Sunday-Ps.118 has been used since Holy Week as it touches on many of its themes. It is framed by the phrase:the Lord is good-God's steadfast love (hesed) endures forever. How do you read that in light of the events of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter? How does their meaning get affected by placing that standard over them?
Monday-The saving work of Christ is hidden in plain sight. Christ is in the midst of us. Praise, joy, and song are the right response. Blessing peace and glory are present and surely coming. The immediate future is not bright: weeping, betrayal, denial, are all on the horizon, and yet, the ultimate future is sure, forgiveness, reconciliation,and the reign of God relentlessly on the way...Therefore, we are called to point out the hidden pictures that reveal Christ-God for us and wish us in the very thick of it all. (Presbyterian Outlook)
Tuesday The world is full of people whose notion of a satisfactory future is, in fact, a return to the idealised past.Robertson Davies,
Wednesday-"Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future." - Louis B. Smedes
Thursday-In the Celtic world that gateway is present everywhere. In every place is the immediacy of heaven. In every moment we can glimpse the Light that was in the beginning and from which all things have come. As Mary Oliver says, "The threshold is always near." We can step over this threshold and back again in the fleeting span of a second. In a single step we can find ourselves momentarily in that other world, the world of eternal Light, which is woven inseparably through this world - the world of matter that is forever unfolding like a river in flow.
Friday-In the Old Testament writings the phrase "weary land" often refers to a desert area void of water. This hymn draws on the words of Isaiah 32:1-2, which reads, "See, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice. Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land." Jesus is this kind of king. He satisfies our most desperate thirst and protects us from the hottest sun. When we sing "Jesus is a Rock in a Weary Land," we remember that he knows our plight and has responded to us in our need. We are not alone and exposed in the wilderness. We have his presence with us always.
Saturday-Poet Lynn Ungar has a wonderful poem titled "Camas Lilies" in which she writes: "And you -- what of your rushed and / useful life? Imagine setting it all down -- / papers, plans, appointments, everything, / leaving only a note: "Gone to the fields / to be lovely. Be back when I'm through / with blooming." Spring is a time to set aside some of the plans and open ourselves to our own blooming.
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