February 20/Friday after Ash Wednesday For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always:“Against you only have I sinned,and done what is evil in your sight.” ~ Psalm 51.5-6 One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons of all time – and the list is long – shows a husband and wife facing each other, her arms folded,…
Category: Songs for Lent
Song 2: Decisions, Decisions
February 19/Thursday after Ash Wednesday Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; But their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. ~ Ps 1.1-2 With the advent (or intrusion?) of AI into…
Song 1: The Great Reset
February 18/Ash Wednesday Have mercy on me, God, according to your steadfast love;according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. ~ Ps 51.3 If there is any doubt that today we cross the threshold from Ordinary Time and enter the season of Lent, the change in liturgical color from verdant green to penitent purple, and the ashes many of…
Coming Soon: Songs for Lent
Dear Friends, Ash Wednesday is on Wednesday, February 18. Again this year, I will be offering “Songs for Lent,” daily reflections on a psalm verse or verses from the lectionary, enhanced with images and music, a link to the readings, and a prayer. These are sent to participants every day via email. (There is no cost or obligation, and your…
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,…