Psalm 29:5
purified memories
Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness. (Psalm 29:5 DR)
Because we tend to be self-centered creatures, our memories also tend to invoke primarily ourselves. We can drive to jealously ancient cosmologies as we pile epicycles upon epicycles so as to make the universe and our memory of our lives in it to revolve around us. We are quick to remember how good and noble and wonderful we are, and slow to forget the wrongs done to us or the innumerable ways in which we have not received what we imagine is due to us.
We are also uncannily sluggish in remembering the good that others do for us, let alone God. We often treat God as worse than a vending machine or even a genie; we want God to always give us what we want and never what we don’t want, and if it’s ever not in line with what we have in mind, then we all know where the blame lies… and hint, hint, it’s never us.
We are excellent at reconning the past and our own memory of it, such that we craft a memory of what has been that often is quite a bit less accurate than reality and in which we generally tend to come out looking a lot better than was actually the case. We are so good at this that we wonder how anyone could disagree with us on anything or not understand as self-evident that every action was correct and good.
The Psalmist in this Psalm has been dealing with memories of the past, and is not shy about recounting the experiences of how God has delivered him. The important point is that in the midst of this recollection he frames the memories of his own past in terms of what God has done. God has upheld him, has given him victory over his enemies, has healed him, has brought him forth from the grave.
All these necessarily involve himself, but he does not see them through the lens of himself, but rather puts God and what God has done at the center of them. The action and initiative is on God’s part, and the Psalmist refuses to remember these experiences of the past without remembering that God is the actor in these moments working in and through him. The orbit as it were of his memory has shifted centers from himself to God, which brings about a purification of those memories.
After all, the ways in which God has acted have been in the midst of great struggle and suffering. Those painful experiences do not lose their sting because of some pious platitudes, but instead are transformed into a form of redemptive suffering in which God acts through suffering to bring about good and an increase in virtue in the Psalmist. That he can observe those past events and all their suffering in a more detached manner and see how God has acted in them and through them on his behalf demonstrates a growth in virtue, for he is beginning to lay aside pride and entitlement that would have things his own way and instead submits both his present and his past to the sovereign will and purpose of the Lord.
Israel’s past is one in which they spent almost half a millennium in slavery, only to be brought forth from their bondage by the hand of God. On the mountain they received the law and entered into the covenant where they would be his chosen and holy people; this is the memory of holiness that the Psalmist recalls, which flows into his own story and his own past like a constant thread from Mt. Sinai to his present. God’s faithfulness to his covenant and to his promises frames the Psalmist’s own past and allows him to perceive God’s holiness and faithfulness in that light. The bitterness of suffering gives way to the joy of God’s goodness, as the Psalmist speaks in the very next verse:
In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.
(Psalm 29:5 DR)
In this animation I was thinking about the memory of his holiness and how that related to the promises and covenant that God made with his people. As I was contemplating the notion of memory I had the thought that memories sometimes feel like analog snapshots we take with our minds; sometimes they are slow to develop like in a darkroom, but sometimes more like instant film.
This immediately brought a connection to the old Polaroid instant film camera which were so iconic decades ago. I found a photo of a Polaroid camera and cut it out in Photoshop and then found an image of the sort of film it produced. With the mountain theme I also found a mountain photo that I liked.
In After Effects I brought all the elements in and go them composited in the composition as I wanted them. I precomped the film and mountain and then drew a matte in the original composition to reveal that.
It’s probably a bit hard to see or easy to miss, but on the camera I added in a shutter on the lens which snaps down and up as the photos is taken, which I thought was a nice touch.
The rest was just some simple scale and position and rotation animations. I did also animate the background texture a bit in sync with the camera to simulate some depth, but it’s still a 2D composition. The only thing I’d change if I was to redo this would be to do a slight fade on the image as it’s coming out of the camera, as if it’s being developed as it’s coming out. Honestly I don’t know if that’s how these cameras worked or not, but it might be a nice extra detail for visual interest.
Enjoy.
Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness.
(Psalm 29:5 DR)
View a higher quality version of this gif here: