Image journal – Art & Theology

VIDEO MEDITATION: “Yearning and Promise (Advent),” dir. Lauralee Farrer (2017): The first in the seven-part Liturgical Meditations series produced by Fuller Studio (a resource center affiliated with Fuller Theological Seminary), this four-minute video features Advent scripture readings by Fuller alum Paul Mpishi (MDiv, ’17) in his native Swahili, set to beautiful cinematography by Lindsey Sheets, Timothy Kay, and Jordan McMahon.

“Yearning and Promise” explores Advent and the expectant longing for the birth of Christ through cityscapes, wilderness, and water from Chicago and Malibu, with scriptures drawn from Isaiah 40 and Matthew 1. The audio for this video is in Swahili with subtitles in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean—a poetic way to represent the primary tongues of our community. . . .

The liturgical calendar spans the life of Christ in a single year—from anticipation (Advent), to hope (Christmas), to transcendence (Epiphany), to lament (Lent), to redemption (Easter), to the birth of the church (Pentecost), and through long, numbered days (Ordinary Time) back to Advent. The liturgical meditation series to which this video belongs relies on nature to tell the story of God, accompanied by scriptures traditional to each season.

The other Liturgical Meditations are “Fear and Glory” (Christmastide), “Desire and Light” (Epiphany), “Hunger and Healing” (Lent), “Death and Resurrection” (Eastertide), “Fire and Wind” (Pentecost), and “Mystery and Love” (Ordinary Time). Full playlist here.

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SUBSTACK POST: “The Most Powerful Muscle in the World” by Stephanie Duncan Smith: Stephanie Duncan Smith, author of Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway, reflects here on the strong and capacious “womb-love” (Phyllis Trible’s term) of God, and on the physical transformation Mary underwent to make room for him in her own body. Advent, Smith writes, is about “stretch[ing] to make room for love.”

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ARTICLE: “The Birth of Eternity into Time: Contemplating the Incarnation with Piero della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto and Jorie Graham’s ‘San Sepolcro’” by Kathryn Stelmach Artuso, Mockingbird: This short article engages with a famous Italian Renaissance painting of the pregnant Mary (which the British writer Michèle Roberts calls “one of the most beautiful and powerful, sexy and numinous paintings of the Christian era”) and a modern ekphrastic poem about it.

Francesca, Piero della_Madonna del Parto — Piero della Francesca (Italian, ca. 1415–1492), *Madonna del Parto*, after 1457. Detached fresco, 100 × 80 in. (260 × 203 cm). Musei Civici Madonna del Parto, Monterchi, Italy.

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ZOOM GATHERING: Advent Art Salon, December 12, 5 p.m. ET: Image journal is hosting its fourth annual Advent Art Salon in two weeks, a free, hour-long virtual gathering featuring festive seasonal recipes, poetry readings, a musical performance, Advent reflections, and more. This year’s guests include poet Katie Hartsock, singer-songwriter Jon Guerra, composer Mike Capps, and writers Alex Ramirez (here’s his short story “Gabriel”), Meghan Murphy-Gill (author of The Sacred Life of Bread), and Jan Richardson.

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SONGS:

>> “Lord, Remind Me” by Jon and Valerie Guerra: From their album It’s Almost Christmas! Jon Guerra writes in the YouTube video description about how most days, hope feels naive; about the narratives in which we misplace our trust; about how Jesus, in his coming, tells a different narrative and brings our hope to fruition.

At Christmastime, Guerra writes,

Christians . . . celebrat[e] the arrival of a “shoot from Jesse’s stump.” It’s a transgressive celebration of fragility and vulnerability. We wanted a fully matured tree—God gave us a shoot coming from a stump. We wanted a strong leader—God gave us a vulnerable baby. We wanted a strength that dominates—God gave us a weakness that submits. We wanted victory—God gave us defeat, destitution, death.

How is this defying of our expectations hopeful? Well, theology at its atomic level says this: God is love. God doesn’t love as a decisive action, as though tomorrow the decision could be reversed. God is, always, love.

That love is not only towards humanity—it becomes humanity. It is not only compassionate towards the broken—it becomes the broken. It is unconditional love that becomes death—and in so doing, defeats it. It defies our expectations only to exceed to them.

So here’s to remembering hope in God’s unconditional love towards the desolate stumpiness of ourselves and the world this season—and to believing that this is not the end of the story. Lord, remind me.

>> “His Name Is Jesus” by Keiko Ying: Released this month on YouTube, this children’s Advent song by Keiko Ying celebrates Jesus as Emmanuel, “God with us.” Here is the lead sheet. The drawings and animation in the music video are by the songwriter’s thirteen-year-old daughter, Clara. [HT: Global Christian Worship]

ONLINE EVENT: “Every Breath a Birth: Meditations for Advent and Christmastide,” Wednesday, December 13, 5–6 p.m. ET: RSVP for Image journal’s third annual Advent Art Salon [previously], featuring a musical performance by Page CXVI, seasonal recipes by Ashley Rodriguez and Mark Sprinkle, poetry readings by Thomas Lynch and Suphil Lee Park, a homily by Bobby Gross, and a blessing by James K. A. Smith.

Image has also published a new chapbook this month, Every Breath a Birth, featuring twenty-three distinct creative works (poems, short stories, literary essays, visual art) that draw from its thirty-five-year archival history to celebrate the seasons of Advent and Christmas. Before December 3, it’s $17—or you can purchase it along with an annual subscription to the quarterly Image for just $30!

(The cover art is the painting Ice Out (Allagash) by Eric Aho, from the “In the Studio” feature in Image no. 110.)

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SONGS:

Advent is a season of waiting with deep longing and hope for that long-looked-for day when fear and pain will be no more because Christ will reign and set this world free. These songs tap into that.

>> “It Will Go One Day” by Mac Meador (2015):

>> “Redemption Draweth Nigh” by Gordon Jensen (1970), performed by Rumbi Lee (2018): The title and refrain of this contemporary hymn are drawn from Luke 21:28: “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh” (KJV).

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STREET ART SERIES: Medicinal Flowers of Lebanon by Faith XLVII: In September 2021, South African artist Faith XLVII (Liberty Du) traveled to Beirut to paint curative flowers across the rubble of the Lebanese city in the wake of the August 4, 2020, port explosion that caused at least 218 deaths, 7,000 injuries, and $15 billion in property damage, as well as leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. Rosehips, horned poppies, chicory, African carline thistle—all these botanicals are used in remedies for common ailments. “Each flower urges us, in a sense, towards healing as they grow out of the concrete,” the artist said.

Faith47_Medicinal Flowers of Lebanon — Faith XLVII (South African, 1979–), *Glaucium flavum*, from the Medicinal Flowers of Lebanon series, Beirut, Lebanon, 2021. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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NEW ALBUMS:

>> The Soil and The Seed Project, vol. 8: Advent-Christmas-Epiphany: For the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany triad of the church year comes this new album from The Soil and The Seed Project, a ministry of Virginia Mennonite Missions—and recently Lilly-Endowed! All their music is free—for download, and even as physical CDs while supplies last. Below are two of my favorite tracks, both written by new contributors to the project. The first verse of Philip Fisher Rhodes’s “Bethlehem One” is in the voice of the in utero Christ; the second, the shepherds; the third, the wise men. The song is sung by Ben Luna. And “Peace Prayer” by Susan Gascho-Cooke is a plea that God would hold his arms around “this tilting planet,” the world’s wounds, and all people.

Each TSATP album is part of a larger project that also includes “Little Liturgies” booklets perfect for families with small kids (but that can also be used by individuals and small groups). Each booklet includes litanies, prayers, reflection questions, suggested activities, and visual art—and again, they’re free! Request a digital or physical copy here.

>> Kindness Is Solid Stone, Violence Is a Heavy Loan to Pay by David Benjamin Blower: Released November 3 and available on Bandcamp only, this album features nine original songs by writer, poet, theologian, and podcaster David Benjamin Blower of Birmingham, UK. I appreciate the minimalist sound and the stark lyricism. My favorite track is probably “Meet Me Where I Sing and Stamp My Feet”: