Midweek Devotion for 3 July 2024

Reading

Deuteronomy 10:17-21

The Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God; him alone you shall worship; to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.

Devotion

By Edward Hicks - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., online collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=175611

This week's painting is one of many versions of The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks (1780-1849).  He created over 60 versions beginning around 1820.  This one, which I saw many times in the National Gallery in DC, dates from 1826.  Although raised Episcopalian, Hicks had by 1812 become a Quaker minister.  Ironically, in 1827 a schism formed in the Quaker church and Hicks became discouraged from preaching.  A church known for peace became torn by various forms of puritanism.

I like this painting because Hicks created it as a way of symbolizing the redeemed soul.  Having recently watched Inside Out and looking forward to Inside Out 2, films which explore the mental health of a young girl, I like the idea of applying that sense of inner conversation to the life of the soul.  The normal relations of the children and animals of the painting are anything but peaceful--predator/prey is much more likely!  How do we balance self-expression and self-restraint?  How do we yoke our various passions and discipline them?  How do we resist temptation in a culture that emphasizes self-indulgence?  This painting asks me to ponder these things.

As our National Day of Independence approaches, the painting also asks us, I think, to ponder our modern forms of puritanism.  To what extent in a world of faction are peaceable processes possible?  Every year on the Fourth of July I reread the Declaration of Independence, The Gettysburg Address, and The Letter from a Birmingham Jail.  These three documents outline for me the ideal of citizenship in this realm.  Perhaps our national conversation can more fully reflect these ideals...pray for that, dear readers.

Prayer

Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn: Grant that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain our liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer)