AND IN THE PSALMS
The harassed mayor of a major American city lately confessed
to a group of his friends that he constantly turned to certain of the great
poets in times of stress as the best source of sustenance and balance. While
others might find “escape” in detective stories he read Milton aloud and envies
Macaulay who knew Paradise Lost by heart and once repeated four books of it
while crossing the Irish Sea. The mayor said that once in time of grave
personal crisis he found in Browning, “the courage to go on,” and added that
Browing’s great spiritual message is that of courage rather than optimism. A
memory stored with great poetry is as an arsenal for the soul.
“It shall be
A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me,
Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever; a Hand like this
hand
Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the
Christ stand!"
See the Christ stand. Robert Browning
They that trust in The Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which
cannot be moved but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever.
Ps 125 1-2
READ: Your Favorite Psalm Aloud.
PRAYER. Unto Thee life I up mine eyes O Thou dwellest in the
heavens, in thanksgiving for all the forms of loveliness and strength that
speak Thy praise and reveal Thy nearness to human hearts and minds. I wait for
the Lord, my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope, through Christ the Word
Incarnate. Amen.
IN ALL POINTS . . . like as we are that rebellious boy of
yesterday who was being ‘educated’ in life’s best school used to wonder about
Jesus the carpenter’s boy of Nazareth. He hardly dared to wonder even about
HIM. But the preposterous parallel that he confided to no one, but carried in
his secret heart, brought sweetness to many a bitter day. Jesus (too, he said
to himself), Jesus wanted to go to the Jerusalem Schools, but for eighteen
years stayed home to push a plane—and support his mother and sisters and
brothers. That always brought help.
And that boy is but one of millions who have, to this hour,
found help in Him—in what He did and what he said and what He was (AND IS).
JESUS MADE ANSWER AND SAID . . . Luke
“Go and do thou likewise” Luke 10:37
And . . . and . . . and . . . it is the heart of the
parable—this conjunction. It is God’s plus sign; “and took, took him to the
inn, and too care of him” and . . . This is God’s plus sign. Always adding,
going second miles Himself, “while we ere yet sinners Christ died for us.
Goodness and mercy peruse us, new every morning, fresh every evening are the
tokens of his love. He loadeth us with benefits.
Can we afford to be stingy?
Read. Luke 10: 25-37
O Thou who givest us richly all things to enjoy, make us
good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Grateful hearts come from Thee, and
to Thee returns our Thanks. Thou are the source of all blessing. Things
material spiritual and material—all are Thine, and we are Thine. Make us to realize
our debt to Thee, and when we have given all, forgive us still our debts. For
Christ’s sake. Amen.
TWO neighbors in the old days had gone to California in the
gold rush. Young men and adventurous they had started out after selling all
they had to by stock in the ship that should carry them round Cape Horn. One
man struck it rich and came home to settle down in affluence, the other lost
the little he had and came home to spend his days hoeing corn for his
neighbors.
Uncle William and Grandfather and the Gold-rush
(Uncle Tom and none of the glamour of Kansas.)
LENT means Springtime. Let this be the Springtime of the
soul. God is stirring in nature. Snows and sudden frost hinder her coming but
come she will and must. Let God work naturally in your heart and life. No
artificial apparatus is needed. Quiet, meditation, prayer, the Bible, and great
poetry, the quiet stars, the out of doors, these were among Jesus’ sources of
spiritual help. “As he was so are ye in the world.”
O GOD, who hast made of one blood all nations of men for to
dwell on the face of the earth, and didst send thy blessed Son to preach peace
to them that are afar off, and to them that are nigh; grant that all the
peoples who sit in darkness and the shadow of death may feel after thee and find
Thee; and hasten, O Lord, the fulfillment of thy promise to pour out the Spirit
upon all flesh; through Jesus Christ our Loud. Amen.
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