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…
Category: Songs for Lent
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…
Song 20: Testing, Testing
March 7/Third Thursday of Lent “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert,Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” ~ Ps 95.8-9 It is easy to trust in God when things are going smoothly, isn’t it? When things fall our way at work, when our…
Song 19: Get Up and Bar the Door
March 6/Third Wednesday of Lent For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. ~ Ps 147.13 We have “Dry January,” to encourage people to be mindful of the boundaries they set around alcohol; now, courtesy of an enterprising New York Times reporter, we have “Flip Phone February,” intended to inspire people to reclaim their personal and professional lives by…
Song 18: Security System
March 5/Third Tuesday of Lent Remember that your compassion, O LORD, and your kindness are from of old.In your kindness remember me, because of your goodness, O Lord. ~ Ps 25.6-7 One of the sources of closeness within families or among friends is the sheer predictability of behavior: the dad who invariably insists on leaving early for the airport, the…