Worship
REDEMPTION SONGS, A 21ST CENTURY DESCANT ON THE PSALMS
| REDEMPTION SONGS, A 21ST CENTURY DESCANT ON THE PSALMS by Rev. Dr. Mary Susan Gast, Conference Minister |
PSALMS OF THE SEASON - PENTECOST, YEAR B
PSALMS OF THE SEASON - PENTECOST, YEAR B (2009) |
Psalm For Epiphany
Dear Friends,
The word “epiphany” means “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.” [The Sage’s English Dictionary] The church’s Season of Epiphany celebrates the manifestation of the Almighty through the infant body of a peasant born in a barn in occupied territory. The Psalm assigned for Epiphany is a prayer for the realization, through earthly authority, of God’s promised reign of justice and peace.
May we be graced with epiphany and Epiphany
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
FORTIETH DAY OF LENT
APRIL 3, Holy Saturday
Lamentations 3: 22-23
The steadfast love of the Most High never ceases,
Whose mercies never come to an end,
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
Like the earliest disciples,
We are so often stuck between
Crucifixion and resurrection,
Hope befogged with loss, grief, hesitancy, read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT
APRIL 2, Good Friday
Psalm 22: 1-2, 9-10, 23-26, 31b
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me?
So far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry out by day,
But You do not answer;
And by night,
But I find no rest.
Awash in grief, strained by cares,
Stretched taut over the crater of stress,read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT
APRIL 1, Holy Thursday
John 13: 34
I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you,
you should also love one another.
Love,
Not some poofy little Valentine’s Day confection, but
Love, the heavy duty, industrial strength,
Just-before-the-crucifixion variety,
Costly and crazy love,read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 31
John 12: 24
Very truly I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a single grain;
but if it dies it bears much fruit.
Free fall,
Into the earth,
Not for safe-keeping or storage,
But to burst forth read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 30
Hebrews 4: 16
Psalm 22: 1a, 3
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace
with boldness,
so that we may receive mercy
and find grace to help
in time of need.
My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Yet You are honored as the Holy One, read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 29
Hebrews 10: 24-25a
Let us consider how to provoke one another
to love and good deeds,
not neglecting to meet together…
but encouraging one another.
Encourage,
Enhearten,
Take heart,
Oh brothers and sisters,
Whenever we gather,
Proffer sips of restoration,read more...
