Sunday, June 20, 2021
Today, in God’s Lavish Mercy, we pray with Psalm 107, a poem filled with images that hold secrets for our spiritual journey:
They who sailed the sea in ships,
Psalm 107:23-24
trading on the deep waters,
These saw the works of the LORD
and God’s wonders in the abyss.
Those who have the opportunity to see the ocean in its many moods will quickly understand the analogy.
Life is an ocean, but we are not sailing it alone.
That’s what the Lord suggests to Job in our first reading, and what Jesus points out to the nervous disciples in our Gospel.
Psalm 107 tells us that when life distresses us we should do just what the disciples did:
They cried to the LORD in their distress;
Psalm 107: 28-29
from their straits he rescued them,
God hushed the storm to a gentle breeze
and the billows of the sea were stilled
It also suggests us that we can hope for this result:
They rejoiced that they were calmed,
Psalm 107:30-31
and brought to their desired haven.
Let them give thanks fo the Lord’s kindness
and wondrous deeds to us all.
The message of today’s readings for me is trust and hope
— in both calm and storm. Let’s pray for it.
Poetry: blessing of the boats – Lucille Clifton
(at St. Mary’s)
may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that.
Music: Secret Ocean – Peter Kater
Lavish Mercy 