A new day will dawn on us from above
because our God is loving and merciful.
He will give light to those who live in the dark
and in death’s shadow.
He will guide us into the way of peace.—the Jewish priest Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, in Luke 1:78–79 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
LOOK: New Morning by David Blow
David Blow is a nature photographer from Hickory Creek, Texas. “I have developed a language using graphic shapes, colors, and patterns to express a feeling and vibration that I see in my photographs,” he writes on his website. “I am expressing the superstring theory that nothing is static, and that all things vibrate. I am contemplating how we experience nature with more than our sight, rather with all our senses simultaneously. Such as the meditative sounds we hear and see from viewing birds and animals, and the spiritual feeling we have when we are in nature.”
“New Morning,” Blow says, “presents a transcendent vision of a new day, serene and harmonious, where we are entirely at one with each other and the source of our being, God. There is a hushed air of reverence in the cathedral-like canopy of tree branches with pairs of doves perched in their branches as a faint yellow light penetrates the blanket of clouds above. These deeply moving experiences of oneness with something larger than ourselves provide us with a glimpse of that wholeness and rest we can only find in God.”
I’m attracted to the rhythmic quality of the image, and the mirror effect that evokes kaleidoscopic viewing. I’m held in a sense that this scene is unfolding dynamically into another.
LISTEN: “There’s a New Day Coming” by Menahan Street Band, feat. Saundra Williams, 2019
There’s a new day coming
Oh, yes, it is
There’s a new day coming
A new dayOoh, ooh (nah, huh)
Ooh, ooh (mmm)
Ooh, ooh (yeah)
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh (oh, yeah)
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh (oh, woo)
Oh, it’s comingIt’s coming
It’s coming
Menahan Street Band is a Brooklyn-based funk and soul band formed in 2007 by Tommy Brenneck, Dave Guy, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, and Mike Deller. (The latter stepped down as a permanent member in 2017.) They are part of the widely acclaimed Daptone Records roster.
The group originally recorded the tune of “There’s a New Day Coming” as a single backing track for the singer Charles Bradley (1948–2017), but it was put aside, unused, after Bradley’s death. Band member Tommy Brenneck later revivified it by adding some simple new lyrics, and the group released the new song on a 45 rpm record, with “Tommy Don’t” on the flip side, in 2019. It features Saundra Williams (of Saun & Starr) on lead vocals.
Art & Theology 