Worship
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-THIRD DAY OF LENT
MARCH 26
Psalm 118: 1b
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
Forever.
God’s love endures,
Carries on,
Over time and changing circumstance,
Persists,
Despite wimpiness and whining,
Keeps on going,
Beyond disillusionment or discouragement,read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-SECOND DAY OF LENT
MARCH 25
Psalm 118: 22-23
The stone that the builders have rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
Spurned.
Rejected.
Judged to be fatally flawed,
Unfit for service,
Dangerous.
Upending all human concepts,
The Divine Architect picked up that stone,read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTY-FIRST DAY OF LENT
MARCH 24
Luke 19: 38b, 40
I tell you,
If these were silent,
The stones would
Shout out.
This shout-out
Just has to
Happen.
Salutation.
Honor.
Gratitude.
In public.
For all to hear.
There’s no holding itread more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
THIRTIETH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 23
Luke 19: 36, 38-39
As Jesus rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road, saying, "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Most High! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest heaven!"
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
TWENTY-NINTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 22
Psalm 31: 15
My times are in Your hand.
The future breaks the surface
Of the present,
An iceberg on the horizon,
A thing of glittering beauty,
Gusting off the cold of fear.
Into Your hand I entrust my future.
The future looms,read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
TWENTY-EIGHTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 20
Psalm 126: 6
Cast out
Onto ice floes,
Adrift and unreachable
On the cold surface of events,
Banished, without a trace
Of the lifeline of return,
We grieve the disconnection
From the land of our longing,
From the love of our life,
From the labor and the laughter
That once
Filledread more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
TWENTY-SEVENTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 19
John 12: 2-3
Mary took a pound of costly perfume
Made of pure nard,
Anointed Jesus’ feet,
And wiped them with her hair.
Costly oil.
Extravagant oil.
Lavish as the oil
Of salvation,
Healing as the
Balm of Gilead.read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
TWENTY-SIXTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 18
Isaiah 43: 19b
Into the parched high noons of our lives,
Where crisis builds on crisis,
Where there is no reserve from which
We can
Draw;
Into the deserts where we wander,
Unguided, uninspired, unprepared,
God-forsaken in the badlands,read more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
TWENTY-FIFTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 17
John 12: 8
You always have the poor with you,
But you do not always have me.
Not just the working poor,
But the begging poor,
The wanderers,
The foreigners,
The aliens,
The alienated,
Those who are not secured
By any form of family ties,
Nor anchored
During any blastread more...
Lenten Devotions in Hard Economic Times
TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF LENT
MARCH 16
Philippians 3: 4b-9
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh,
I have more.
My credentials are impeccable,
Among those who rate
Righteousness
On the scale of unimpeachable heredity
And gauge godliness
On the degree of meticulous adherence toread more...
