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.
