Songs for Lent

Song 40: Thresholds

April 19/Holy Saturday I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence.You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. ~ Ps 16. 8, 9,…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 39: Broken

April 18/Good Friday For all my foes I am an object of reproach, a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends; they who see me abroad flee from me.I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish that is broken. ~ Ps 31.12-13 The other night as I was unloading the dishwasher, a bowl…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 38: My Cup Runneth Over

April 17/Holy Thursday  I will lift up the cup of salvation, and will call on the name of the LORD. ~ Ps 116.13 On the eve of Christ’s gruesome, terrible death upon the cross, we are invited, paradoxically, to lift up the cup of salvation.  Given the events that will unfold this night — Christ’s final supper, with the disciples’…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 37: Embracing the Pain

April 16/Wednesday of Holy Week Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none;for consolers, not one could I find. But I am lowly and in pain; let your salvation, O God, protect me.I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. ~ Ps 69.21, 29,…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 36: Our Help, Our Hope

April 15/Tuesday of Holy Week For you are my hope, O LORD; my trust, O God, from my youth.On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength. ~ Ps 71.5-6 The other day I heard the mother of a young boy apologize for her son’s behavior by explaining, “he finds transitions difficult.”  Who among us…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 35: Waiting It Out

April 14/Monday of Holy Week Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! ~ Ps 27.14 Have you ever thought about how much time you spend waiting?  Idling in traffic, biding time in a TSA or grocery store line, checking the status of a college or job application, awaiting the MRI report,…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 34: Weal and Woe

April 12/Fifth Saturday of Lent They shall come and sing aloud for joy on the height of Zion,and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd;their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. ~ Jer.…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 33: Rough Waters

April 11/Fifth Friday of Lent The breakers of death surged round about me, the destroying floods overwhelmed me;The cords of the nether world enmeshed me, the snares of death overtook me.In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried out to my God;From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. ~ Ps…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 32: 24/7

April 10/Fifth Thursday of Lent Seek the LORD and his strength; Search for his presence continually. ~ Ps 105.4 Every day as I wrap up my morning prayer, I resolve to keep God in the forefront of my thoughts, words and deeds all day.  Every evening when I reflect on the day, I acknowledge my failure to do so.  In…

Continue Reading

Songs for Lent

Song 31: The Paths to God

April 9/Fifth Wednesday of Lent Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever. Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven, praiseworthy and glorious forever.~ Daniel 3.52, 56 Despite living amid abundant natural and architectural beauty, I often return from a long walk having not noticed any of it – the colorful azaleas,…

Continue Reading