Dear Family & Friends of Christ Church, 

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One of my Lenten practices this year is praying through the Book of Psalms. Three Psalms per day: one first thing in the morning, one at noon, and one before bed. With a few extra thrown in during Holy Week, I’ll make it to Psalm 150 before the Easter Vigil!

 

The other day found me praying Psalm 30:

 

4          Sing to the Lord, you servants of his;*

                        give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.

5          For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye,*

                        his favor for a lifetime.

6          Weeping may spend the night,*

                        but joy comes in the morning.

 

Many conversations over these last weeks have revolved around a parishioner’s struggle with anger, fear and sorrow. A common thread is the ability these particular emotions have to overwhelm and seep into other facets of our lives. Maybe you’ve felt it too. You ask someone, “How are you doing today?” What response do you receive most often?

 

Psalm 30 invites us to distinguish between those things which are meant to be transient, and those things which are meant to endure. This holy season of Lent invites us to find the path to eternal life by taking a momentary detour through the muck of our own mortality. Verse 6 is particularly powerful for me. Sorrow can and will find us; no journey, no matter how diligent the effort, can avoid it. But the truly insidious aspect of sorrow is its ability to cloud and obstruct our access to joy.

 

If this kind of spiritual work – the kind that recognizes our shortcomings as part of our walk, not the destination – appeals to you, I invite you to spend time with us at our Wednesday Lenten Series. Each Wednesday evening from 7-8 pm, Tricia Lyons and I will be exploring struggles head-on, with the goal of finding a faithful way to reach the other side.