By Ken Newbold, provost and executive vice president
Scripture: Psalm 31:9-16 (NRSV)
As I read this Psalm, I was quickly taken back to a tradition my family had during Lent of attending Stations of the Cross each Friday. This ritual brought us together as a family in our preparation for Easter, as it served as a visual and spiritual reminder of the covenant bound through the resurrection. Like the liturgy of the Way of the Cross, the verse for today from Psalm 31 takes us from grief and despair to placing our trust in God. The journey Jesus took from the being betrayed in the garden to rising from the dead demonstrates the love God has for us and brings the words in this Psalm to life.
Our Lenten journey is almost complete. Jesus is returning to Jerusalem in two days. Palm Sunday is a day of joy and celebration, however, the Psalm begins with a call for help at a time of need. As we enter this holy week of reflecting on Jesus’ path to the Cross, we are reminded of our own frailties and the need for reconciliation with God and each other. We can choose to be constrained by human physical, spiritual and psychological limitations or place our faith in God to guide us in our daily actions.
May the Psalm provide comfort in knowing our lives in the hand of God and this Holy Week be filled with God’s Shalom.
Scripture: Psalm 31:9-16 (NRSV)
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eye wastes away from grief, my soul and body also.
10For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing; my strength fails because of my misery, and my bones waste away.
11I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
12I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
13For I hear the whispering of many— terror all around!— as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
14But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, “You are my God.”
15My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.