March 9, 2011
Ash Wednesday
Lectionary
Psalm 32
Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Reflection
“Sin is first of all unfaithfulness to the ‘Other,’ a betrayal. For a long time now, sin has become reduced to morals. And nothing leads away from God, from thirst for God, as precisely as these morals. All morals consist first of all of bans and taboos…. A saint is thirsty not for ‘decency,’ not for cleanliness, and not for absence of sin, but for unity with God. he does not live interested in himself (the introspection of a clean fellow), but in God.” — Fr. Alexander Schmemann
Prayer
God who waits
while we rush off
to spend the riches you’ve given us
on unworthy pursuits
that always end with us slopping with the pigs
in the mud.
God who waits
each morning outside the gates
straining into the distance
to see if we’ve finally begun,
once again,
the long and tired slog back home,
into your happy embrace,
into feasting and laughter and dance.
God who waits
here we are
now waiting with you.