April 16/Tuesday of Holy Week For you are my hope, LORD God, my trust from my youth. ~ Ps 71.5 As I approach my (big number here) high school reunion, I have been thinking about the power and the blessing of longtime friendships. Something about a conversation with someone who has known me for decades — a grade-school friend with…
Song 35: Waiting for the World to Change
April 15/Monday of Holy Week The LORD is my light and salvation, whom shall I fear?. . . Wait for the LORD; be strong and stout-hearted. Wait for the LORD! ~ Ps 27.1, 14 Although it doesn’t always seem so, waiting is an inherently hopeful activity, as we anticipate or long for good things to come even as we endure…
Song 34: Weal and Woe
April 13/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…
Song 33: S.O.S.
April 12/Fifth Friday of Lent Ropes of death encircled me; torrents of wickedness assailed me;Ropes of Sheol entangled me; snares of death confronted me.In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help.From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. ~ Ps 18.4-6 When my children were young,…
Song 32: 24/7
April 11/Fifth Thursday of Lent Seek the LORD and his strength;Search for his presence continually. ~ Ps 105.4 It’s the “continually” that causes difficulties, isn’t it? We manage to engage occasionally, perhaps seeking the LORD and his strength on Sundays when we go to church, or even a few times a week when we scratch out scant minutes for quiet…
Song 31: O Worship the LORD
April 10/Fifth Wednesday of Lent Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory. . . On the throne of your kingdom . . . Who look into the depths from your throne upon the cherubim . . . In the firmament of heaven. ~ Dan 3.52-56 Other than the residents of the forty-odd nations of the world who live under some…
Song 30: O Father, Where Art Thou?
April 9/Fifth Tuesday of Lent O LORD, hear my prayer, and let me cry come to you. 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 102.2-3 When the road gets rough, or we don’t get our way — or as the psalmist…
Song 29: Letting Go
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…
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…