“Henceforth I learn that to obey is best, and love with fear the only God, to walk as in His presence, ever to observe His providence and on Him sole depend, merciful over all His works, with good still overcoming evil and by small accomplishing great things, by things deemed weak subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise by simply meek, that suffering for Truth’s sake is fortitude to highest victory and to the faithful death the gate of life: taught by His example whom I now acknowledge my Redeemer ever blest.”
― John Milton, Paradise Lost
DEUTERONOMY 11:8-23
8 “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, 9 and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and
irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. 11 But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, 12 a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. 13 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you. 18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.
THE PRAYER OF GENERAL CONFESSION
Almighty and most merciful Father; we have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our hearts. We have of ended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we
ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done’ and there is no health in us. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable of enders. Spare thou them, O God which confess their faults. Restore thou them that are penitent; according thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake; that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.
ART APPRECIATION
Not much is known about The Girl with the Pearl Earring. We do not know who modeled for this masterpiece, but many people like to guess at the young woman’s expression. It has been called the “Mona Lisa of the North.”
1
Johannes Vermeer (1853-1890) was born in Delft, the Netherlands, where he lived his entire life. He was a great artist of the Dutch Golden Age. During this time, the Netherlands was a rich and powerful country. Some people could afford to hire an artist such as Vermeer to paint a portrait of themselves for their homes. Vermeer was a respected artist but struggled during his life to support his wife and fourteen children. He painted very slowly and completed only thirty-five to forty works during his lifetime. Vermeer is known today for showing how light affects the color of people and objects in a scene.
2
MUSIC APPRECIATION
| Suite Bergamasque: III. “Clair de lune” by Claude Debussy |
The piece’s title (meaning “moonlight”) was added shortly before its publication in 1905. It was the same year Debussy’s beloved daughter, Claude Emma, known as Chouxchoux, was born. The title comes from a poem of the same name, published in 1869, by Paul Verlaine. The poem speaks of “au calme clair de lune triste et beau” (the still moonlight sad and lovely).
It also describes “charmante masques et bergamasques”, which may have inspired the name of the whole suite. “Bergamasques” refers to masked festivals in the ancient Italian theatre tradition, common also in France, using archetypal peasant characters such as Harlequin, Columbine and Scaramouche from the own of Bergamo.
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Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer whose works were a seminal force in the music of the 20th century. He developed a highly original system of harmony and musical structure that expressed in many respects the ideals to which the Impressionist and Symbolist painters and writers of his time aspired. His major works include Clair de lune (“Moonlight,” in Suite bergamasque, 1890 1905), Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894; Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun), the opera Pelléas et Mélisande (1902), and La Mer (1905; “The Sea”).4
Providence School of Tifton 