Welcome to Monday Mix Tape, in which I pretend I'm Ira Glass. You know, I choose a theme and share with you several variations on the theme from the worlds of art, faith and culture. To keep up the fun little facade of making a weekly mix tape, I label each of these finds as "track 1". "track 2" and so on (and just like the stack of mixtapes you've got hidden in a box in your attic, you never know when you might see some love song from Journey or Lionel Richie show up here).I'm continuing the theme of the spiritual discipline of Study. This week my reading turns a corner from the practice of study to the focus of study. In spiritual reading, Scriptural and otherwise, the point is not knowledge alone but faith, wisdom, humility, transformation. Knowledge alone brings pride, judgement, death. In all spiritual reading we depend on the Spirit of the Word to instruct, counsel, breathe life into us.
"We have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding; so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God." -- Colossians 1: 9b, 10
track 1: visual art
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| Knowledge With A Bite V Nicora N Gangi CIVA, Images of Faith |
track 2: music
The following three songs are some of the best modern hymns I've heard that recognized our need for a posture of humility and receptivity to the Word of God in worship.
Each of the chart and lead sheet arrangements for these three hymns are available for free download at the following links:
We Are Listening at Sojourn's digital hymnal
Open Thou Mine Eyes on the Bifrost Arts page at Great Comfort Records
O Word of God Incarnate at the Indelible Grace digital hymnal
track 3: poem
Mrs. Adam
I have lately come to the conclusion that I am Eve,
alias Mrs. Adam. You know, there is no account
of her death in the Bible, and why am I not Eve?
Emily Dickinson in a letter,
12 January, 1846
alias Mrs. Adam. You know, there is no account
of her death in the Bible, and why am I not Eve?
Emily Dickinson in a letter,
12 January, 1846
Wake up,
you’ll need your wits about you.
This is not a dream,
but a woman who loves you, speaking.
She was there
when you cried out;
she brushed the terror away.
She knew
when it was time to sin.
You were wise
to let her handle it,
and leave that place.
We couldn’t speak at first
for the bitter knowledge,
the sweet taste of memory
on our tongues.
Listen, it’s time.
You were chosen too,
to put the world together.
Kathleen Norris, “Mrs. Adam” from Poetry 156 (April 1990).
Source: Poetry (April 1990).
Linking up:Source: Poetry (April 1990).
