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

Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean; wash me and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and celebration again; let the bones you crushed rejoice once more. Hide your face from my sins; wipe away all my guilty deeds! Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me. Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach wrongdoers your ways, and sinners will come back to you.

Psalm 51:7-13

Think

Today is a celebration day before tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday. Today is called Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, or my favorite, Pancake Tuesday. The point is, many people will choose to give up something, or take on something for the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. This is a Christian tradition of giving up sugar (hence Pancake Tuesday!) or soft drinks or some ordinary pleasure, making a small sacrifice as we walk with Jesus toward Good Friday.

So today, let’s focus on these beautiful and perhaps familiar words from Psalm 51: “Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me!” A clean heart, a faithful spirit, a willing spirit, the joy of salvation… This is the goal. God wants to move us ever closer to God’s presence. To get there, we must pause and focus on our truth and our sin, then come to God with a humble spirit, washed clean by God’s grace.

David Burroughs

Pray

Purify me God. Wash me, wipe away all my guilt. Create a clean heart for me, God. Sustain me with a willing spirit. 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