Monday of the First Week of Lent – Evening Prayer

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Psalm 44

1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our forefathers have told us, *
the deeds you did in their days,
in the days of old.

2 How with your hand you drove the peoples out
and planted our forefathers in the land; *
how you destroyed nations and made your people flourish.

3 For they did not take the land by their sword,
nor did their arm win the victory for them; *
but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance,
because you favored them.

4 You are my King and my God; *
you command victories for Jacob.

5 Through you we pushed back our adversaries; *
through your Name we trampled on those who rose up against us.

6 For I do not rely on my bow, *
and my sword does not give me the victory.

7 Surely, you gave us victory over our adversaries *
and put those who hate us to shame.

8 Every day we gloried in God, *
and we will praise your Name for ever.

9 Nevertheless, you have rejected and humbled us *
and do not go forth with our armies.

10 You have made us fall back before our adversary, *
and our enemies have plundered us.

11 You have made us like sheep to be eaten *
and have scattered us among the nations.

12 You are selling your people for a trifle *
and are making no profit on the sale of them.

13 You have made us the scorn of our neighbors, *
a mockery and derision to those around us.

14 You have made us a byword among the nations, *
a laughing-stock among the peoples.

15 My humiliation is daily before me, *
and shame has covered my face;

16 Because of the taunts of the mockers and blasphemers, *
because of the enemy and avenger.

17 All this has come upon us; *
yet we have not forgotten you,
nor have we betrayed your covenant.

18 Our heart never turned back, *
nor did our footsteps stray from your path;

19 Though you thrust us down into a place of misery, *
and covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we have forgotten the Name of our God, *
or stretched out our hands to some strange god,

21 Will not God find it out? *
for he knows the secrets of the heart.

22 Indeed, for your sake we are killed all the day long; *
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake, O Lord! why are you sleeping? *
Arise! do not reject us for ever.

24 Why have you hidden your face *
and forgotten our affliction and oppression?

25 We sink down into the dust; *
our body cleaves to the ground.

26 Rise up, and help us, *
and save us, for the sake of your steadfast love.

 

Day 41 – A personal note

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Now that these 40 days reading 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed have ended, what do we do on day 41 and afterwards?

We can keep repeating the Jesus Creed.  We can keep facing each day strengthened by having these two commandments not only in our mind but also in our hearts and souls.  And maybe we can see more clearly each day that God’s love and grace empowers us to love and extend God’s grace, God’s kingdom to those we meet.

Maybe you want to reread the book or maybe share the book with someone.  Maybe you want to flip back through the book and see what you marked and reread those passages.
Maybe you want to think about the days or passages that impressed you the most and reread those parts.

My prayer is that these 40 days have been the start of developing a deep and on-going appreciation and commitment to making the Jesus Creed part your life each day.

Charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}

 

Monday of the First Week of Lent – Morning Prayer

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Psalm 41

1 Happy are they who consider the poor and needy! *
the LORD will deliver them in the time of trouble.

2 The LORD preserves them and keeps them alive,
so that they may be happy in the land; *
he does not hand them over to the will of their enemies.

3 The LORD sustains them on their sickbed *
and ministers to them in their illness.

4 I said, “LORD, be merciful to me; *
heal me, for I have sinned against you.”

5 My enemies are saying wicked things about me: *
“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6 Even if they come to see me, they speak empty words; *
their heart collects false rumors;
they go outside and spread them.

7 All my enemies whisper together about me *
and devise evil against me.

8 “A deadly thing,” they say, “has fastened on him; *
he has taken to his bed and will never get up again.”

9 Even my best friend, whom I trusted,
who broke bread with me, *
has lifted up his heel and turned against me.

10 But you, O LORD, be merciful to me and raise me up, *
and I shall repay them.

11 By this I know you are pleased with me, *
that my enemy does not triumph over me.

12 In my integrity you hold me fast, *
and shall set me before your face for ever.

13 Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, *
from age to age.

 

First Sunday of Lent – Evening Psalm

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Psalm 103

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul,*
and all that is within me, bless his holy Name.

2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,*
and forget not all his benefits.

3 He forgives all your sins*
and heals all your infirmities;

4 He redeems your life from the grave*
and crowns you with mercy and loving-kindness;

5 He satisfies you with good things,*
and your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.

6 The LORD executes righteousness*
and judgment for all who are oppressed.

7 He made his ways known to Moses*
and his works to the children of Israel.

8 The LORD is full of compassion and mercy,*
slow to anger and of great kindness.

9 He will not always accuse us,*
nor will he keep his anger for ever.

10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,*
nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,*
so is his mercy great upon those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,*
so far has he removed our sins from us.

13 As a father cares for his children,*
so does the LORD care for those who fear him.

14 For he himself knows whereof we are made;*
he remembers that we are but dust.

15 Our days are like the grass;*
we flourish like a flower of the field;

16 When the wind goes over it, it is gone,*
and its place shall know it no more.

17 But the merciful goodness of the LORD endures for ever on those who fear him,*
and his righteousness on children’s children;

18 On those who keep his covenant*
and remember his commandments and do them.

19 The LORD has set his throne in heaven,*
and his kingship has dominion over all.

20 Bless the LORD, you angels of his,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,*
and hearken to the voice of his word.

21 Bless the LORD, all you his hosts,*
you ministers of his who do his will.

22 Bless the LORD, all you works of his,
in all places of his dominion;*
bless the LORD, O my soul.

First Sunday of Lent – Morning Psalm

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Psalm 63

1 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you;*
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.

2 Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place,*
that I might behold your power and your glory.

3 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;*
my lips shall give you praise.

4 So will I bless you as long as I live*
and lift up my hands in your Name.

5 My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness,*
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,

6 When I remember you upon my bed,*
and meditate on you in the night watches.

7 For you have been my helper,*
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.

8 My soul clings to you;*
your right hand holds me fast.

Saturday After Ash Wednesday – Evening Psalm

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Psalm 42

1 As the deer longs for the water-brooks,*
so longs my soul for you, O God.

2 My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God;*
when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?

3 My tears have been my food day and night,*
while all day long they say to me,
“Where now is your God?”

4 I pour out my soul when I think on these things;*
how I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God,

5 With the voice of praise and thanksgiving,*
among those who keep holy-day.

6 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?*
and why are you so disquieted within me?

7 Put your trust in God;*
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

8 My soul is heavy within me;*
therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan,
and from the peak of Mizar among the heights of Hermon.

9 One deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts;*
all your rapids and floods have gone over me.

10 The LORD grants his loving-kindness in the daytime;*
in the night season his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.

11 I will say to the God of my strength,
“Why have you forgotten me?*
and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?”

12 While my bones are being broken,*
my enemies mock me to my face;

13 All day long they mock me*
and say to me, “Where now is your God?”

14 Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?*
and why are you so disquieted within me?

15 Put your trust in God;*
for I will yet give thanks to him,
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

Saturday After Ash Wednesday – Morning Psalm

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Psalm 30

1 I will exalt you, O LORD,
because you have lifted me up *
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.

2 O LORD my God, I cried out to you, *
and you restored me to health.

3 You brought me up, O LORD, from the dead; *
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.

4 Sing to the LORD, you servants of his; *
give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.

5 For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, *
his favor for a lifetime.

6 Weeping may spend the night, *
but joy comes in the morning.

7 While I felt secure, I said,
“I shall never be disturbed. *
You, LORD, with your favor, made me as strong as the mountains.”

8 Then you hid your face, *
and I was filled with fear.

9 I cried to you, O LORD; *
I pleaded with the Lord, saying,

10 “What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? *
will the dust praise you or declare your faithfulness?

11 Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me; *
O LORD, be my helper.”

12 You have turned my wailing into dancing; *
you have put off my sack-cloth and clothed me with joy.

13 Therefore my heart sings to you without ceasing; *
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks for ever.

Friday After Ash Wednesday – Evening Psalm

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Psalm 35

1 Fight those who fight me, O LORD; *
attack those who are attacking me.

2 Take up shield and armor *
and rise up to help me.

3 Draw the sword and bar the way against those who pursue me; *
say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”

4 Let those who seek after my life be shamed and humbled; *
let those who plot my ruin fall back and be dismayed.

5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, *
and let the angel of the LORD drive them away.

6 Let their way be dark and slippery, *
and let the angel of the LORD pursue them.

7  For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; *
without a cause they have dug a pit to take me alive.

8 Let ruin come upon them unawares; *
let them be caught in the net they hid;
let them fall into the pit they dug.

9 Then I will be joyful in the LORD; *
I will glory in his victory.

10 My very bones will say, “LORD, who is like you? *
You deliver the poor from those who are too strong for them,
the poor and needy from those who rob them.”

11 Malicious witnesses rise up against me; *
they charge me with matters I know nothing about.

12 They pay me evil in exchange for good; *
my soul is full of despair.

13 But when they were sick I dressed in sack-cloth *
and humbled myself by fasting.

14 I prayed with my whole heart,
as one would for a friend or a brother; *
I behaved like one who mourns for his mother,
bowed down and grieving.

15 But when I stumbled, they were glad and gathered together;
they gathered against me; *
strangers whom I did not know tore me to pieces and would not stop.

16 They put me to the test and mocked me; *
they gnashed at me with their teeth.

17 O Lord, how long will you look on? *
rescue me from the roaring beasts,
and my life from the young lions.

18 I will give you thanks in the great congregation; *
I will praise you in the mighty throng.

19 Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, *
nor let those who hate me without a cause wink at each other.

20 For they do not plan for peace, *
but invent deceitful schemes against the quiet in the land.

21 They opened their mouths at me and said, *
“Aha! we saw it with our own eyes.”

22 You saw it, O LORD; do not be silent; *
O Lord, be not far from me.

23 Awake, arise, to my cause! *
to my defense, my God and my Lord!

24 Give me justice, O LORD my God,
according to your righteousness; *
do not let them triumph over me.

25 Do not let them say in their hearts,
“Aha! just what we want!” *
Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up.”

26 Let all who rejoice at my ruin be ashamed and disgraced; *
let those who boast against me be clothed with dismay and shame.

27 Let those who favor my cause sing out with joy and be glad; *
let them say always, “Great is the LORD,
who desires the prosperity of his servant.”

28 And my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness *
and of your praise all the day long.

Two steps

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“The good news of the Gospels is that Jesus dealt with his followers who failed with two directives: first, he told them they did wrong…. Jesus always followed the first directive with the second directive, the word of grace and forgiveness: after his disciples failed, he urged them to resume following him again.” (p 202)

“[The] pattern of Jesus Creed grace reminds us that behind the Jesus Creed is not a law-giving, stern God but a grace-giving God who not only gave himself to his Son in never-ending love, but also gave that same Son to us that we might be drawn into the never-ending love of God.” (p 203)

How will you draw near to the never-ending love of God today?

When we fail

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“The Jesus Creed is an ideal – an ideal of loving God with everything we’ve got and loving others in a life of service.  The reality is that we don’t always live the Jesus Creed.  It is important, then, to finish 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed on a note of grace.  What happens when we fail to follow the Jesus Creed?  One of the grander flashes of grace in the pages of the Bible is that those who are most often heroized are also painted with realism.  It is this realism that reminds us of the gospel that gives rise to the Jesus Creed.  Each of us who seeks to live the Jesus Creed fails.  The gospel reminds us that our failures are not the final word.  The final word is grace that forgives and restores.” (p 200 – 201)

Do you hear grace is the final word?