The Story for the
Second Sunday in Lent
February 28, 2021

prepared by the Rev’d Rhonda Waters

Psalm 22:22-30

I will declare your name to my kindred;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.
Praise the Lord, you that fear God;
stand in awe of God, O offspring of Israel;
all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
For God does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;
neither turns away from them;
when they cry to the Lord, they are heard.
My praise is of God in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship the Lord.
The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
and those who seek the Lord shall give praise:
“May your heart live for ever!” 
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations shall bow before God.
For sovereignty belongs to the Lord,
who rules over the nations.
To God alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust fall before God.
My soul shall live for God; my descendants shall serve God;
they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.

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Something to Do

Walking through Lent

This week’s breath prayer to accompany you on your walk:

This week, as you take a breath in,
My praise is of God
and, as you slowly release your breath,
in the great assembly.

End your walk by thanking God for keeping you company.

Draw the Circle Wide

Notice how the circle included in giving praise to God gets bigger and bigger – starting with the psalmist’s family to the congregation to the whole of Israel to all in need to all who seek to all the world to all who have ever lived to all who have or ever will live.

Apply the psalmist’s example to your prayer this week. Get a piece of paper and draw a set of concentric circles. Begin your prayer at the centre for those who are closest to you and work you way ever outward, expanding your prayer – and your heart – until it encompasses God’s whole world, past, present, and future.

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Something to Wonder

Praise the Lord…

We are called to praise even in the season of Lent. What does praise look like during a time of repentance? What does praise look like during a time of pandemic? What does praise look like during a time of sorrow?

Seek the Lord

What does it mean to seek the Lord?

Have there been times in your life (perhaps today) that you have sought the Lord? What does that look like for you?

Have there been times in your life (perhaps today) when you feel you have found the Lord? What does that look like?

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Something to Learn

Biblical Poetry

The Bible is full of poetry – whole books (including the Psalms), long stretches of the prophets, and even breaking out in the histories. Hebrew poetry uses different conventions than English poetry – or, perhaps more accurately, emphasizes and relies on different conventions that English poetry.

Read a fascinating overview of the conventions of Biblical poetry from MyJewishLearning.

And the Bible Project has a video series on Biblical poetry that is worth a watch (but note that their claim that the Bible is a unified story is true but only in a very complicated way!)

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Something to Pray

Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways. 
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow. 

The story this week has made me wonder about…
         (what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.

The story this week has filled me with…
         (how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.

The story this week has reminded me of…
         (are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.

The Story for the
First Sunday in Lent
February 21, 2021

prepared by the Rev’d Rhonda Waters

Psalm 25:1-9

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you;
let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
Let none who look to you be put to shame; let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.
Show me your ways, O Lord, and teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; in you have I trusted all the day long.
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; remember me according to your love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
Gracious and upright are you, O Lord; therefore you teach sinners in your way.
You guide the humble in doing right and teach your way to the lowly.

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Something to Do

Walking through Lent

Go for a walk every day (or every week or whatever pattern works for you) and spend part of it in prayer. Consider using a breath prayer – a simple phrase to focus your attention and release your heart – taken from each week’s psalm.

This week, as you take a breath in,
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
and, as you slowly release your breath,
my God, I put my trust in you.

End your walk by thanking God for keeping you company.

You guide the humble in doing right and teach your way to the lowly.

Lent is a season of fasting not for the sake of suffering but as a tool for dragging our attention away from satisfying our own hungers towards the teachings of God.

How will you turn your attention to God in this season?

• simplify your diet – cut out sweets or dairy or processed foods
• attend to your time – get up or go to bed earlier or give up Netflix or commit to a lunch hour
• say your prayers – see above or try a daily prayer site/app (I am using this one these days) or use a finger labyrinth
• direct your resources – give your money or your time to the work of God (volunteering is tricky these days but you can use your time to learn)

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Something to Wonder

Where do you put your trust?

This psalm feels to be both a declaration of trust and a desire to trust in God, recognizing that it is not always an easy thing to do even when we want to do it.

What are your thoughts on trust? Do you find it easy or difficult to trust? Why?

In what, or in whom, do you trust? Why?

Do you trust God? What does that mean to you?

Remember me according to your love

God remembers us not according to our sins but according to God’s love. This is a beautiful way to think about forgiveness – an expression of our core identity as beloved by God.

Can you imagine forgiving someone by remembering them according to your love for them rather than according to their sins? What would that look like? What possibilities would it open up?

If you are carrying a burden of guilt, does knowing God remembers you according to God’s love for you help you to lay it down?

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Something to Learn

Sin

The Bible Project offers a thought-provoking and engaging video on the Biblical concept of sin. Find it here.

Repentance

To repent is to look, not downward at my own shortcomings but upward at God’s love; not backward with self-reproach, but forward with trustfulness. It is to see, not what I have failed to be, but what by the grace of God I can yet become.

Bishop Kallistos Ware

The Department of Christian Education of the Orthodox Church in America expands on Bishop Ware’s understanding in this very short article: Repenting is Not Just Lamenting

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Something to Pray

Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways. 
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow. 

The story this week has made me wonder about…
         (what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.

The story this week has filled me with…
         (how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.

The story this week has reminded me of…
         (are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.