The Festal Smoke yet Ascends
“You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
Contemporary American artist Anthony Falbo depicts Jesus from Revelation 19 in his “Cubstractive” style. Falbo is especially attracted to Revelation as an inspiration for his religious paintings, perhaps because they are so well-suited to his surreal, dense, and abstract style, that nevertheless interacts with simple symbols and bold colors. The vibrant presence of our risen and glorified Lord here is utterly overwhelming, and, as in the Biblical chapter, we are drawn into a rowdy, epic, disorienting scene that swirls without ceasing around our Lord in his glory.
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just.
— The Holy Apostle and Evangelist St. John (Rev 19:1-2)
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Texts for This Week
Prayer
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal glory; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
James Blackshaw, the virtuosic acoustic guitarist from the UK, demonstrates his extraordinary manual dexterity in this Revelation 19:3 inspired track on his theologically-laden 2013 album, “Love is the plan, the plan is death.” If Spotify is to believed, it is his most popular song, but other of his music follows a similar style: mellifluous and interesting guitar accompanied by ambient strains from other instruments. And, like this track, most of his albums and songs feature obscure and evocative theological allusions.
