April 8/Fifth Monday of Lent The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside still waters; He restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your…
Category: Songs for Lent
Song 28: Testing, Testing
April 6/Fourth Saturday of Lent O searcher of heart and soul, O just God. ~Ps 7.9 I am fortunate to live in an historic city that is defined by streetscape after streetscape of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century architecture. The private homes and public buildings — Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, many of them graced with stately porticos or gracious piazzas — were…
Song 27: Are You There, God?
April 5/Fourth Friday of Lent I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him.When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them. ~ Ps 34.5, 7, 18 It is not…
Song 26: Ain’t Too Proud to Bow
April 4/Fourth Thursday of Lent They made a calf at Horeb and worshiped a cast image. They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. ~ Ps 106.19-20 We don’t bow down much these days, do we? Outside of the images of faithful Muslims kneeling for daily prayer and candidates for ordination prostrating themselves…
Song 25: All in the Family
April 3/Fourth Wednesday of Lent The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made. ~ Ps 145.8-9 I’ve probably glossed over this simple verse dozens of times without really stopping to think about its implications. “The Lord is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.” Both…
Song 24: Noise, Noise, Noise, Noise
April 2/Fourth Tuesday of Lent God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress.Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and the mountains plunge into the depths 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 quick-paced, even frenetic tempo we…
Song 23: Joyful, Joyful
April 1/Fourth Monday of Lent At nightfall, weeping enters in, but with the dawn, rejoicing. ~ Ps 30.6 Something in our human nature tends towards pessimism. Amid the screeching barrage of daily “news,” if one can call it that, it is tempting to see the world around us through a lens of solid negativity. This is the Eeyore syndrome, named…
Song 21: Stranger Danger
March 29/Third Friday of Lent There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. ~ Ps 81.9 One of the first lessons we learn as we grow up, and a lesson we certainly impart to our children, is this: Don’t talk to strangers. Don’t answer the door if you don’t recognize the…
Song 20: Listen Up!
March 28/Third Thursday of Lent Oh, if today you would listen to his voice. ~ Ps 95.7 After many years of marriage and motherhood, I have learned to identify the precise moment in a conversation when one of my children, or my husband, starts to tune out my well-meaning advice. A slight turn of the head, an infinitesimal glazing of…
Song 19: Get Up and Bar the Door
March 27/Third Wednesday of Lent For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. ~ Ps 147.13 Most of us are not very good at setting boundaries in our lives. We fail to draw solid lines between work and family life, checking e-mails at bedtime, taking “important” calls during dinner, and bringing work home on the weekends. Those who are…