the ramblings of a perambulent and often distracted sojourner
So begins Holy Week, not with the rigours of trials and oppression, but a celebratory procession.
Let Israel declare
His love endures forever
And it is steadfast!
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Make them stop that noise
You try and muffle their mouths
The stones would cry out
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Once again the significance of the Passover commemoration in both the Hebrew and Christian traditions is to the fore, particularly as we approach Holy Week.
Trapped within myself
Imprisoned in my despair
Passover release!
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Boundary well set
The rite shall be well observed
and freedom cherished.
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The storm clouds gather
Behold betrayal at hand!
A new Passover.
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Disoriented as we often become in the midst of suffering, the texts are clear: the Divine is unavoidably involved as a God who suffers with us.
Suffering our lot
Divine image that we are
It’s to God we reach
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Seismic shifts of earth
Shall not destroy the promise
My Love does not fail.
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Incarnation
God in flesh just as we are
so we fully live
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When one ponders what is sometimes called the “redemptive nature of suffering,” questions inevitably arise. These must be wrestled with, as no glib answer will satisfy.
From dread and rank scorn
My bones melt; my spirit fades
But my trust stays strong.
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The suff’ring servant
Who bears the wrongs of many
Is to be praised well.
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It is an odd grace
that one man should suffer so
that many might live
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Prophets speak truth from deep connection. They are forth-tellers rather than foretellers. They speak clarity into confusing times. Look for it in today’s texts.
Where to lay my bet?
The machinery of war
Or old proven ways?
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Mercy in the storm
I remember all your ways
And have confidence
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Hard truth is hidden
From all who wish otherwise
But it still happens.
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The temptation to wield political power in the name of service is fraught with danger for all concerned. A sobering thought as this part of the world enters the election season.
For humble service
The LORD helps his anointed
not prideful hubris
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Beware the bramble
Much promise with prickly thorns
Burns up and destroys.
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Does love abide well?
Let less motive not deceive
though it looks so fine.
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Sanctuary – a place of security and protection. The word is from the Latin Sanctus from which we derive the meanings of sacred and holy. Ecologically we associate sanctuary with the preservation of the natural order. Humanly, the place we seek refuge from all that would distract us from our true selves and our relationship with the sacred.
My supplication
May I strive and come through this
Strengthened by your help.
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Tabernacle rites
Meticulously observed
Set up our safe place
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Live out your new life
From inner sanctuary
Spilling out to all.
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Today’s theme suggests times when it is appropriate to swap out the old for the new – habitual ways of thinking, methods of understanding, and scope for perceiving. Imagine these texts in dialogue with each other and enjoy!
A new commandment
Forget stories of rescue
Look to the new thing!
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Once there was much joy
So we will well remember
And inspire new faith.
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I count as old trash
All my trophies of success
but striving Christwards
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Expensive fragrance
Poured with love over his feet
A scandal for some.
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Rescue through suffering and sacrifice is a universal theme that finds a particularly focused emphasis in the Hebrew and Christian traditions. The single word “Passover” evokes strong sacred memory in both traditions.
Well may they declare
The goodness of God to us
We know the high cost.
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A young lamb suffers
For the safety of your young
And your survival.
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A man lamb suffers
And we wonder at myst’ry
He is God lamb too.
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Today’s texts, following the Psalm, arise from contexts of raw living that have their parallels today, the survival of a people when their country is occupied – and adjusting to the task of maintaining community when sickness and prison chains bind us.
It happened before
God restored life to fullness
‘Twill happen again.
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History repeats
When right is on your side and
I am in your midst
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A prison letter
offers strength against all odds
via Paul and envoy.
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Wondering Pilgrim 