1971). Hill was consistently drawn to morally problematic and violent episodes in British and European history.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/geoffrey-hill
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Hill
About the Devotion Author:
Steven Homestead
Artist, Musician, and Composer
Steven Homestead is an artist, composer, writer, curator, and speaker who brings genre-spanning creativity to life, whether by composing music, leading community art projects, writing and speaking on creativity and faith, or curating generative events and programs. Overall, Steven works to promote honor, champion voice, share wonder, and develop unity. Recent musical performances include premieres at CSUF’s New Music Festival, with Newgate Orchestra, conductor Christian Guebert, and soprano Linda Jackson. Steven earned his M.M. from CSUF and B.A. from UCLA, both in music composition. As the President of the American Composers Forum of Los Angeles (ACF-LA) from 2013 to 2021, he supported the development and appreciation of new music, including helping to launch the city of Los Angeles' month-long Compose LA festival in 2019. In the visual arts, Steven is the force behind multiple interactive installations, including work at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, Fuller Theological Seminary, and TEDx Mission Viejo. In addition, he has led numerous community art projects for Saddleback Visual Arts over the past decade, along with recent collaborations with Mariners Church and the Western Conference of the Church of the Brethren. In 2020, he developed and hosted a virtual poetry reading series and was guest curator in 2021 for the Boca De Oro festival, Orange County’s literary arts and culture festival. As an active member of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA), he helped develop the organization’s Heart to Heart program with Kent Larson and Barb Lidfors and in 2021 was invited to serve on CIVA’s inaugural advisory board.