March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!! I am wearing green as I sit here getting ready for some Irish soda bread.


Passage: Psalm 102: 1-16

Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call.
For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace.
My heart is stricken and withered like grass; I am too wasted to eat my bread.
Because of my loud groaning my bones cling to my skin.
I am like an owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places.
I lie awake; I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.
All day long my enemies taunt me; those who deride me use my name for a curse.
For I eat ashes like bread, and mingle tears with my drink, because of your indignation and anger; for you have lifted me up and thrown me
aside. My days are like an evening shadow; I wither away like grass.
But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever; your name endures to all generations.
You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to favor it; the
appointed time has come. For your servants hold its stones dear, and have pity on its dust. The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory. For the LORD will build up Zion; he will appear in his glory.

DG Comment: As the world looks with grief, anxiety and compassion towards the unfolding events in Japan, we join with the psalmist in asking God to "let my cry come to you." We are in mourning with the people of Japan. We are in distress, like the Psalmist. While God does not wish tragedy upon us, why God allows such things to happen remains a mystery to us. Yet we, like the Psalmist, affirm that God endures and thus, so can God's people. God's name and love endures forever. And God calls us each to be involved in helping where and when we can. God works through us to bring good in difficult situations. Let it be so now.

http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/pda/japan/