Fifth Sunday of Lent
March 21, 2021
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 51, a psalm to inspire our spring soul-cleaning.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
Psalm 51:12
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Happy Spring to all of you in the northern hemisphere! Blessings of new life and hope!
And for my southern friends already in your Autumn Season, blessings of change and release!
Psalm 51 can speak to our hearts in whatever season we find ourselves.
After our long winters, external or internal, we may call upon God for a fresh budding of our hearts:
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
Psalm 51: 14-15
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
When bright summer wanes and vibrant trees speak of leave-taking, we may pray to remain in warmth and light:
Cast me not out from your presence,
Psalm 51: 13
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
Across our hemispheres, we all share the longings of Lent to be cleared of all that blocks us from Grace in our lives – to have the hidden corners of our small selfishness swept, polished and ready for Loving Mercy:
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
Psalm 51: 3-4
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
The Heart Cave
I must remember
To go down to the heart cave
& sweep it clean; make it warm
with a fire on the hearth,
& candles in their niches,
the pictures on the walls
glowing with a quiet light.
I must remember
To go down to the heart cave
& make the bed
with the quilt from home,
strew
the rushes on the floor
hang
lavender and sage
from the corners.
I must go down
To the heart cave & be there
when you come.
- by Geoffrey Brown
Today, as we might take a walk under the nearly budding trees, or over their first fallen leaves, let’s ask God to walk with us:
Lord, you open my lips;
Psalm 51: 17-19
and my mouth to proclaim your praise.
For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it;
a burnt offering you would not accept.
What you want of me, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.
I open my heart, O God, to your Heart.
Teach me Love.
Poetry: A Spring Poem – Luci Shaw
all the field praises Him/all
dandelions are His glory/gold
and silver/all trilliums unfold
white flames above their trinities
of leaves all wild strawberries
and massed wood violets reflects His skies’
clean blue and white
all brambles/all oxeyes
all stalks and stems lift to His light
all young windflower bells
tremble on hair
springs for His air’s
carillon touch/last year’s yarrow (raising
brittle star skeletons) tells
age is not past praising
all small low unknown
unnamed weeds show His impossible greens
all grasses sing
tone on clear tone
all mosses spread a spring-
soft velvet for His feet
and by all means all leaves/buds/all flowers cup
jewels of fire and ice
holding up
to His kind morning heat
a silver sacrifice
now
make of our hearts a field
to raise Your praise.
Music: I Come to the Garden Alone – C. Austin Miles
“In the Garden” ( – sometimes rendered by its first line “I Come to the Garden Alone”) is a gospel song written by American songwriter C. Austin Miles (1868–1946), a former pharmacist who served as editor and manager at Hall-Mack publishers for 37 years. According to Miles’ great-granddaughter, the song was written “in a cold, dreary and leaky basement in Pitman, New Jersey that didn’t even have a window in it let alone a view of a garden.” The song was first published in 1912 and popularized during the Billy Sunday evangelistic campaigns of the early twentieth century.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Lavish Mercy 