Ordinary Time

Pause

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on our world.

Listen

Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion! Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin! Because I know my wrongdoings, my sin is always right in front of me. I’ve sinned against you—you alone. I’ve committed evil in your sight. That’s why you are justified when you render your verdict, completely correct when you issue your judgment. Yes, I was born in guilt, in sin, from the moment my mother conceived me. And yes, you want truth in the most hidden places; you teach me wisdom in the most secret space.

Psalm 51:1-6

Think

We are thankful for God’s faithful love and grateful for God’s great compassion. God loves us so much… Some days I wish we could stop right there. But the season of Lent is approaching. And for a few weeks we will turn our spiritual attention inward and do some self-examination. Sometimes I don’t look forward to these days, but when I work out my own faith with fear and trembling, I find value in the Lenten journey.

This is a personal passage – the writer pouring out their pain because of their sin. But the psalms were also meant for public worship. There is a personal and a communal nature to this exploration of sin and God’s righteousness.

I love how today’s passage ends: God wants the truth. With claims of fake news and stories on social media sites, this idea that God wants us to tell the truth is relevant. God expects the truth. Sometimes that means we have to do some research to make sure we are reading and sharing truth.

Today, consider your truth. Speak it to God as we pray.

David Burroughs

Pray

God of unfailing love, God of great compassion, look favorably on me today. I pause to speak truth to you right now. Hear me and teach me wisdom in the most secret spaces. Amen.

Go

May God give you grace never to sell yourself short; grace to risk something big for something good; grace to remember that the world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.

William Sloane Coffin