December 2ndFive Minutes on Friday #51
MUSIC FOR THE SEASON
Good is the Flesh
Good is the flesh that the Word has become,
good is the birthing, the milk in the breast,
good is the feeding, caressing and rest,
good is the body for knowing the world,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the body for knowing the world,
sensing the sunlight, the tug of the ground,
feeling, perceiving, within and around,
good is the body, from cradle to grave,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the body, from cradle to grave,
growing and aging, arousing, impaired,
happy in clothing, or lovingly bared,
good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become.
Good is the pleasure of God in our flesh,
longing in all, as in Jesus, to dwell,
glad of embracing, and tasting, and smell,
good is the body, for good and for God,
Good is the flesh that the Word has become. [Brian Wren]
Brian A. Wren (born 1936 in Romford, Essex, England) is an internationally published hymn-poet and writer. Wren's hymns appear in hymnals of all Christian traditions and have been influential in raising the awareness of theology in hymns. Wren has been a strong proponent of the view that hymns are poetry and theology, instead of simply music. He has written, "A hymn is a poem, and a poem is a visual art form. The act of reading a hymn aloud helps to recover its poetry and its power to move us — the power of language, image, metaphor, and faith-expression."
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=bb4SJ6542e4&feature=share
ADVENT PRAYER
Creator God,
Whose patience is earth deep and ocean wide,
you do not wait to bring healing and hope
in the midst of loss.
Give us a vision to not only see your healing work,
but also make it our own.
For the sake of your creation,
Amen. [Sylvia Keesmat]
The United States Department of Justice established a permanent home in 1935. From 1938-1941, 61 murals funded by the Public Works Arts Project were completed in the Art Deco building. Each mural revealed artistic vision of what justice in this nation should/could look like.
One of the most striking images emerged from the mind of Symeon Shimin, a Russian born immigrant to Brooklyn, New York. In 1938, Shimin was hired to paint a mural, and “Contemporary Justice and the Child” was born. It took four years to complete the mural, which can still be seen on the third floor of the Department of Justice building in Washington D.C. today.
Through the eyes of an immigrant, we move from what is to what could be in the United States, left to right. On the left-hand side, Shimin depicts the brokenness of the nation. Dooming factories billowing smoke into the sky. The haunting eye contact from a mass of poor people in shades of gray. A pair of men asleep, contorted, in the shadows. All of these situations, and the systems that are designed to support them, are in the eyes of the artists where justice is absent.
On the right-hand side are images of the activities that lead to the construction of a just land. Note the brown hands holding the tools for reconstruction in the America of the late 1930s, decades before African Americans even had the right to vote. And see women alongside men, laying blueprints out for a just land. See the scientists, male and female, white and brown, innovating a just future. And enjoy the playfulness in the top right corner in a green land with clean air.
Finally, in the center, a mother and her child. *
Reflect on this mural in light of the text for this Sunday from Isaiah 11.1-9.
___________
* Story by Casey Thornburgh Sigman.