Thursday in the First Week of Lent

Lenten Devotional 2019
"I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart!" says Psalm 138. My whole heart. My entire self, which includes the part of me who wants to determine my own version of justice for others, who gets super judgy, who thinks I am better than “the other.” That part of myself keeps me at a distance from other people and from my God. I can be my own worst stumbling block.

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I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart! — Psalm 138:1

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y whole heart. My entire self, which includes the part of me who wants to determine my own version of justice for others, who gets super judgy, who thinks I am better than “the other.” That part of myself keeps me at a distance from other people and from my God. I can be my own worst stumbling block. The enemy I fear most is not another person or some evil force out to get me in the world. Most of the time, my worst enemy is the demon I wrestle in my own heart.

The good news is that my whole heart is also infused with God’s steadfast love. God is with us when we wrestle with ourselves. God loves us through the midst of trouble. And God reaches out to us with light when we grapple in the darkness. Give thanks to God whose love for us enables us to praise God in return…with our whole hearts!

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Artwork: Pentecost - Many Flames
Newsletter

Parish News: May 24

In this week’s newsletter, the rector notes Pentecost’s reversal of Babel—not by restoring a single language, but by enabling understanding across difference as each speaks and hears in their own tongue. She treasures hearing parishioners read “God’s deeds of power” in many languages during worship, and invites us to consider what it means to speak of God in our own heart language—whether shaped by mother tongue, place, trust, or profound shared experience. In a time of contempt for difference, Pentecost reveals the blessing of many tongues and the Holy Spirit’s gift of mutual understanding across culture, faith, and ethnic background.

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