It’s Friday and Sunday’s Comin’!
This week as the season of Lent has begun our focus has been on dust. The devotional book, Lent in Plain Sight, uses the phrase “ground to dust” and refers to the verse from Job:
“And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.”
I encourage you to watch the introduction/overview of the Book of Job from the Bible Project using the link below:
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/job/
There are times in life that we feel that we are being ground to dust and the author points out many people who have written about such times, often calling them the “dark nights of the soul.” She includes these questions for reflection which I think are worth taking some time to consider:
1. Have you ever experienced a “dark night of the soul”? Were there glimpses of light in the midst of it? How did it impact your faith? How did it impact your understanding of the character of God?
2. Take a few minutes to pray for those who may be feeling ground to dust this day. If you are feeling “ground to dust” and can muster no words of prayer, read aloud Psalm 23 or another passage of Scripture that is meaningful to you.
As you are reading and praying over the weeks of Lent, if you come across a poem or a writing or a photograph that you’d like to share with others about the theme of the week, I hope you’ll send them to me. Below is the link to a poem by Wendell Berry ending “o dust, arise!” that Kathy Roberts called to my attention:
We pray this week for those for whom the weather as literally brought darkness with power outages and scary times. Your can send financial assistance through UMCOR by sending a check to the church with UMCOR in the memo line or directly through online giving:
Be sure to join us for Online Worship this week — David Phelps, our youth minister, will be our guest preacher this week! Thank you, David, for your commitment to our youth and for your leadership for all of us.
Blessings,
Pastor Mary
