December 2/First Tuesday of Advent “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.” ~ Luke 10.21 No matter how often I read this passage from Luke, it always leaves me a bit defensive. What’s wrong with being “wise…
Author: Betsy Cahill
Keeping Advent 2: Using Your Words
December 1/First Monday of Advent “Simply say it with a word, and my servant shall be healed.” ~ Matt 8.8 “We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord,” the prayer begins, “trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies.” Growing up in the Episcopal Church, I recited this prayer every week…
Keeping Advent 1: What Next?
November 30/First Sunday of Advent Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. ~ Matt 24.44 On this first day of Advent, in a time when the world already feels unpredictable and even perilous, Matthew sounds a suitably ominous note. Today’s Gospel is almost Hitchcockian in its dire warnings to the…
Coming Soon: Daily Advent Reflections
Again this year I am offering daily Advent reflections by email. These brief meditations are accompanied by a prayer, a link to the day’s readings, and a musical offering. There is no cost to subscribe, email addresses are not shared, and you may unsubscribe at any time. The reflections will begin on the first Sunday of Advent, November 30, and will…
Song 40: Thresholds
April 19/Holy Saturday I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence.You will show me the path to life, fullness of joys in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever. ~ Ps 16. 8, 9,…
Song 39: Broken
April 18/Good Friday For all my foes I am an object of reproach, a laughingstock to my neighbors, and a dread to my friends; they who see me abroad flee from me.I am forgotten like the unremembered dead; I am like a dish that is broken. ~ Ps 31.12-13 The other night as I was unloading the dishwasher, a bowl…
Song 38: My Cup Runneth Over
April 17/Holy Thursday I will lift up the cup of salvation, and will call on the name of the LORD. ~ Ps 116.13 On the eve of Christ’s gruesome, terrible death upon the cross, we are invited, paradoxically, to lift up the cup of salvation. Given the events that will unfold this night — Christ’s final supper, with the disciples’…
Song 37: Embracing the Pain
April 16/Wednesday of Holy Week Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none;for consolers, not one could I find. But I am lowly and in pain; let your salvation, O God, protect me.I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him with thanksgiving. ~ Ps 69.21, 29,…
Song 36: Our Help, Our Hope
April 15/Tuesday of Holy Week For you are my hope, O LORD; my trust, O God, from my youth.On you I depend from birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength. ~ Ps 71.5-6 The other day I heard the mother of a young boy apologize for her son’s behavior by explaining, “he finds transitions difficult.” Who among us…
Song 35: Waiting It Out
April 14/Monday of Holy Week Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! ~ Ps 27.14 Have you ever thought about how much time you spend waiting? Idling in traffic, biding time in a TSA or grocery store line, checking the status of a college or job application, awaiting the MRI report,…