In Psalm 51 – have mercy, the author asks God for mercy because of God’s steadfast, unfailing love. Some translations say God’s merciful love. What is the nature of this mercy? How do we receive it? Psalm 51 This psalm, attributed to David, begins with a heartfelt cry: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your […]
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God’s mercy is vast and deep, surpassing our human capacity to understand. One need only read the Psalms to recognize this. What else can we learn about mercy in the Psalms? Mercy in Scripture The word mercy and forms of the word such as mercies and merciful, occurs over 200 times in Scripture. The majority […]
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I’ve been fortunate. I don’t know what it is to go hungry. Nor do I know what it is like to live in exile from all you know and love. The writer of Psalm 137 knows what it is like to live in exile. Statue of Liberty One of the myths about our current immigration […]
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“Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” (George Santayana) And sometimes, even when we know our history, we repeat it! Psalm 78 is a loose accounting of the history of the Hebrew nation up to the time of David. It is a story we continue to repeat; a history of our […]
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God, the tear catcher! Another image of God from Scripture. There are many images of God found in the Bible, including father, mother, spirit, way, truth, light, gate, gatekeeper, lion, eagle, mother hen, shepherd. The list goes on. Now, thanks to Psalm 56, I have another image for God, the tear catcher. Psalm 56 Psalm […]
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First there was Hurricane Harvey, leaving a path of destruction in Texas. Then Hurricane Irma in Florida, followed by Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and earthquakes in Mexico. Then while driving the other morning I heard about the massive shootings in Las Vegas. Tears slipped down my cheeks as I drove. Enough already! I had […]
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Ordinary Time “Look to your heart,” the yoga instructor kept telling me as my eyes rolled back into my head while trying to master shoulder stand. “Look to your heart and just do it. Don’t let the brain get in the way.” When my eyes went to my brain, I thought I was going to […]
Read MoreLand of Deep Waters -Honduras, land of deep waters, a country torn apart by civil unrest, violence and poverty: Is it possible to go back? Thirty years after being banned from Honduras as a young nun, Joan, now married with two grown sons, finds herself haunted by memories of her four years there. She is determined […]
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