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| Image by Linda Tanner |
A GREETING
In my distress I cry to the Lord, that God may answer me.
(Psalm 120:1)
A READING
They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation will not raise the sword against another, and never again will they train for war.
(Isaiah 2:4)
MUSIC
A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—in peace because they trust in you.
(Psalm 26:3)
A POEM
I’ll talk about it—
about the wind instruments of anxiety,
about the wedding ceremony as memorable
as entering Jerusalem.
Set the broken psalmic rhythm of rain
beneath your heart.
Men that dance the way they quench
steppe-fire with their boots.
Women that hold onto their men in dance
like they don’t want to let them go to war.
Eastern Ukraine, the end of the second millennium.
The world is brimming with music and fire.
- excerpt from "[so I'll talk about it]" by Serhiy Zhadan,
translated by John Hennessy and Ostap Kin
VERSE OF THE DAY
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
(Luke 9:51)
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| Untitled painting by Alireza Karimi Moghaddam (Click to enlarge) |
Today’s reading from Isaiah 2 comes from the very heart of conflict. In the eighth century BCE of Isaiah's time, the Assyrian Empire was flexing its power by intimidating the kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean. Some capitulated; others resisted, turning to other nations for support. Isaiah’s famous image of the sword turned into a ploughshare and the spear turned into a pruning hook, reveal his acceptance of the inevitable continuity of conflict, and also the hope that it can be resolved not by war itself, but through appeal to God’s judgement on Mount Zion. Since it is not in God’s nature to want war, the prophet believes, weapons of war will be converted into farming tools. Today’s music was first arranged by Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych as an adaptation of a popular Ukrainian new year’s song. Leontovych made his arrangement during the Great War in Europe in 1916 as a way of offering hope amid strife in the part of that conflict that affected Ukraine. Russia and Austria-Hungary both laid claim to the country and it was torn in half, as Ukrainian soliders were recruited to fight on both sides and against each other. In the original lyrics of the song, a swallow flies into a house on new year’s eve and tells the master that peace and prosperity will come in the spring, reflected in images of the return of farm animals ready to give birth. In the early 1920s, a Ukrainian-American composer heard the nativity echos in the song's story and shortened the melody, changing the lyrics into the more cheerful song we now know as the Carol of the Bells. In today’s performance, however, we hear the original opening choral sounds which evoke both a bird’s wings and also a yearning tinged with sounds of grief. The slowed down melody holds the anguish of those who are pawns of political powermongering as they long for God to intervene. Eventually the melody subsides into the more familiar tune as the swallow offers hope to the household. In our own time, as NATO forces amass along the border countries of Ukraine and Russian aggression continues into the central regions of the country, history seems poised to repeat itself yet again. At the halfway point in the journey of Lent, when we mark the moment that Jesus chooses to go to Jerusalem knowing all that will follow, we look for the ways that Christ is with us in the midst of the profound brokenness that is war. We reflect on how much has taken place since Ash Wednesday, and we look ahead with anxiety at what we may still see before Easter. Into this frightening landscape, how can we carry both the determination of Jesus to live through death, and the Advent hope and message of the little swallow on a ‘bountiful evening’? How can we be inspired to sing into the fear we have with an equally robust trust in the deep shalom of God’s love?
The next devotional day is Monday, March 28th.
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| Image by Bill Tyne |
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LC† Tending the Vineyard is a project of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and on Twitter. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help to support extended offerings throughout the year. Thank you and peace be with you!
