April 26: You Will Be Holy Spirit–Baptized Witnesses
♫ Music:
Day 53 - Saturday, April 26
Title: You Will Be Holy Spirit–Baptized Witnesses
Scripture: Acts 1:4–11 (NKJV)
And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses [martyrs] to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
Poetry & Poet:
“Thou Art Coming”
by Frances Ridley Havergal
Thou art coming, O my Savior,
Thou art coming, O my King,
In Thy beauty all resplendent,
In Thy glory all transcendent;
Well may we rejoice and sing.
Coming! in the opening east
Herald brightness slowly swells;
Coming! O my glorious Priest,
Hear we not Thy golden bells?
Thou art coming, Thou art coming;
We shall meet Thee on Thy way,
We shall see Thee, we shall know Thee,
We shall bless Thee, we shall show Thee
All our hearts could ever say:
What an anthem that will be,
Ringing out our love to Thee,
Pouring out our rapture sweet
At Thine own all glorious feet.
Thou art coming; at Thy table
We are witnesses for this;
While remembering hearts Thou meetest
In communion clearest, sweetest,
Earnest of our coming bliss.
Showing not Thy death alone,
And Thy love exceeding great;
But Thy coming and Thy throne,
All for which we long and wait.
Thou art coming, we are waiting
With a hope that cannot fail,
Asking not the day or hour,
Resting on Thy Word of power,
Anchored safe within the veil.
Time appointed may be long,
But the vision must be sure;
Certainty shall make us strong,
Joyful patience can endure.
O the joy to see Thee reigning,
Thee, my own beloved Lord!
Every tongue Thy Name confessing,
Worship, honor, glory, blessing
Brought to Thee with glad accord.
Thee, my Master and my Friend,
Vindicated and enthroned;
Unto earth’s remotest end
Glorified, adored, and owned!
YOU WILL BE HOLY SPIRIT BAPTIZED WITNESSES
Unbeknownst to him at the time, artist Nicholas Pope contracted multiple rare encephalitic viruses during a trip to Africa in 1982. These went undiagnosed for years, leading to severe damage to his body, seriously impacting his daily life, and ultimately requiring years of rehabilitation. It was during this long, slow, painful recovery process that he began to tentatively, in short bursts, make sculptures again. Though they were small, the gestures were monumental. In the face of devastating chronic illness, returning to a practice of creativity, cultivating beauty, and exploring new aesthetic terrain requires a great deal of hope. Hope that this precious energy being expended would be worth the cost. Hope that his life, and his work, would not be defined by the damages caused by his illness. Hope for the future in general.
Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that these small steps of hope ultimately led to the monumental set of sculptures we see today, The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit by Their Own Lamps. Amidst his recovery, working very slowly, he built the form of each apostle. One by one, he meditated on the biblical accounts of each apostle to imagine the nature of his personality, his soul, and ultimately to each’s unique experience of being plucked from ordinary lives to follow the Son of God, culminating in the gift of anointment with the Spirit. This, after bearing witness to the glory of the resurrected Jesus ascending into Heaven. What an act of mercy for Christ to give comfort and hope to the apostles—hope to us all—by promising the Spirit in his moment of departure.
The forms of the apostles are very evidently humble, earthen vessels, hand-hewn and clunky. Yet each is given a glowing golden halo, wax, and a wick, to be lit and to light the way for worshippers to see themselves in these abstract forms: frail and made of dust, but capable of lighting the world with the gift of the Spirit. The Spirit, whose coming the Apostles certainly could not fully comprehend in the moment of promise is recorded in Acts 1. But the Spirit did come, lighting the way for them and then expanding exponentially through time, to our moment. We continue to exist between the already and the not yet, the promise of the return not fully realized. We live in awareness of the frailty of our bodies, the weakness of our minds, the faltering of our souls. But we remain illuminated by the hope and joy given freely through the Spirit, just as the apostles, and even our smallest acts of hope accumulate into a monumental testament to the grace of God. This grace gives hope in a hopeless world, a light in the darkness, healing from disease, life from death.
No matter how limited our time or our bodies, we can steward that time and energy toward hope of an infinite future, free of these sometimes-debilitating limits, accumulating small acts of hope into monuments of faith. We remain in a state of hope, imagining, as the artist does, the day of glory. Frances Ridley Havergal’s own hymn imagines this return also. On this final day of the Lent Project, we look back with eternal gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus, and look forward to the return of the King of Kings, we can use Havergal’s words as a closing prayer:
Thou art coming, we are waiting
With a hope that cannot fail,
Asking not the day or hour,
Resting on Thy Word of power,
Anchored safe within the veil.
Time appointed may be long,
But the vision must be sure;
Certainty shall make us strong,
Joyful patience can endure.
O the joy to see Thee reigning,
Thee, my own beloved Lord!
Every tongue Thy Name confessing,
Worship, honor, glory, blessing
Brought to Thee with glad accord.
Thee, my Master and my Friend,
Vindicated and enthroned;
Unto earth’s remotest end
Glorified, adored, and owned!
Luke Aleckson, M.F.A.
Professor, Department of Art
Executive Director, Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts
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.
Thank you for joining us this Lenten Season. A special thank you to those who have supported this endeavor. We will return for the 2025 Advent Project later this year. It is not necessary to unsubscribe your self, you will automatically receive Advent devotions.
About the Art:
The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit by Their Own Lamps
Nicolas Pope
1996
Terracotta, metal, wick, paraffin, and flame
Approx. 12.5 x 3 meters
Installations at the Tate Gallery, Salisbury Cathedral, and other locations
Before He ascended to heaven, Jesus promised His apostles that after He was gone, He would empower them with the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Jerusalem amid a “rushing mighty wind” and appeared in the form of tongues of fire upon the heads of those assembled, enabling them to speak in tongues. Artist Nicolas Pope creates that event with a grouping of clay figures in his work entitled The Apostles Speaking in Tongues Lit by Their Own Lamps. Each figure is unique and may be identified by their personal character and attributes. Formed as hollow primitive vessels, each has a “halo” of beaten metal with a circular opening through which an oil lamp, when lit, produces a flame and light. The flame is the symbolic “tongues of fire” of the Holy Spirit, and the light illuminates the attendant figures.
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/art-now-nicholas-pope
About the Artist:
Nicholas Pope (b. 1949) is a British-Australian artist. He studied at the Bath Academy of Art (1970–73). Pope's work from the 1970s has a powerful abstract quality that was softened by his use of natural materials, chalk, and wood. In 1982 Pope contracted a rare form of encephalitic virus after a visit to Africa. He was undiagnosed for several years, and his work was impaired due to a degree of permanent brain damage that was inflicted. In 1987 Pope withdrew from the art world and abandoned his studio work. This period of inactivity continued until 1992, after which religion and Christianity became a strong theme in his new work. Pope now lives and works in Herefordshire, England. Pope’s work is included in many museum collections in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Pope_(artist)
https://nicholaspope.co.uk/
About the Music: “O God Beyond All Praising” from the album Resting: A Memorial
Lyrics:
Oh, God beyond all praising,
We worship you today,
And sing the love amazing,
That songs could not replay.
For we can only wonder,
At every gift you send,
At blessings without number,
And mercies without end.
We lift our hearts before you,
And wait upon your word,
We honor and adore you,
Our great and mighty Lord.
For we can only wonder,
At every gift you send,
At blessings without number,
And mercies without end.
For Christ your gift from heaven,
From death has set us free,
And we through him our given,
The final victory!
Then hear, oh gracious Savior,
Accept the love we bring,
That we who know your favor,
May serve you as our king.
And whether our tomorrows,
Be filled with good or ill,
We’ll triumph through our sorrows
and rise to bless you still.
To marvel at your beauty
And glory in your ways,
And make a joyful duty,
Our sacrifice of praise.
Our sacrifice of praise.
About the Composers: Michael Perry (lyrics), Gustav Holst (music)
Michael Arnold Perry (1942–1996) was a Church of England clergyman and one of the leading British hymnodists of the twentieth century. Educated at Dulwich College, he went on to study at University College London; Oak Hill Theological College, London; Ridley Hall, Cambridge; and University of Southampton. After ordination in the Church of England Diocese of Liverpool, Perry ministered in Bitterne, Southampton, Hampshire, where he was curate and then vicar. During his time at Bitterne, he was on the committees that produced the popular hymnbooks Psalm Praise (1973) and Hymns for Today's Church (1982). From 1981 to 1989 Perry served as Rector of Eversley, Hampshire. In 1982 he became Secretary of Jubilate Hymns, and was involved in editing most of their books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Perry_(hymnwriter)
"Thaxted" is a hymn tune by the English composer Gustav Holst, based on the stately theme from the middle section of the Jupiter movement of his orchestral suite The Planets and named after Thaxted, the English village where he lived much of his life. It did not appear as a hymn-tune called "Thaxted" until his friend Ralph Vaughan Williams included it in Songs of Praise in 1926.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaxted_(tune)
Gustav Theodore Holst (1874–1934) was an English composer, arranger, and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite The Planets, he composed many other works across a range of genres. His distinctive compositional style was the product of many influences, including Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss. He pursued a career as a composer, studying at the Royal College of Music. Unable to support himself with his compositions, he became a teacher. In his later years, his uncompromising, personal style of composition struck many music lovers as too austere and his brief popularity declined. Nevertheless, he was a significant influence on a number of younger English composers. Holst's works were played frequently in the early years of the twentieth century, but it was not until the international success of The Planets in the years after WWI that he became a well-known figure. Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Holst
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Planet
About the Performers: The Herbster Family
The Herbster Family—Carl and Diane, and their sons Matt, Mark, and Mike—have been serving God in ministry for many years. Matt serves as director of the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center in Brevard, North Carolina. The Herbsters have recently produced a new two-CD set entitled Resting as a memorial to Matt's wife, Julie. The first disc includes many of the songs that encouraged her and her family during her sickness. The second disc offers Julie giving her testimony of God's grace as well as the message Pastor Greg Stiekes presented at her funeral. It is the family's desire that others will be blessed and encouraged through the eternal truth presented in this tribute to a loving wife and mother.
https://www.majestymusic.com/resting-2-cd-set.html
About the Poetry and Poet:
Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879) was an English poet and hymnwriter. “Take My Life and Let it Be” and “Thy Life for Me” (also known as “I Gave My Life for Thee”) are two of her best-known hymns. She also wrote hymn melodies, religious tracts, and works for children.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal
https://www.havergaltrust.com/about-f-r-h/
About the Devotion Writer:
Luke Aleckson, M.F.A.
Professor, Department of Art
Executive Director, Center for Christianity, Culture & the Arts
Biola University
Luke Aleckson is an assistant professor of art at Biola University and is currently the executive director of the CCCA. He received his M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in sculpture and a B.S. in art from the University of Northwestern, St. Paul, Minnesota. Past positions have included serving as department chair and professor of art and design at the University of Northwestern and the director of Denler Gallery in St. Paul. Past exhibitions of his artwork have been held nationally, at venues such as the Chicago Cultural Center, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and the Suburban in Oak Park, Illinois. He maintains an active art practice in which he explores sculpture, digital modeling, video art, and installation art.