![]() In our hurry to get through the forty days of Lent and to the celebration of Easter, this psalm slows us down. It is a psalm to remind us once again of Ash Wednesday. I stretch out my hands to you my soul thirst for you like a parched land.” (verse 5 and 6) “Save me, O Lord, from your enemies I have fled to you for refuge.” (verse 9)Īnd, Psalm 143 is a good psalm to read today–five weeks into the season of Lent. “I remember the days of old, I think about all your deeds, I meditate on the works of your hands. ![]() Psalm 143 is a psalm reminding us of the faithfulness and righteousness of God. (verse 10) For, “I am your servant.” (verse 2 and 12) “Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.” (verse 2) “Teach me to do your will, for you are my God,” the psalmist confesses. It is a psalm of acknowledging our sinful ways, and it is a psalm of confessing that righteousness can only be found in God and God alone. In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.” (verse 11) “Hear my prayer, O Lord give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness answer me in your righteousness.” (verse 1) “Save me, O Lord, from my enemies I have fled to you for refuge.” (verse 9) “For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life. Psalm 143 is often referred to as a psalm to inform and guide the practice of returning to God and the repentance of our sins. As God’s chosen and beloved people, we confess our need for forgiveness. As sinful people, we are called to repent and return to following the ways of the Lord. To the woman, filled with resentment and blame for others whom she felt had wronged her, I said, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”Īnd, over and over again I repeated the words: “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”Īs forgetful people, we need to remember whose we are and what we are. I looked into the child’s eyes, as she held onto her father’s hand, and reminded her, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”Īnd, next was the older man, who was tired and worn out from his years of labor, and I said to him, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.”Īgain, I took the ashes from the cup and drew the cross on her forehead and said to the one who came with much sadness and grief, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” I looked into the woman’s eyes–the one who came knowing her guilt and shame–and whispered, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return, but the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” My finger dipped into the cup filled with the ashes from the burnt Palm Sunday branches, and I slowly made the dark mark on each one’s forehead. Then the people solemnly walked to the front of the sanctuary. And, we sat in silence, listening for the voice of forgiveness in the midst of our sin. We prayed prayers of confession to acknowledge the wandering of our ways, the wasting of our gifts, and our forgetfulness in receiving an abundance of love. We sang songs of remembrance–remembering who we were and to whom we belonged. The church calendar calls the day, “Ash Wednesday.” On that night, people had come together in the dimly lit sanctuary to begin a season of repentance as a people in need of mercy and grace. It was the beginning of Lent that midwinter’s night.
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