And while we pray, we look up at the rain clouds heaped over the Catalinas.

Call to Worship The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to His children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. Psalm 103:6-13

Contemplation Our failure to lament cuts us off from the heart of Jesus, Man of Sorrow, and it also cuts us off from each other. If we are to love one another as Jesus commanded, we must learn to “weep with those who weep.”

The way of Christian fellowship is empathy, which means we must not assume that everyone around us is “fine.” In our conversations, we must listen for complaints and cries and help them become laments. In our gathered worship, we must acknowledge the hurting and leave room for struggle and silence. In our counsel, we must pray with and over and for the hurting. This is essential to authentic Christian faith: We are to bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

So yesterday, like so many Thursdays before, I met with Sue. And we often just walk around in circles, sometimes up and down the wash, and now, mostly around cracked and weedy parking lots. I have learned a lot from Sue over the years. Sue is a prayer warrior, the sort that hefts a massive Sword of Truth, yet wields it with mercy and grace. And when we pray together, the Spirit within her sometimes struggles in silence, because He knows the backstory, the heart and soul of the hurting for whom we are praying.

And today, I yearn to set it aside for this tenderness. Solomon said, “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.” Yet. Yet sometimes I rush into places of aching with fistfuls of band-aides and token casseroles and loaves of bread. Job’s friends sat in silence and waited. May I join them in waiting and trusting.

The People of the Cross prayer for today includes, By Grace, today I will fast from independent thinking & acting. Today I will come to You before I do anything at all because waiting on You is the best of all. We repent of coming to You only when we think there’s nothing else we can do, of coming to You like You are our last hope–instead of coming to You first, because You are our first love.

Prayer Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.

He is our salvation; in Him will I trust.

In the stillness You are there

They cast their crowns before the throne and say, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power, for You created all things and by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11

And, having become man, he humbled himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death he died was the death of a common criminal. That is why God has now lifted him so high, and has given him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth. And that is why, in the end, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility. For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose. Do all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be God’s children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and diseased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place. For you hold in your hands the very word of life. Philippians 2:10-15

Sometimes it’s good to sit quietly. There is great comfort in sitting quietly. With wise-eyed people who have fought the good fight. Every afternoon I make a pilgrimage over to the office of Jack and MaryAnne, scooping up little Pippen on my way, lean up against the file cabinets and sit. Sometimes MaryAnne is ironing which a nice warm comforting smell. Or to sit with Scott and Jenny at The Blue Willow with hot tea and blackberry pie. Quietly. In the very much quietness of being the very last table still sitting after closing. Or to sit in the quiet of nothing but Alan’s birds chortling next to the St. Francis fountain and reread Mr. Paul-in-prison’s letter. Full of joy and contentment all the way through, in a dark place.

For God alone my soul in silence waits; truly, my hope is in Him.  Psalm 62:6

Sometimes there is nothing to say. Which is a good thing.

My hope is in Him. Who created all things and who is at work within me, giving me the will and strength to achieve His purpose.