Several years ago, we had an unseasonably warm winter followed by a lost fruit crop because trees bloomed too early and the buds were killed by frost. The following year though was a boom year as the trees made up for the lost crop by producing in abundance, overflowing. Farmers had a difficult time harvesting […]
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Psalm 51, the most well-known of the Penitential Psalms, is a psalm commonly associated with Lent. The writer prays for the removal of personal and social sin. So what does Psalm 51 have to say to us in the midst of this holiday season? Psalm 51 Psalm 51 is attributed to King David after being […]
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his book, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible, tell us: “If we want to read and to pray the prayers of the Bible and especially the Psalms, therefore, we must not ask first what they have to do with us, but what they have to do with Jesus Christ. We must […]
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“When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away. . . I acknowledged my sin . . . then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.” (Psalm 32:3-5) It’s been said that confession is good for the soul, but the writer of Psalm 32 would say it is good for the body as […]
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Death, it comes to all of us, yet how we resist it. We want to put off the inevitable as long as we can. Jesus in his dying, taught us so much about living. In all of his suffering, he didn’t forget to think of others, to comfort the women who were grieving. He made […]
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Lent – Season of Change Somehow, through all of the changes, all of the struggles at work, at home, struggles to just keep going every day, I have lost something. It didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t sudden. It crept in gradually, secretly, until it stole my life from me. Until I no longer recognized who […]
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Christmas – Season of Promise “But you promised!” my child reminds me with a plaintive whine. I know, I know. But that was when I thought it would be possible. I made my promise before I had all the facts, before I knew how much money, how much time and effort was involved–before I knew […]
Read MoreBible Study -Week 6 Forgive Us our Sins as We Forgive Those who Sin against Us Penitential Psalms: 6, 25, 32, 38, 50, 51, 102, 106, 130, 143 Forgive us as we forgive. We get a break this week in that we only have ten psalms to read, however the message is a powerful one, […]
Read MoreWe are not quite halfway through Lent. How is it going? Have you been able to maintain your Lenten commitments? Last Wednesday morning I posted that I had given up sweets for Lent. At noon I attended a luncheon meeting. Sitting in front of me in all its delicious splendor was a large chocolate chip […]
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In response to God’s call for “no bull” in Psalm 50, we hear Psalm 51, the most well-known of the Penitential Psalms where the writer comes before God with a contrite heart and prays for the removal of personal and social sin, a psalm commonly associated with Lent. Attributed to King David after being confronted […]
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