Psalm 61, 62
Jeremiah 2: 1-13
Romans 1: 16-25
John 4: 43-54
O God, you willed to redeem us from all iniquity by your Son: Deliver us when we are tempted to regard sin without abhorrence, and let the virtue of his passion come between us and our mortal enemy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Psalmist writes in Psalm 62, "For God alone my soul in silence waits." This line opens up the yearning for God that we feel deep in our hearts. There is an element of time and quiet that is absolute and undisturbed despite all that goes on in the world. Have you ever thought about what your soul is doing right now? Is your soul waiting? Not just the body for the resurrection. Not just the mind, or the heart or all the questions that are waiting for answers from the only one who knows. The soul waits. In silence. Because nothing else is good enough to comfort the soul when it wants God. We may be able to distract our minds, our bodies, and our hearts. But our souls know. They wait, in silence, for God. Because God is where our hope is founded. Even the sibilance of the line feels open. The s's creating a soft space in which the soul in silence waits. For eternity it waits and it will not be shaken because it knows, with great conviction, that God is the foundation of all hope and love and joy. The yearning here goes beyond all time. It stretches time like workday afternoons. It is hard work, all the waiting. We have a hard time waiting through all of Lent for Easter. Yet, we only learn how to hope while waiting.
The Reverend Elizabeth Yale