February 15: From Murderer to Missionary
♫ Music:
Day 2 - Thursday, February 15
Title: FROM MURDERER TO MISSIONARY
Scripture #1: I Timothy 1:15-16 (NKJV)
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.
Scripture #2: I Corinthians 15:9-10 (NKJV)
For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
Poetry & Poet:
“Apostle”
by Malcolm Guite
An enemy whom God has made a friend,
A righteous man discounting righteousness,
Last to believe and first for God to send,
He found the fountain in the wilderness.
Thrown to the ground and raised at the same moment,
A prisoner who set his captors free,
A naked man with love his only garment,
A blinded man who helped the world to see,
A Jew who had been perfect in the law,
Blesses the flesh of every other race
And helps them see what the apostles saw;
The glory of the Lord in Jesus’ face.
Strong in his weakness, joyful in his pains,
And bound by love, he freed us from our chains.
QUALIFIED BY GRACE
Who am I, and what was God thinking when He called me to this role?
Our early years of cross-cultural ministry in a post-colonial context left me frequently grappling with my identity and questioning my qualifications. Though I had never given my personal, racial, or socio-economic background much thought before, the way people reacted to me provided a constant reminder that, for better or for worse, these went part and parcel with my testimony. How could I, a white westerner, incarnate the love of Christ amongst an eastern people whose former colonial oppressors looked and sounded like me? How could I, a woman, proclaim the righteousness of Christ in a culture where a virtuous woman was neither seen nor heard?
Paul’s painful awareness of his background must have emerged from deep soul searching within and perpetual reminders from without. Who hadn’t read the headlines on him? Where could he go where his name wasn’t whispered in association with scandal—either amongst the Christians whose loved ones he had once abused or amongst the religious nationalists against whom he now committed social treason? Amidst the back and forth of identity wars and personality profiling, Paul dug deep into the Grace of God––the Spirit of Jesus, as made manifest to him in a vision, though he had missed out on meeting Jesus in the flesh.
That compelling vision—"the glory of God in the face of Christ”—so consumed all other identities that Paul was left considering them as dross compared to the all-surpassing greatness of being identified with Jesus. In his later-life reflections to a community who were calling his apostolic identity and qualification into question, Paul returned to the glorious vision of Jesus’ face, finding heart to continue in this impossible ministry situation as he moved ever deeper into contemplating that glory now radiating out from within him (2 Corinthians 3:17-4:10). His calling was simply to bear Christ in his mortal body, to be a finite vessel of the Spirit’s infinite glory, and to observe what in the world God would do with that in the lives of those to whom he was sent.
Who was Paul to be Christ’s representative in a polarized, identity-conscious world? He was certainly not the person any thinking PR representative would pick. (A former Pharisee ministering to Gentiles? Just think of the messaging!) But he was, quite simply, himself––sinner, saint, Jewish, male, missed-out-on-Jesus, chosen by God, full of the Spirit. Rather than pretending to be otherwise or denying the effects of who he had been, Paul presented his life as a public canvas on which the Spirit was painting the image of Christ. Far from image-management or effectiveness-leveraging, Paul simply offered the full range of his messy story for public consumption, trusting God to do through him what no human would have thought to attempt.
We who follow in Paul’s footsteps are no more nor less than he. None of us is qualified, and yet each is chosen to bear the glory of God within a particular social, ethnic, gendered frame. How the Spirit manages to radiate through our composite, contradictory layers is quite beyond us. But, by the Grace of God, we are what we are. And somehow that is just enough for Christ to reveal His saving Self to a damaged and desperate world.
Prayer
When I consider the nations and my place in their history, Lord, who am I that You would reveal Yourself to me? Who am I that You would send me to reveal You to others? You have made me lower than the angels but have crowned me with Your glorious Spirit. May my gazing on You, and Your radiant work through me, accomplish all that you desire for this, Your beloved world.
Amen
Tiffany Clark
Lay Assistant Minister
Christ Church
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Author and Spiritual Director
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:
Life of Paul, Paul Anthology
Donald Jackson with contributions from Aidan Hart
© 2002
Gilded illuminated manuscript on vellum
15 ¾ in. x 23 ½ in.
The Saint John’s Bible
Saint John’s University
Collegeville, Minnesota, USA
Used with permission.
All rights reserved.
www.saintjohnsbible.org
Donald Jackson with contributions from Aidan Hart
Although Paul was not among the original twelve followers of Jesus, God designated him the Apostle to the Gentiles, and he traveled as a missionary throughout the Near East. He is posed here in the manner of a classical Greek statue in front of a Greco-Roman sailing vessel—a universal symbol of the church and of travel. The prayer shawl draped over his shoulders indicates his upbringing as a devout Jew. Surrounding him are secular and sacred buildings from nearly every historical period of the last two thousand years, symbolizing the continuation in North America of Christian missionary efforts. The Stella Maris Chapel at Saint John's Abbey (upper right) signifies the Benedictines' missionary work in Minnesota. An energetic church builder, he holds in his hand a model of a church. It recalls Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, the city where he was martyred under the emperor Nero. The words at the top, "I saw a light from heaven" (Acts 26:13), refer to Paul's conversion. The words across the bottom proclaim his divine mission: "The Lord has commanded us, saying, ‘I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth’” (Acts 13:47).
http://archive.artsmia.org/illuminating-the-word/selected-pages-6.cfm.html
About the Artists:
Donald Jackson and Aidan Hart
Donald Jackson (b. 1938) is one of the world's leading calligraphers and the artistic director and illuminator of The Saint John's Bible, a handwritten and illuminated Bible commissioned by the Benedictine Monastery of Saint John's Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota. At the age of twenty, Jackson was appointed to be a visiting lecturer at the Camberwell College of Art, London. Within six years he became the youngest artist calligrapher chosen to take part in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s first International Calligraphy Show after the war and appointed a scribe to the Crown Office at the House of Lords. As a scribe to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, he was responsible for the creation of official state documents. In 1985, he received the Medal of The Royal Victorian Order (MVO). Jackson is an elected fellow and past chairman of the Society of Scribes and Illuminators and, in 1997, was named master of the six-hundred-year-old Guild of Scriveners of the city of London. He is the author of The Story of Writing and The Calligrapher's Art. Jackson and his wife Mabel live and work in the Hendre, a converted town hall and outbuildings in Monmouth, Wales.
https://saintjohnsbible.org/Process/People_Wales_Team
Aidan Hart (b. 1957) is a British artist who grew up in New Zealand and worked there as a full-time sculptor after completing a degree in English literature and a diploma in secondary education teaching. In 1983 Hart became a member of the Orthodox Church, returned to England, and began work as a professional iconographer. While continuing to work as an iconographer from 1988 to 2000, he also spent two years as a monk on Mount Athos, Greece, and six years as a hermit in Shropshire, UK. This intense life of prayer profoundly affected his life and work. Hart is now married with two children and has developed expertise in a wide range of media and techniques including egg tempera, panel painting, fresco painting, stone and wood carving, illuminated manuscript painting, church furniture design, and mosaics. Hart has published two books, Techniques of Icon and Wall Painting, widely regarded as the foremost work on the subject, and Beauty Spirit Matter, a collection of essays. In 2009 he founded the Certificate in Icon Painting, a three-year part-time program that he continues to teach and which is run by the Prince's School of Traditional Arts in London.
https://aidanharticons.com/
About the Music:
“Chief of Sinners Though I Be”
Lyrics: (Lutheran Service Book, Hymn 611)
Chief of sinners though I be,
Jesus shed His blood for me.
Died that I might live on high,
Lived that I might never die.
As the branch is to the vine,
I am His and He is mine.
Oh, the height of Jesus' love,
Higher than the heav'ns above,
Deeper than the depths of sea,
Lasting as eternity!
Love that found me––wondrous thought!
Found me when I sought Him not.
Only Jesus can impart
Balm to heal the wounded heart,
Peace that flows from sin forgiv'n,
Joy that lifts the soul to heav'n.
Faith and hope to walk with God
In the way that Enoch trod.
Chief of sinners though I be,
Christ is all in all to me.
All my wants to Him are known,
All my sorrows are His own.
He sustains the hidden life
Safe with Him from earthly strife.
O my Savior, help afford
By Your Spirit and Your Word!
When my wayward heart would stray,
Keep me in the narrow way;
Grace in time of need supply
While I live and when I die.
About the Composers:
William McComb (lyrics) and Richard Redhead (music)
William McComb (1793–1873), a poet, bookseller, and lyricist of "Chief of Sinners Though I Be,” was born in Ireland. He published The Dirge of O'Neill (1816), The School of the Sabbath (1822), and The Voice of a Year (1848). These, together with smaller pieces, were collected and published as The Poetical Works of William McComb in 1864.
https://hymnary.org/person/McComb_W
Richard Redhead (1820–1901) was a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford. At age nineteen he was invited to become organist at Margaret Chapel (All Saints Church), London. Greatly influencing the musical tradition of the church, he remained in that position for twenty-five years as organist and a director of the boys' choirs. Redhead and the church's rector, Frederick Oakeley, were strongly committed to the Oxford Movement, which favored the introduction of Roman elements into Anglican worship. Together they produced the first Anglican plainsong psalter, “Laudes Diurnae” (1843). Redhead spent the latter part of his career as organist at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Paddington, London.
https://hymnary.org/person/Redhead_R
About the Performers:
This hymn was performed by the congregation of St. John Lutheran Church in Seward, Nebraska.
https://stjohnseward.org/
About the Poetry and Poet:
Malcolm Guite (b. 1957) is a poet, author, Anglican priest, teacher, and singer-songwriter based in Cambridge, England. He has published six collections of poetry: Saying the Names, The Magic Apple Tree, Sounding the Seasons: Poetry for the Christian Year, The Singing Bowl, Waiting on the Word, and the recently released Parable and Paradox: Sonnets on the Sayings of Jesus and Other Poems. Rowan Williams and Luci Shaw have both acclaimed his writing, and his Antiphons appeared in Penguin’s Best Spiritual Writing, 2013. Guite’s theological works include What Do Christians Believe? and Faith, Hope, and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination. Guite is a scholar of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and the British poets, and serves as the Bye-Fellow and chaplain at Girton College at the University of Cambridge, while supervising students in English and theology. He lectures widely in England and the USA, and in 2015 he was the CCCA Visionary-in-Residence at Biola University. Guite plays in the Cambridge rock band Mystery Train and his albums include The Green Man and Dancing Through the Fire.
https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Guite
About the Devotion Writer:
Tiffany Clark
Lay Assistant Minister
Christ Church
Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
Author and Spiritual Director
Tiffany Clark serves as Lay Assistant Minister at Christ Church, Georgetown in Washington, DC, and is also a spiritual director. Formerly a visiting professor and consultant for spiritual formation with Development Associates International (DAI), Tiffany completed her MAICS through Biola’s Chiang Mai Extension Center during the twenty years she and her husband served overseas, primarily in South Asia..