February 24/First Wednesday of Lent
A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
~ Ps 51.10
I first met this verse — which has served as a touchstone for me throughout my life — as a young Episcopalian choir girl. Our redoubtable choir director, Mrs. D, never missed an opportunity to teach us — about hymns, church history, theology and liturgy and life — and the lesson she imparted to us from this verse is that for a fleeting instant after the Confession and Absolution, we were free of sin, but that we did not remain that way. While I can’t vouch for the soundness of her theology, for me this verse has always embodied that “hinge” moment when we swing from the misery of sin to the joy of restoration and forgiveness. It is a moment, perhaps an ephemeral one, of spiritual transformation. The sharp word that slipped out, the snap judgment of someone who is different from us, our lack of attention to someone who needs us — sooner or later these catch up with our conscience, and we feel uncomfortable, guilty, soiled. We cannot wash the dirt off ourselves, however: we must ask God to work through us and in us, with his abundant mercy. It is noteworthy that the verb for “create” in this verse occurs in the Hebrew Bible only in reference to God’s actions, never human ones. It is God’s prerogative to make us anew, to refresh our spirits and renew our hearts. As Quaker scholar and missionary Thomas Kelly observed, “God Himself works in our souls, in their deepest depths, taking increasing control as we are progressively willing to be prepared for His wonder. We cease trying to make ourselves the dictators and God the listener, and become the joyful listeners to Him, the Master who does all things.”
Wash my soul clean, gracious Lord, and refresh my spirit with your mercy and love. Amen.
For today’s readings, click here: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022421.cfm
To hear Dame Emma Kirkby sing Buxtehude’s “Schaffe in mir, Gott” (“Create in me, Lord”), click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgcVum85Zf8
