Psalms for Lent

May 13, 2017 Daniel Melvill Jones

It's become an annual habit. Every Spring, in the season of Lent before Easter, I switch my iPhone's camera to black and white and post a photo everyday. It's become a discipline. I do it to prepare for Easter, but I also do it as an annual excuse to be forced to think visually again. I love photography, but amidst my writing and music hobbies it often takes third tier. These annual exercises are excuses to resurrect it.

In past years, I've used collections of poetry as my Lent photo guide. That has become distracting, so this year I've stuck to the Psalms. Every day I would prayerfully read a psalm and hone in on the one verse that I needed most that day. That verse became my prayer, and I would select and edit an image with it in mind.

Here are the results. I'm mostly happy with them. I needed these psalms during that season and I hope that desperation is echoed in the images. I also hope to do more photo projects around the psalms in the years ahead. Perhaps someday the work will result an a sort of illustrated Psalter? That's far in the future. I just know I want to dwell in these ancient prayers all my life, and that includes responding to them in this way.

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?24 — Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
24

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 25 — To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
25

For your steadfast love is before my eyes26 — For your steadfast love is before my eyes
26

Let your heart take courage27 — Let your heart take courage
27

Be their shepherd and carry them forever. 28 — Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
28

The voice of the LORD strips the forests bareand in his temple all cry, "Glory!"29 — The voice of the LORD strips the forests bare
and in his temple all cry, "Glory!"
29

"Oh LORD, be my helper!"30 — "Oh LORD, be my helper!"
30

My times are in your hand. 31 — My times are in your hand.
31

I shall counsel you with my eye upon you. 32 — I shall counsel you with my eye upon you.
32

Those who look to him are radiant,

and their faces shall never be ashamed.

Say to my soul,

"I am your salvation!"

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you.36 — Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you.
36

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself.37 — Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself.
37

All my longing is before you38 — All my longing is before you
38

For I am a sojourner with you,

a guest, like all my fathers.

As for me, I am poor and needy,

but the LORD takes thought for me.

At night his song is with me,

a prayer to the God of my life.

Send out your light and your truth;

let them lead me;

Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:

God is in the midst of her

For God is the King over all the earth

We have thought on your steadfast love, O God

For he will receive me.

Hear, O my people50 — Hear, O my people
50

Restore to me the joy of your salvation

and uphold me

I will wait for your name

Oh that salvation would come out of Zion!53 — Oh that salvation would come out of Zion!
53

the Lord is the upholder of my life.54 — the Lord is the upholder of my life.
54

And I would say, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove!I would fly away and be at rest;"55 — And I would say, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;"
55

You have kept count of my tossings  56Monday — You have kept count of my tossings
56
*Monday*

I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me57Tuesday — I cry out to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me
57
*Tuesday*

surely there is a God who judges  on earth. 58Wednesday — surely there is a God who judges
on earth.
58
*Wednesday*

My God in his steadfast love will

meet me;

Thursday

O God, you have rejected

Friday

From him comes my salvation

Sunday

Preparing for Easter Through Black and White

February 11, 2016 Daniel Melvill Jones

Short swallow-flights of song, that dip

Their wings in tears, and skim away.”

— Alfred Lord Tennyson in 'In Memoriam'

For the third time now, I switched my iPhone's camera to black and white and underwent the rigorous challenge of posting black and white photos during the 40 or so days leading up to Easter.

Initially, my plan was to post a photo every day except for Sundays. (Sundays are days of feasting; days of rest.) But this challenge wore at me. It took away from my spiritual walk instead of adding to it. The images lacked the care and craft that I'd grown to see in my work. So I slowed it down towards the end and was largely happy with the result.

In previous years, I've labelled the photos as a Lenten fast, which they are. But Lent carries negative connotations, both for my secular-raised-Catholic friends and my staunchly-Evangelical-bare-bones-liturgy church. And although it has been a fast from colour, the practice is an addition to my life, rather than a cutting away. (Although it is a sacrifice of time, to be sure.)

There is an element of mourning and austerity to the photographs. I hope they, and my life during that season, took on an aura of repentance, seriousness, and grief over sorrow and sin.

But ultimately, I do this so I would long all the more for Easter. I better celebrated its implications: the rest Christ's victory over sin brings, as I now rest from my photo labours. The joy of the Resurrection colouring everything, including my current post-Easter photographs. The redemption of my world, changed forever.

During Advent, I read the Cambridge poet-priest Malcolm Guite's anthology of poems, Waiting On the Word. It was excellent. His fine selection of poems were such a pleasure, as was learning how to read these poems through his insightful commentary. An added bonus, he recorded a reading of each poem on his blog. Listening to them was an education in itself, a daily private poetry concert.

This year, my photos' captions come from excepts of the poems in his Lent book, The Word in the Wilderness. You can pick it up on iBooks, or order a hardcopy. And his recordings are posted on his blog.

Some year, I would love to post a photo in colour for everyday of Eastertide, for the resurrection deserves extended celebration. But I've always been too worn out by the end of the 40 days to attempt more creativity. I also hope Malcolm will write an Eastertide anthology, soon!

Enjoy this gallery, and please click on each image to read the accompanying text, indispensable to that image's interpretation.

Fasting Through Black and White

March 3, 2015 Daniel Melvill Jones

For another year I have taken an unusual Lent fast: a fast from colour. In the weeks leading up to Easter I have applied a greyscale filter to my iPhone’s camera. Everyday, except for Sunday, I chose one of these photos and pair it with a passage from the Scripture readings from that day. Photos are then edited in VSCO Cam.

Why Lent? As someone whose convictions are firmly evangelical and reformed, I formally scoffed at the practice. It wasn’t until I began to study works from outside the narrow slice of evangelism I was raised him, that realized the rich history of the church calendar throughout church history, including the Reformed and Anglican streams. I recalled how my annual observance of Advent prepared my heart for the celebration of Christmas. In contrast, Easter tends to sneak up on me and leave far too quickly, without much observance of its impact on my heart and my world.

Someone coming out of Roman Catholicism might benefit from abstaining from Lent, focusing solely on disciplines ordained by God in his Word. But I have benefited from time set aside to sombrely reflect on this world and its disappointments, my sins, and the hope we are preparing to celebrate at Easter. The dull and sometimes gloomy tones of the black and white filter emphasis this, but they also showcase a complexity of pattern and texture that suggests something deeper at work. And the brilliant contrast to the full colours on display following Easter remind us of the unending implications of the Resurrection here and now, amongst us.

Now that this project is completed you can enjoy the gallery below. (Please click on an image to open it in full screen and hover on the photo to view the matching passage of Scripture; an essential part of the experience.) You can also enjoy my posts from 2014, which were posted here.

Lenten 2014: A Photo Journey

July 13, 2014 Daniel Melvill Jones

I did not grow up celebrating Lent. Advent, yes, but Lent had Catholic connotations wrapped up in it. And while I think it would be healthy for someone coming out of Catholicism to abstain from Lent, for evangelicals unaccustomed to such discipline it can be a sobering exercise, preparing one's heart for the coming Resurrection.

This year I decided to do something unusual. I would fast from using colour in my images. Switching my iPhone's camera from colour to black and white was easy with iOS 7. Finding a photo to post (almost) everyday was the greater challenge. Although the discipline made me aware of the shadows and forms everywhere in our world, it was easy to become repetitive.

Another challenge was finding texts to match the images. Malcolm Guite's beautiful series of sonnets for the church year provided much inspiration, as did BIOLA University's Center for Christianity, Culture, and the Arts Lent Project. Of course, scripture was a constant guide and I used a stripped down version of the seven last words of Jesus for one week. (Click on the images below and then hover over them to view the words.)

The effect on my feed and my heart was one of subtle sadness, a weariness and watching that suited life in a fallen world. But as the days went on there grew a steady, constant hope. The Resurrection was coming. All things (including colour) would be, and will be, restored.

"The forests of the world are burning now And you make late repentance for the loss."  - Malcom Guite, "Ash Wednesday"

"I'm throwing stones up at your window I'm casting shadows up on your door."

"His suffering becomes our suffering. His death is our death."

"A good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over."

"His love still breaks and pierces like a knife."

"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."

"Ask Seek Knock Enter by the narrow gate Do not be anxious."

Hope sustained through long days of fasting and prayer.

"...our Saviour is being ground like wheat."

|Greatly troubled in spirit| |Anchor you sustain|

"Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they come to life.”

"Our very being is laid open and bare before God through his word."

"We walk in the Light  As He is in the Light,  We have fellowship with one another,  His blood cleanses from all sin."

"It’s fear that sets these tests and proofs, not Love."

"We have been buried with Him through baptism into death... So we too might walk in newness of life."

"Son burns night & day, a fire set by hatred. Still— Love is the kindling."

"Therefore comfort one another with these words."

"If he could just glimpse  He might suspect a kingdom  Even now."

"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."

"He gives himself again with all his gifts Into our hands."

"Now he receives again and lifts on high The gifts he gave and we have turned awry."

"Divinity and dust come face to face. He staggers beneath the black weight of us all And falls with us that he might break our fall."

"By accident his life was stalled and stilled Becoming all he was compelled to be."

"Through all our shrouds of daily pain Shining once again."

Lamentations (University of Calgary, April 15, 2014)

Courage, dear heart. The light will be here soon.

"Then Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit." Good Friday

"Joy, Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief." Easter Sunday

The Mill and the Cross (2011): A Capsule Review

July 12, 2014 Daniel Melvill Jones

This review was originally published in April 2014. The images are from the film and are not my own.

I was introduced to this film over a year ago and knew then that I looked forward to returning. But the question was how long to wait? I didn’t want to rush it. But I also knew that this movie would be the perfect fit for Holy Week. So on Holy Saturday I turned down the lights and pressed play.

I am now more familiar with the painting this film brings to life so effortlessly, particularly its lighting. Its costumes and props are so rough and lived in that their foreign realism shocks us.

The theological and artistic heart of the movie is the intersection of ordinary people’s lives with the cruelty of the world. We see this intersection graphically when the life of a young couple is ground to a searing halt after the man is brutally torn from his wife and lifted up to die while on their way to market. We see it subtly in the crows, ominously and repeatedly visible through the window of every house, particularly Brugal's as his young wife cares for their rowdy children.

But nowhere is the contrast more obvious then when these smaller images of the divine morph into an anachronistic representation of the ultimate intersection - the passion of our Lord. In the history of art anachronistic paintings of the crucifixion are common but we see them less in our film driven age. So in the film, when Judas betray Christ by visiting a cathedral's confession room or the condemned thieves meet with a priest before being dragged to their crosses, it’s like cold water to the face. And it reminds us that the world Christ came to save is our world; in this movie, the Flemish world.

In the film Christ’s crucifixion is given a weightiness, most notably in the scene when the miller, representing God, “parts the clouds” by pausing the windmill and with it the scene below him. But when the gears resume their turning and the people their moving and the world its cruelty, I longed to see some glimmer of the resurrection. There lies Christ’s body in a grave, holes on his feet. There is the sun, welcomed after the darkness and violence of the night. There are the people, moving on, dancing, showing Christ in the way they care for their offspring.

There is only one difference. In the background this time there are no crows.