Week of March 11 devotions

Sunday March 11 Ps.19 is great linkage of a religious attitude to science. They do not have to be enemies. Indeed that is the main issue of the Clergy Letter Project of which I am a member. It starts with a hymn to creation and then move to god’s teaching or law. At the end, notice how it admits that our knowledge is always partial and provisional.

Monday-I was re-reading Martin Marty’s Cry of Absence. It was written in the wake of his wife’s death. He uses the psalms extensively to probe his pain, and ours. He writes as what he terms a summery, optimistic spirituality only made him feel worse. For the hard times, he needed a wintry, spirituality that admits to cold and fallow times of the spirit.

Tuesday-We practiced the hymn, O Sacred Head Now Wounded in choir and heard it in the community service last week. Bernard, the great preacher of love, wrote the words a millennium ago. Brian Wren picked up the last verse “what language shall I borrow/to thank you dearest friend.” Search your heart and mind for language to describe for gratitude for the life, person, and work of Jesus Christ.

Wednesday-The book of Proverbs applies wisdom to everyday life. 26 2--1: looks to anger as a problem. “For lack of wood, the fire goes out; and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. As charcoal is to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.” Anger burns, and it can burn out of control. Proverbs has it also need an accelerant, as in arson. Here, we are the ones who fan the flames.

Thursday-I am leery of Christians who valorize suffering. To me it often degenerates into blaming the victim of suffering for their plight or tells them that suffering makes us stronger. Suffering can threaten us as well. In hindsight, we may see some wisdom we acquired, but it is so hard to deal with in the moment. We are called, instead, to try to heal suffering when we encounter it. Ins tead of passive acceptance, we resist it.

Friday-The Ides of March just meant a division within the halves of a month. It is known to us as Caesar was killed in 44BC on this date. It was foretold that he should beware the Ides of March. a sense of foreboding is a difficult thing to handle. Are we caving to anxiety, or should be honor feelings that something is a miss and alter our plans? Intuition can be a gift, a curse, or a figment of our imaginations. We can pray for discernment to read our intuitions. We can go boldly in the prudence of care and in the boldness of God’s protection.

Saturday-St Patrick’s Day is a celebration of Irish/Celtic lore. Celtic spirituality has garnered more attention of late. I am attracted to it, as it hold store in praying without ceasing, as it makes every activity a locus for prayer. I also prize its use of nature to offer praises for adoration to the Creator. “Patient lover give us love: till every shower of rain speaks of Thy forgiveness:/till every storm assures us that we company with Thee:
and every move of light and shadow speaks of grave and resurrection: to assure us that we cannot die: Thou creating, redeeming and sustaining God” (George MacLeod)