Lent, Week Two

During this season of Lent, I'm writing reflections based on the psalm assigned for each Sunday by the Revised Common Lectionary (look it up, if you want), and sharing those with the congregation I serve when we gather for Evening Prayer on Wednesday evenings. This reflection is from March 19, week two, and is based on Psalm 121

Maybe it’s tax time

      maybe it’s when you’re looking for a job

      maybe it’s just before a test

            that you’re not sure you’ve studied enough for

      maybe it’s just after you’ve said something

            to a dear friend

                  that you desperately want to take back

maybe it’s when your kid’s in the hospital

      or when a parent has just died

at some time or other

      it’s likely that each one of us

            has felt the desperation of

                  ‘what do I do now?’

            the desperation of

                  ‘I can’t take the next step’

            the desperation of isolation, stagnation, and resign

at some time or other

      it’s likely that each of us has been there

the old spiritual echoes the psalm

      ‘Where could I go, but to the Lord’

in our God

      we can find comfort

            from one who has known everything of our life

in our God

      we can find comfort

            from one who has journeyed through our life

                  the celebration and the desperation

      we can find comfort

            from the one who journeyed beyond our life

                  and into our death

      we can find comfort

            from the one who,

                  having moved through our death

                        came out victorious on the other side

Where can we go but to the Lord.

      Amen.