April 13/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. I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. ~ Ps 69.21, 31 Even though we may be through the worst of the COVID-19 days, life…
Author: Betsy Cahill
Song 36: Our Help, Our Hope
April 12/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…
Song 35: Waiting It Out
April 11/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? Biding time in a TSA or grocery store line, checking the status of a college or job application, awaiting the MRI report or the baby’s…
Song 34: Guarding the Sheep
April 9/Fifth Saturday of Lent He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together, he guards them as a shepherd his flock. ~ Jer 31.10 Gathering scattered sheep, guarding the flock — for most of us, attuned only to the highways and byways of modern urban or suburban life, this sounds picturesque, even effortless. We have an image of Jesus the…
Song 32: Promises to Keep
April 7/Fifth Thursday of Lent He remembers forever his covenant which he made binding for a thousand generations – Which he entered into with Abraham and by his oath to Isaac. ~ Ps 105.8-9 As luck (and the liturgical calendar) would have it, today’s psalm verse about keeping covenant falls on my parents’ sixty-fourth wedding anniversary. Their binding commitment to each…
Song 31: We Got Rhythm
April 6/Fifth Wednesday of Lent “Praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.” ~ Daniel 3.53 Sometimes prayer rises easily from our hearts to God’s ears; other times, its flow is blocked by anxiety or doubt. In these moments when we are at a loss for words, we might consider reaching for the Bible, to let God pray through us and with…
Song 30: Gone Missing
April 5/Fifth Tuesday of Lent Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily. ~ Ps 102.2 As the days of our distress have accumulated in the past year, we may well wonder, where has God been in all of this? It may…
Song 29: Laying the Table
April 4/Fifth Monday of Lent You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. ~ Ps 23.5 Setting a lovely table is a way of honoring one’s guests. Whether it is a small Ikea table laid for two with simple utensils, humble dinnerware, and a posy of wildflowers,…
Song 28: Deep Down
April 2/Fourth Saturday of Lent Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me.O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who test the hearts and minds, O righteous God. ~ Ps 7.8-9 Through the years, the stratagem known as “Bambi eyes,” essentially a…
Song 26: Taking a Knee
March 31/Fourth Thursday of Lent Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image;They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. ~ Ps 106.19-20 We may regard ourselves as far too sophisticated and worldly to bow down before a molten image (the Hebrew word translated “adored” is a rarely-used verb…