On Ash Wednesday with our foreheads covered in ashes we prayed Psalm 51 as we do every year. This year the words of the text prodded my heart with unusual force. The nouns in the text are graphic; offenses, wickedness, sin, transgressions. These are the nouns of desperation for someone who is profoundly realistic about the state of life. The nouns however, find there balance in the verbs of the text; blot, wash, cleanse, purge, sustain, create. These verbs describe the action of the devotion of God in restoring a fallen, suffering humanity.
This psalm finds its power in the depth of its realism. As we pray it we acknowledge the depths of our failure to trust God’s unfailing care for us and our willful disobedience. In the same breath is the profound understanding of God’s faithfulness toward us and all creation.
This Lent sit with Psalm 51; let it guide our self-examination. Let the text also give voice to our hope and our joy that God is with us. Let it shape our prayers as we move toward Holy Week and Easter so that we will be prepared to receive the new gift of life that is given to us in the Resurrection of our Savior.
Faithfully yours,
Merritt Greenwood
Interim Rector