Vivaldi’s Four Seasons - life writ large

I had the pleasure of hearing the Fever Candlelight performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by their string quartet in person. The accompanying narration included description of how various musical figures represent elements of nature such as chirping birds, rippling streams, thunderstorms, and so on, as well as the original sonnets that Vivaldi wrote to accompany the music. But what impressed me as I was immersed in all this was the analogy between the seasons of the year and the seasons of life. Four seasons is an apt metaphor and pattern for our individual lives as well as a life of faith, and the church.

Spring is the season of new life, the sprouting of seeds and leaves, their rapid growth and maturation from infancy to adulthood. Humans go through a twentyish year process of growth and maturation from infancy through adolescence. At about age twenty they are (or should be) ready to operate on their own. Youth is full of energy and adventure, the  opening of new doors, the exploration of options. The first panel of Thomas Cole’s The Voyage of Life depicts this.

In the life of Christianity, Easter occurs shortly after the first day of astronomical spring (the vernal equinox). This is followed by fifty days until Pentecost, which celebrates the ministry of the risen Christ in establishing the church, and also marks the outpouring of the Holy Spirit into the believers. This initiated a period of rather uncertain duration during which the early church was established across the Roman Empire, mostly recorded in the book of Acts. 

In the life of the believer, conversion begins a period of rapid discovery of what life with Christ is like. Not only is there a decision and understanding of the Biblical basis for redemption based on that decision, there is a developing personal relationship with a supernatural, spiritual savior who is ever-present. Generally these are times of great joy, at being liberated from slavery to sin, and entering into the collective fellowship of other believers.

Summer is the period of biological height of life.  Trees flourish, crops grow to full size and start to ripen, and thunderstorms water crops and fill reservoirs. Humans begin their careers and families, and become very productive, arcing toward the peak of their capability. The trials and challenges encountered during this period require perseverance to work through and overcome. Contributions to society grow, in various dimensions, such as professional or labor productivity, social and political participation, and shared expertise. The second panel of Thomas Cole’s The Voyage of Life portrays this, although it also shows the interest in exploring life apart from the path God calls us to.

The history of the church records continued growth after the establishment of the foundations, leading up to Constantine’s recognition of Christianity. The witness of the church during this period of growth included persecution, often facing death for refusing to worship the emperor, but saw growth in numbers driven by living their lives in accordance with Jesus’ standard of love. 

The church calendar does not have any major holidays during the summer. Even the Levitical calendar has no major holy days between Pentecost and the Feast of Trumpets.

The individual believer continues to grow, but the fruit is costly. Jesus begins to work in earnest to refine the believer’s life - character, behavior, personality - and this often involves targeted trials and tribulations. C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity,  gave a metaphor of Jesus starting to fix up a house by repairing drains and roof, but then doing major demolition and construction to create a palace out of a modest house. The individual believer typically also takes on significant areas of ministry, like teaching Sunday School or leading groups of various kinds. 

Autumn is the season of harvest. Tree leaves change color, crops ripen and are ready for harvest. The weather begins to cool as daylight becomes shorter. The breathtaking panoramas of multi-colored forests and tree-lined streets are breath-taking. More importantly, crops that are harvested provide food for an entire year. Some crops are converted to seed to prepare for next year’s planting season. In human lives, this is the culmination, the capstone of one’s adult life. A person arrives at their destination - their final job, promotion, capstone project. Children are launched into their adult lives - careers, families, callings. People become empty nesters. The trials of life often culminate in a grand lesson as one recognizes the limits of what they can and will accomplish, and people are often severely tested. The third panel of Cole’s Voyage of life depicts the testing aspect of this phase of life.

It is hard to connect this season to church history. Certainly the church has been tested by divisions and scandals throughout its history, once it became nominally a recognized force on the world stage. Sadly, many of the church’s trials had little to do with the maturing of church behavior, doctrine, or spirituality. In the era since the Edict of Milan and the Council of Nicaea (by Constantine), the church has at least seen aspects of growing spiritually through trials, and the harvest of converts. The gospel has been carried to every continent, though not (yet) to every tribe and tongue. The Great Commission has not yet been fulfilled, but I believe the church is still in this stage.

The church calendar does not have a marker for the three feasts of the Levitical calendar that mark autumn: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Succoth.  All speak to God’s harvest time. The blowing of trumpets symbolizes a future event in which the trumpet of the Lord will sound. (1 Corinthians 15:52) The day of atonement reminds all that Jesus paid the price as the Passover lamb for our sins. Living in tents for a week speaks to the tabernacling of the spiritual in human flesh, and eventual graduation from that to living in glorified bodies that we will be changed into at the resurrection of the dead. All of this symbolism is tied to autumn, the season of harvest.

The individual believer’s faith also continues to ripen. At some point, he or she has had adequate training in scripture and in righteousness, been through the school of the Holy Spirit which includes discipline and correction, has labored for God’s kingdom in some manner, hopefully borne fruit, and is preparing for both a climax of contribution, and handing over the reins to the next generation. This is bittersweet because as one looks to a heavenly reward, there is also the perhaps forlorn recognition that great contributions to building God’s kingdom have peaked. The harvest has been prepared, the itineraries have been executed, the fruit is brought home, as much as is possible. 

Winter is the season of slumber and death in nature. Annuals die, perennials hibernate. Nothing grows. Winter weather is cold and often icy or snowy. Sometimes there are blizzards. Unique winter sports like skiing and sledding are possible but require warm clothing. The end of human life cycle includes retirement, gradual weakening of health, often requiring care for normal daily functions. The phrase "the golden years" was popularized in the 1950s and 1959 through marketing and advertising campaigns by real estate developer Del Webb for marketing planned retirement communities. While the slowing pace of life is inevitable, the other issues involved with aging often make this period of life not terribly relaxing or enjoyable. Death is inevitable.  The fourth and final panel of Cole’s Voyage of life illustrates this. Our real rest is in heaven.

In the life of the church, winter includes advent, Christmas, Epiphany. This seems more aligned with Spring, the era of new life. However, history suggests that the date for Christmas is based on trumping a pagan festival associated with the winter solstice. In broader terms, a season of rest for the church will occur during the millennial reign of Christ. This was symbolized by the feast of booths in autumn, but will be realized in the future. (John 14:2) 

The individual believer has this promise, very much like the church, of enjoying eternity with Jesus. This is not like a reward that differs from the life of faith, but a consummation of it. We will see Him who has been beside us invisibly through our earthly journey of faith. What kind of activity we will engage in is a matter of speculation, but kicking back and being waited on seems unlikely. Perhaps skiing and sledding? Perhaps ruling angels? Caring for animals? Reaching out with God’s truth to other species that we do not even know exist?

The common themes of beginnings, maturing, growth and hard work, reaping, and ultimately resting are woven through nature, human life, the church, and plan of God, and the Christian life of the individual believer. It is so naturally woven into the fabric of existence that we cannot imagine any other paradigm. We can give God both thanksgiving and glory that He has blessed us with the richness of the dimensionality and variations present in existence, as Vivaldi does in his Four Seasons.

2 Corinthians 1-4

2 Corinthians 1:1-2 Paul was called to what he did, and he obeyed. He was an ambassador for Christ, by the will of Christ. These were his self-proclaimed credentials. In other places we learn of the evidence of the genuineness of this claim. The Corinthians knew this. They were part of a body of believers throughout Greece. Paul pronounces grace and peace upon them. Something all need, but few enjoy. They are able to receive it, if they will, through faith in and obedience to Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Praising God in the midst of suffering is not natural, it is supernatural. Firstly, God comforts us in our suffering by His presence. Secondly, suffering produces endurance, which is one of many godly traits that He is working to shape in us, to conform us to His image. Being a good father, He is helping us grow to maturity. (Hebrews 12:10-11)

2 Corinthians 1:8-11 Paul has been through graduate school, facing death and learning total dependence on and trust in God. He has also seen the power of the prayers of the saints.

2 Corinthians 1:12-14 God’s wisdom is transcendent - not of this world. Relying on His grace in this world runs counter to the world’s ways. So more explanation is given…

2 Corinthians 1:15-22 Paul changed his plans, but this was not being deceitful or disingenuous. He had preached the gospel to them, along with Timothy and Silas. God is unchanging in His commitment to those who receive Jesus. He sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts as a deposit that guarantees what is to come, like a down payment on buying a house. In this case, it is His first step in shaping us into His image. That is what is coming.

2 Corinthians 1:23-24 Paul did not return in person to Corinth to spare them so that they could sort things out with God directly, through their own faith in Him. He did not want them to be dependent on him (Paul), but only on God, so that their faith would be unshakeable in the end. He was not waffling on his plans to return because of his personal needs or desires, but because of their need to grow in this dimension. 

2 Corinthians 2

2 Corinthians 2:1-4 Paul was distressed by the emotional pain he had caused the Corinthians. Like a parent who sternly disciplines a child he loves, he felt emotional pain as well, and sought to limit their pain to that necessary to correct them, even though it would have not been loving to allow them to continue unchecked.

2 Corinthians 2:5-11 With respect to the brother whose sin he had addressed in the previous letter, Paul instructs them to limit their discipline of him based on his response. Once he had repented, they were to welcome him back into fellowship, just as a parent loves a child after disciplining him or her. In raising children, we know it is better to punish in a way that limits pain when they are young than to let them become fully engulfed in bad behavior (sin) and reap what they have sowed in a larger way. Restoration is part of community. Forgiveness is hard but necessary. Jesus died on the cross so God can forgive us, so we need to do our part, however difficult.

2 Corinthians 2:12-13 Paul explains changes in plan as based on circumstances and events. Our plans are not carved in stone. He was looking for Titus, not for Troas, and Titus was not there. Apparently he wasn’t answering his cell phone either.

2 Corinthians 2:14-17 Being the aroma of Christ only happens when we exemplify His nature and character. To believers, we are attractive because of the love He sheds through our hearts, shared with others. To unbelievers, this aroma is convicting, because deep down they know they want His love, and they don’t experience it internally, but see it in believers. This, of course, points out that legalism is not perceived as love by unbelievers. Few people want to be around prosecuting attorneys to begin with. Paul was commissioned by God to take the gospel to gentiles. The good news of Christ reveals His love. This is not done either for personal prestige or personal profit, but solely to bring people to connect to the Truth. Even unbelievers recognize hypocrisy - preaching one thing but living another.

2 Corinthians 3

2 Corinthians 3:1-6 Paul points out that the Corinthians themselves - the faith they have, the lives they live - are his credentials. This is not actually his production, but the fruit of his sharing the gospel with them. The result is because he is God’s ambassador, and Jesus is the one whose work in their lives through the Holy Spirit has changed, transformed their lives. This is to further elaborate on the rejection of legalism. The law by itself only brings a death sentence, whereas the work of the Holy Spirit brings restoration, healing, wholeness of life. The sinning brother had been under condemnation, because the law justly judges his actions, but Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the body of believers, were able to save him and bring him back into communion with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3:7-16 There is a contrast between two stories. In the Old Testament we read of how Moses’ face glowed so brightly after he communed with YHWH that the Israelites could not bear to look at him, so he covered his face with a veil. (Exodus 34:29-35) This was when Moses was receiving the law from God directly. (Probably the book of Leviticus.) This revelation was a beam of light from the unseen realm, that supernatural dimension of the third heaven, where Paul later said he heard things he was not permitted to repeat. (12:3-4) This record of Moses is different from that of Peter, James, and John when they saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. (Matthew 17:1-3; Mark 9:2-4; Luke 9:28-31) They saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. They talked about the coming events, Jesus’ departure (crucifixion). Then the voice of the Father spoke of His love for His Son. This was not veiled, but an open revelation of an ultimate spiritual reality - the plan of redemption. This revelation is now unveiled whenever the gospel is preached.

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Paul identifies that the Lord is one with the Holy Spirit - They are one. Hence the Holy Spirit frees us from the power of sin supernaturally, whenever the gospel is received. We become more like the Lord, supernaturally transformed into His image, when the veil is removed from our faces. In Moses’ case, the Israelites put the veil on his face, but in our case, we veil our face to not see the Lord’s glory clearly or directly, until we choose to remove it. Not that a veil would protect us from His sight, but the realization that He sees everything terrifies us until we are at peace with His glory.

2 Corinthians 4

2 Corinthians 4:1-6 The contrast between the gospel and the ways of the world is stark. The gospel is the light of Truth, but the god of this age, i.e. the devil, has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they do not see Him. This is the veil that was described in the previous chapter. Paul quotes from the creation narrative that in the very act of creation, God said let the light shine. (Genesis 1:3) The light of Christ in our hearts is only visible to unbelievers through our lives, because of the veil on their mind. 

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 The trials that believers endure, Paul’s being the point at hand, are the very means by which God displays the resurrection  power of Christ to unbelievers. One example, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned in Philippi, leading to the jailer’s conversion. (Acts 16:22-34) 

2 Corinthians 4:13-15 Paul quotes from the Old Testament with respect to trusting God in the midst of trials. (Psalm 116:10) The psalmist, in the midst of great trials, said that he believed in and trusted God, even though and in contrast to the lying nature of humans that surrounded him.  When Paul said that he believes and speaks in faith, this is not a ‘name it and claim it’ doctrine of wealth acquisition. (Mark 11:23-24) This is speaking for the benefit of Paul’s listeners, that they will see and know the resurrecting power of God, not just through hearing about Jesus rising from the dead, but from seeing God’s glory demonstrated in Paul’s life. Paul focused on Christ regardless of circumstances. 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Beyond faith in Christ, there is an eternal weight of glory that is in the unseen realm, where Jesus dwells, which was previously alluded to in discussion of the veil that Moses wore and the transfiguration on the Mount. Paul insists they fix their eyes on this unseen glory, as Peter also did (1 Peter 5:10), because that is what is eternal, as previously stated.  (3:18) This present world is rich and vibrant enough to enchant us - can we appreciate our future glory which God has promised, other than by looking at Him?

Book Review: Communion, by J. D. Vance

Roughly sixty percent of this book deals with the autobiographical story of J. D. Vance’s life up to the time that he fully recommitted his life to Christ, including a brief recap of Hillbilly Elegy, the circumstances under which he lost his faith and became an atheist, and his path back to God. This covers his time in the marines, at Ohio State University and Yale Law School, and as a venture capitalist. The remainder of the book is a series of essays on how he now views life - his perspective on economics and business, domestic and international politics, smart phones and social media impacts on people and society, death, and the overall decline in faith in the west. 

Vance’s basic values permeate the book, such as the importance and value of family relationships over economic or social success. They endured during his decade of doubt. Even while in law school, he perceived that basing one’s self-esteem based on the things his classmates sought was an empty goal, because there was never enough. There was always another draw to work long hours and miss out on connecting to family. Related to this is the importance of having and working toward values and goals that matter in a moral sense. Working as a venture capitalist he realized that business didn’t have the moral value that he wanted to work towards.

Vance’s position on core issues cannot be articulated simply. His disdain for the intellectual elite who have dominated politics and broadcast media for decades is not because of their intelligence, but because of their unwillingness to admit that their answers and explanations have failed and are failing us. He links this to the decline of Christianity as the source of values in the West. His views on immigration, labor unions, socialism all defy typical liberal/conservative binning.

I wish that every pastor, preacher, and evangelist who is worried about losing the next generation would read the first three chapters. There was no single factor that drove him to doubt, but a gradual process with many unresolved issues. Perhaps he had to walk this road to become the kind of person he is, but I think the Lord would prefer the faith of teens and young adults to be strengthened by testing, not destroyed. In adolescence, almost everyone questions the values they were raised with. Pat answers won’t do. The hard questions of life need to be faced. Vance’s marine service, the death of his closest relatives, and the intellectual capital from mankind’s history that he encountered in college, all ultimately pointed him back to Christ. But the church he was in as a teen did not address these issues in depth.

Vance may one day be president, depending on the health of Donald Trump. Who knows? But I think Vance will be a stronger force for western civilization by taking on the role of values evangelist. This book does. By this I mean articulating the foundational values of western civilization along with the root of and rationale for them. Almost a Charlie Kirk role, except that he is looking beyond saving of souls to the saving of civilization.