Focus

As you quiet yourself for this brief time, be willing to be open to God, however that may take place.

Read

Psalm 80:1-7 (NRSV)

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!
Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
O LORD God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
You have fed them with the bread of tears,
and given them tears to drink in full measure.
You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
our enemies laugh among themselves.
Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Reflect

In the TV series, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, one of Dr. Katz’s patients is describing a recent visit to the dentist. He says, “Doc, I go in there, and this woman starts scraping my teeth with a metal hook! And she says, ‘Are you brushing and flossing regularly? You gums are all bleedy.’ And I’m thinking, ‘Well, they weren’t like that when I came in here…. Maybe it’s something you did….’”

Every now and then, I will encounter a patient in the hospital who has been a pack-a-day smoker, quart-a-day drinker, and way-too-much-of-everything eater for the past fifty or so years. As family and loved ones gather around the deathbed, it still stuns me how often someone will say, “How can God let this happen?”

It’s in our nature to ignore a laundry list of transgressions, failures, trespasses, and sins that we pile up against God and one another. In the light of the gift of the risen Christ, we celebrate the power we have been given to pray, “Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”

But when we ask our God, “How long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?” an ancient voice just might whisper back, “Maybe it’s something you did.”

Pray

Great God, help us to know and repent of the harm we have done. Open our eyes to the evils we have committed, through action, inaction, or ignorance. Give us grace to seek peace and healing for all we have done, and all we have left undone. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Go with God!