December 4/First Monday of Advent In days to come, the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest mountain and raised above the hills. ~ Isaiah 2.1 In the past year or so it has felt as if the world is unraveling. Global violence and terror, political division and social acrimony, storms and fires and floods, the…
Author: Betsy Cahill
Keeping Advent 1: Hiking Into Time
December 3/First Sunday of Advent Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. ~ Mark 13.33 A few Novembers ago, on my first trip to the Grand Canyon, my husband and I walked the South Rim, following the trail along the canyon’s top. When we reached the Bright Angel trailhead, he opted to stay on…
Keeping Advent 2024: Daily Reflections for the Advent Season
I will be offering Advent reflections again this year. These brief meditations, based on the lectionary, are accompanied by a prayer, a musical offering, and a link to the day’s readings. The reflections will begin on the first Sunday of Advent, December 1, and will conclude on Christmas Eve. If you or someone you know wishes to receive a daily…
Easter Day: A Hymn of Praise
Sunday, April 9Easter Sunday Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,for his mercy endures forever. ~ Ps 118.1 On this glorious Easter morning – glorious whatever the weather, which in my case is predicted to be a bit on the dreary side – as we rejoice in and celebrate the wondrous resurrection of Christ, I have some gratitude…
Song 40: Thresholds
April 8/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,…
Song 39: Words to Live By
April 7/Good Friday Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O faithful God. ~ Ps 31.6 To put our bodies into the skilled hands of a surgeon or a physical therapist is an act of trust, and an admission that we do not possess the knowledge, the experience, the power to heal ourselves on our own. …
Song 38: My Cup Runneth Over
April 6/Holy Thursday I will take up the cup of salvation, and will call on the name of the LORD. ~ Ps 116.13 On the eve of Christ’s gruesome, awful death upon the cross, we are invited, paradoxically, to lift up the cup of salvation. Given the events that will unfold this night — the Last Supper with the disciples’…
Song 37: Crying It Out
April 5/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,…
Song 35: All the Light We Can See
April 3/Monday of Holy Week The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war be waged upon me, even then will I trust. ~ Ps 27.1, 3 For the past several weeks, ever since the scaffolding was removed, my gaze (and, I believe, the gaze…
Song 34: Weal and Woe
April 1/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, the young of the flock and the herd;their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. ~ Jer. 31.12 When…