March 19/Fifth Tuesday of Lent The steadfast love of the LORD I will sing forever;through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness. ~ Ps 89.2 As a new mother who many years ago left a job in a prestigious cultural institution to be at home with two young children, I sometimes wondered what the point of my life was. …
Category: Songs for Lent
Song 29: Laying the Table
March 18/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 to honor one’s friends. Whether it is a small Ikea two-seater equipped with simple utensils, humble dinnerware, and a posy of wildflowers, or an imposing…
Song 28: Deep Down
March 16/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, various children I know (and may in fact…
Song 27: Something Wicked This Way Comes
March 15/Fourth Friday of Lent The LORD confronts the evildoers, to destroy remembrance of them from the earth. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. ~ Ps 34.17, 19 Does God really “confront the evildoers”? Or in the concrete Hebrew expression, is “the face of the LORD against” those who wreak havoc…
Song 26: Taking a Knee
March 14/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 It’s easy for us to sneer at the calf-worshiping children of Israel. We may regard ourselves as far too sophisticated to prostrate ourselves before a molten…
Song 25: Sketching It Out
March 13/Fourth Wednesday of Lent The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works.The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. ~ Ps 145.9, 18 On a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through the Metropolitan Museum of Art, my eye was caught by Salvator Mundi, an unfinished painting…
Song 24: Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise
March 12/Fourth Tuesday of Lent God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble.Therefore we fear not, though the earth should changeand the mountains shake in the heart of the sea. ~ Ps 46.2-3 Keeping one’s equilibrium amid the boil and churn of modern life can be a challenge. There is the frenetic tempo many of us…
Song 23: Shouts of Joy
March 11/Fourth Monday of Lent For his anger lasts but a moment; a lifetime, his good will.At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. ~ Ps 30.6 Sometimes joy, peace, contentment just vanish from our lives. Work isn’t going well, or there is a family crisis, or we’re experiencing one of those lonely disconnects that sometimes happens in…
Song 22: Going Through the Motions
March 9/Third Saturday of Lent For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.~ Ps 51.18-19 I often end my morning prayer by praying that I will meet the day’s challenges in ways…
Song 21: Hearing Aid
March 8/Third Friday of Lent “If only my people would hear me, and Israel walk in my ways, I would feed them with the best of wheat, and with honey from the rock I would fill them.” ~ Ps 81.14, 17 It is a longstanding joke in my family that my father began to lose his hearing around the time…