The above image is from Revealed: A Storybook Bible For Grown-Ups by Ned Bustard. The Image is called “Psalm 1: Slow Dance“ and was created by Steve Prince.
15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.” 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
7 Now regarding the questions you asked in your letter. Yes, it is good to abstain from sexual relations. 2 But because there is so much sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.
3 The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs. 4 The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.
5 Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command.
1 Corinthians 6:15-7:6
Dear God, it’s interesting that Bustard paired this image with this passage since the passage is from 1 Corinthians and the image includes Psalm 1 in its title. For reference, Psalm 1 says:
1 Oh, the joys of those who do not
follow the advice of the wicked,
or stand around with sinners,
or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the Lord,
meditating on it day and night.
3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank,
bearing fruit each season.
Their leaves never wither,
and they prosper in all they do.
4 But not the wicked!
They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind.
5 They will be condemned at the time of judgment.
Sinners will have no place among the godly.
6 For the Lord watches over the path of the godly,
but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.
Frankly, I initially feel like the image better fits with 1 Corinthians that Psalm 1, but let me spend some time with it and see what I see. So what do I see Mr. Prince showing me in his image?
- The couple appears to be black. That seems intentional.
- There is a crucifix on the wall. I suppose they are Catholic.
- The way the wood floor is drawn makes me think the house is more of a shack.
- I see a radio against the wall, and records underneath it, although I don’t see anything capable of playing the records. The record showing its title says, “Love.”
- Although there is a lamp on the table, the light bulb hanging from the middle of the ceiling with a string as its switch is very prominent. Another indication the house is a shack.
- They are barefoot. It does look like there are shoes coming out from under the bed or whatever that is on the left side of the image. I suppose they belong to one of the dancers.
- It looks like the TV is on in the room through the open door and the news is playing.
- The expressions of the couple could be interpreted in several ways. Perhaps all are correct. They seem tired and droopy. They also seem focused on each other. Blocking out the rest of the world, including the news.
- A wedding picture that is presumably theirs is above the radio. They look dressed formally in the picture. If that is her, her hair is very different from the picture to the present.
- There is a symbol I don’t understand on the man’s sleeve.
Going back to Bustard’s use of the 1 Corinthians passage here, this makes me think of commitment. They’ve come a long way since their wedding day. My wife and I were talking yesterday about how things always change from what a couple dreams their lives will be and how things actually turn out. It almost never works out like you think it will. Ours certainly hasn’t. There is disappointment. There are also pleasant surprises. No one sets out looking for pain, but pain will always come. And even if you brace yourself for it, you’re never ready for it when it hits. It can be hard. But there is a peacefulness that comes with this commitment to each other. The mutual submission Paul describes. We are not our own. We were bought with a price.
Now, let me look at what Bustard says about this piece. Here is what he says:
A married couple is dancing in their bedroom to a love song that is playing on their old stereo phonograph. In the next room a television is blaring, but separating them from the noise of the world is a wall bearing a symbol of their covenant vows and a symbol of the faith that covers their marriage. A sliver of the ceiling shows two intersecting barrel vaults forming a “groin vault.” The groin vault in this print symbolizes the pelvis regions of the couple’s bodies: the two complimentary vaults stabilize the building as the two complimentary pelvises stabilize the marriage. The wife is wearing a translucent negligee for their time of coming together. A runaway slave motif can be seen o the husband’s pajamas, symbolically alluding to the fact that–in spite of the great pain and separation African Americans have endured generation to generation–these two have still found love.
So I missed the whole pelvis vault thing, and I still can’t make out what he’s describing. And I didn’t know what that image was on the man’s sleeve, but now I do. Interesting.
Father, as I move into this day, you have given me a wife. You have given me a wife to not only love, but to make me a better man. To make me into the man you need me to be. So I give you this day, but I give this day to her as well. Thank you for this rich blessing in my life.
I pray all of this to you in Jesus’s name,
Amen
Emails to God 