April 2: Death is Swallowed Up by Life
♫ Music:
Day 49 - Tuesday, April 02
Title: DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP BY LIFE
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:1-11 (NKJV)
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
Poetry & Poet:
“Seven Stanzas at Easter”
by John Updike
Make no mistake: if he rose at all
It was as His body;
If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse,
the molecule reknit,
The amino acids rekindle,
The Church will fall.
It was not as the flowers,
Each soft spring recurrent;
It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and
fuddled eyes of the
Eleven apostles;
It was as His flesh; ours.
The same hinged thumbs and toes
The same valved heart
That—pierced—died, withered, paused,
and then regathered
Out of enduring Might
New strength to enclose.
Let us not mock God with metaphor,
Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence,
Making of the event a parable, a sign
painted in the faded
Credulity of earlier ages:
Let us walk through the door.
The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache,
Not a stone in a story,
But the vast rock of materiality that in
the slow grinding of
Time will eclipse for each of us
The wide light of day.
And if we have an angel at the tomb,
Make it a real angel,
Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta,
vivid with hair, opaque in
The dawn light, robed in real linen
Spun on a definite loom.
Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
For our own convenience, our own
sense of beauty,
Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour,
we are embarrassed
By the miracle,
And crushed by remonstrance.
DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP BY LIFE
Teeth are interesting. We use these multifunctional tools to form words with our tongues, to chew food before swallowing, and to show a range of emotions. They are also odd in that they’re bone and the only part of our skeleton we see regularly. In this context of skulls, bones, and skeletons, they connect us to deeper layers of our bodies, even to our own mortality. Although not always meant to be scary, skeletons and skulls are often equated with death. Shakespeare used a skull to dramatic effect in Hamlet. Adventure film franchises like Indiana Jones or the Pirates of the Caribbean hint at peril in their stories as skeletons slump in dim hallways. Yes, people are often afraid of bone remains because of the fear of their own death.
But if there were ever a people who should not fear death, it would be us, Christians. When we look at lifeless bones, we can imagine them re-fleshed. When we view a cold tomb, we see that it can be a portal to glory. Over the past decades, I’ve seen that we are the ones who turned memorials into celebrations of life. Other beliefs hold views of eternal life, of something beyond the grave, yet our faith? Our faith is the one that allows us to see through death to the smiling face of Jesus. It is not just that we hope for something, we also hope in someone.
So, looking at Simcoe’s Distant Mirrors: A Meditation on St. Catherine is an invitation to faith, to see bones representing the beheaded martyr also as the saint who is absent from her earthly body while being present with Jesus.
Whether seeing a corpse, or walking by a grave, or even in the presence of life-threatening danger or martyrdom, in not fearing death, we also live in view of Christ’s body. Christ didn’t simply rise from the dead (like Lazarus), nor did he simply re-appear after death as a ghost or in spirit form, he was and is “the firstborn from among the dead,” the resurrected Christ. In his powerful, corrective poem, Updike reinforces that Christ’s resurrection is not a mere metaphor, but a flesh and blood occurrence. It is in the bodily resurrection of Jesus that our hope is rooted.
Paul speaks to us in how our bodies act as tents. Because we are in Christ, someday through death, we will trade them for the clothing of our heavenly habitation. And even more so, we will trade absence from Christ for presence with him.
The rhythm in the song Swallowed up by Life then is fitting. It holds an energy and drive that fits the confidence we have. In an interesting turn, when we are in view of the resurrection, we live by faith and not by sight. We can find a skeleton yet see what lies beyond. And we can stare death in the teeth, knowing that someone far greater has taken the lasting bite.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you that you went into death so that I, along with your whole church, could be resurrected to new life and eternity with you. Today and in the days ahead, when I take a meal, may I be mindful of your broken body and shed blood. When I am using my teeth to chew and swallow food, let me be mindful of my own mortality, which is also a hope of eternity with you. I praise you for the resurrection that you freely share with me.
Amen
Steven Homestead
Artist, Composer, Writer, and Curator
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 Art:
A Distant Mirror, a Meditation on St. Catherine
Duncan Simcoe
Oil on tar paper, encaustic, moquette, and fabric
Variable dimensions
Artist Duncan Simcoe created A Distant Mirror, a Meditation on St. Catherine as a response to coping with his late wife Kate’s diagnosis of brain cancer and her subsequent death. During this time, his priest suggested that he paint an icon of St. Catherine, a mystic and a doctor of the church, as a form of prayer and intercession. Not an iconographer, Simcoe instead utilized his own visual language to embody his thoughts and feelings during that period. Simcoe recalls that “the idea of using a modified skeleton presented itself to me right off, and as I worked on these modifications. The title of a book by Barbara Tuchman came to mind: A Distant Mirror, something I had read to Kate many years before. That prompted the making of the tar paper drawing of the skeleton, looking back at the sculptural elements. I really don't know which one is supposed to be past or present....I think what made that seemed right to me, was just the evocation of a kind of echoing engagement across time and space.”
Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early fourth century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess and a noted scholar who became a Christian around the age of fourteen, converted hundreds of people to Christianity and was martyred around the age of eighteen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Alexandria
About the Artist:
Duncan Simcoe is currently the program director for visual art within the College of Architecture, Visual Arts, and Design at California Baptist University in Riverside, California. His work has been widely shown in Southern California, but also throughout the United States and internationally. Since 1989, Duncan has been producing an ongoing series of drawings and paintings most often based on biblical narratives. He has also been an artist-in-residence at the San Lodovico Center for the Arts, Orvieto, Italy (2002) and the Art Institute of Orange County (1998), and a visiting artist at Gordon College (1995) and George Fox University (2014).
https://cavad.calbaptist.edu/faculty/duncan-simcoe-mfa
https://www.duncansimcoeart.com/biography
About the Music:
“Swallowed Up by Life” (Single)
Lyrics:
There is a hope, comes from his throne,
That is filled with God’s great love,
For everyone that is empty,
Will be filled with his greater mercies.
Just believe, you will receive,
All the life, he freely gives,
Nothing ever will hold you back,
You are constrained with his love.
We’re made righteous with his blood,
Forever living.
Death is swallowed up by life.
We are living for eternity.
No weapon formed against us shall prosper.
For the victory is won.
We are clothed with the Son.
So let’s rise.
Death is swallowed up by life.
At the cross where Jesus died.
All our sin was washed away,
With his blood he paid the price.
Now we’re standing in his grace,
Forever crucified and raised.
We walk by faith and not by sight.
Death is swallowed up by life.
We are living for eternity.
No weapon formed against us shall prosper.
For the victory is won.
We are clothed with the Son.
So let’s rise.
Death where is your sting.
O grave where is your victory
We are victorious
Nothing will ever hold you back
We are conquerors
Through his word, he makes us stronger.
We are victorious
Nothing will ever hold us back
We are conquerors.
Through his word, he makes us stronger.
Death is swallowed up by life.
We are living for eternity.
No weapon formed against us shall prosper.
For the victory is won.
We are clothed with the Son.
So let’s rise.
Death is swallowed up by life.
About the Composers:
Johan Van Rensburg, Lindsey Nicole Sweat (Trella), and Benjamin James Williams
Johan Van Rensburg was drawn to music at an early age. This passion led him to learn to play the piano, and stirred a passion to start singing. He then joined a worship team at age seven and eventually grew into leading worship at Spirit Word Ministries. He travels locally and internationally, releasing what God has placed on his life through music. He leads worship at conferences, worship conferences, churches, prophetic conferences, and events.
https://soundcloud.com/worship-with-johan
Lindsey Nicole Sweat is a full-time songwriter/artist living in Brooklyn, New York, releasing music under the moniker Trella. She graduated in 2017 with a B.A. degree in interdisciplinary social sciences. She has a passion for music and for people, seeking daily to merge the two in everything that she does. She enjoys meeting new artists and helping them write their songs.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/digitalagelinds
Benjamin James Williams is a native of Washington, D.C. He is an accomplished musician who performs on electric bass and as well as piano. His musical influence is rooted in various genres of music including jazz, hip-hop, R & B, gospel, and classical. Williams, a recent graduate of the Michigan State University School of Music, majored in music education with an emphasis in jazz. He plans to pursue a master’s degree in jazz studies at the Juilliard School. Ben has won several competitions and scholarship awards and was a recipient of the Duke Ellington Society Annual Scholarship Award. Williams has performed both nationally and internationally with such artists as Wynton Marsalis, Terence Blanchard, Cyrus Chestnut, Karreim Riggins, James Williams, John Hicks, Me’Shelle N’degeocello, and Delfeayo Marsalis, to name a few. He has also performed with opening acts for artists such as John Legend, Kirk Franklin, and Eric Roberson.
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/musicians/ben-williams
About the Performers:
Johan Van Rensburg and Gaining Ground Worship
Johan Van Rensburg, the founder of Gaining Ground Worship, has a passion to lead and inspire others in authentic worship by creating a transformative and engaging environment where individuals can encounter the presence of God. Through skilful musical leadership and nurturing a spirit of unity, he aims to cultivate a worship culture that empowers congregational participation and fosters a deep connection with God and one another. With humility, sensitivity, and a heart of service, he strives to lead by example, encouraging others to embrace their unique gifts and express their devotion through music, prayer, and praise.
https://gaininggroundworship.com/
About the Poetry and Poet:
John Updike (1932–2009) was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic. Updike was one of only three writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction more than once. In the 1950s, Updike underwent a profound spiritual crisis. Suffering from a loss of religious faith, he began reading Soren Kierkegaard and theologian Karl Barth. Both deeply influenced his own religious beliefs, which in turn figured prominently in his fiction. Updike remained a believing Christian for the rest of his life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Updike
About the Devotion Writer:
Steven Homestead
Artist, Composer, Writer, and Curator
Steven Homestead is a Renaissance creative with a passion for arts and the church. For the past decade, he has served as a leader with the arts ministry at Saddleback Church in Southern California. He is also the co-founder of a new arts and organization called The Network of Christians in the Visual Art (ncva.community). He is working on a book, while dreaming up a nation-wide road trip to catalyze arts and faith communities in North America. In all, Steven works to promote honor, champion voice, share wonder, and develop unity. Discover more at stevenhomestead.com and connect via Instagram: @scubahomie.