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- Sunday, October 4 – Straining Toward God
[link to full email]: https://mailchi.mp/coutreach/word-of-the-week-oct4
[excerpt from email]: The Psalms of Lamentation comprise a third of the psalms; they attest to the long, unbroken lineage of human suffering, sorrow and bewilderment at the human condition.
Examen: Think of your life, our times. Collect the anxieties and concerns of your heart. Perhaps you may want to trying praying one of the Psalms of Lamentation daily for the next 40 days – for our country, for our world, for ourselves. Reflect upon the condition of your heart today. As a worldwide community of contemplative practice, we can take this on as an exercise of awakening to grace. Then, in 40 days, we will gaze into our hearts. Has anything changed?
Psalm 30 …”you have turned my mourning into dancing”…is one Psalm that has nourished me across many decades when I was longing for wholeness. On rising to meet the day my heart is humbled when I light a vigil candle to burn for those who will suffer this day.
Sunday October 4: Straining Toward God
My task: to pray a different lament psalm every day for the next forty days, then gaze into my heart to see if anything has changed. Today I pray Psalm 12; verse 3 aches my heart:
“The all tell lies to each other, flattering with their lips, but speaking from divided hearts.”
The condition of my heart today is clouded with confusion. Reports of COVID-19 infection 10% of the world’s population surface. National security at risk with the numbers of infectious in government leadership positions. A world rushing back to “normal” before true healing can be achieved. I pray in the clouded silence; not needing to know, needing to heal. <3 linda
We are traveling, I will miss our weekly sit again tomorrow. I have taken this 40 day task to heart. I looked up the lamentation psalms, and cross referenced them to psalms used at one of my post-intensive retreats. Like Linda, on Sunday I chose Ps 12 using Nan Merrill’s Psalms for Praying, which is well-worn, sitting next to my chair. Published in 2000, most likely prayed over and written in the decades prior. The words of this psalm are so on point for today. This psalm is on the list to be read during a 10 day intensive.
Ps 12 Come to our aid, O Beloved!
darkness seems to pervade the earth;
Where is the faith, the integrity
that once lived in the hearts
of your people?
Where is the truth, the trust
that made its home in us?
O Love, cleanse us from our double talk
Create in us new and single hearts,
Spare us from those who think,
“Our speeches will win over all.
Words are our weapons;
No one can master us!”“For the hearts of those who call to Me,
For those who cry out for wholeness,
I shall now make myself known,”
says the Beloved.
“ I shall make Myself known in their hearts.”The promises of Love are pure,
like silver refined in a crucible,
like gold purified seven times.
Be our safeguard, O Blessed One,
Stay close by throughout these dark days
where unloving hearts seem to abound.
Come to our aid, O Beloved!
~ Nan Merrill, Invitation to Wholenesspam , i don’t know how you do it, but your selection of readings is so powerful. i read word of the week sunday morning and then forgot during the day. in the middle of the night i woke up for a long time and reviewed all the ways God is present to me when i open to what is on my plate. He gentles me in such a visceral way. the way is thru, not around . at 5 am i went back to sleep and had a nightmare. the next night i had another bad dream. but the direction i got from those dreams is valuable: being ready to pack up and go at a moment’s notice, and having oil for my lamp and having it lit. my daily intention is stewarding my energy and mental space to respondd to what God is calling me to. I want to be of service at this time and want to be ready.
so, thank you . thank you. thank you.
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