Tuesday, July 28, 2020

I sat out back to do my meditation - my summer prayer place - and I thought I would just take a look at the lection-ary to see if there was a particular focus. And there surely was - one of my favorites! Psalm 62:1. I even took and edited a picture and I thought, "Done!" 

                      ________________________Psalm 62:1a_

  

 

For 

 God 

  alone

   my 

    soul

      in 

       silence 

         waits.  

 

But no, neither it nor I was done, as in check it off the list and move happily on, quite self-satisfied, No, it was more like Checkmate! "It is a lovely verse, but it's not todays" the Voice whispered kindly. I contuniued on, found my verse, spoke it to Siri (that quintessent-ial pagan scribe heard it as "forgot the loan!" Our hearing is so often garbled,) and read on through Morning Prayer. The Gospel reading was the crucifix-ion and the verse clicked into place. When I came in to compose the blog, I still I had no image. I tried “wooden cross,” envisioning maybe a close up of the place where the 2 planks meet,  but the first image I saw was this one and I went on by, thinking "NU-UH!" with the absolute conviction of my daughter’s voice. “No, really - it’s prefect” God insisted, and chuckled. And it was. God does good work. 

                         ________________________Psalm 62:13_ 

    God 

    has 

    spoken 

    once, 

    twice

      have I heard it, 

        that power belongs to God. 

                                        When I finished the blog 

I saw that the first verse was not a mistake at all 

but a stepping stone.   “Better work than you 

even knew, huh?!”  God laughed "I don't al-

ways just "blot out." Sometimes I  Utilize

Have you understood all this?" 

Yes, I happily said, and  

 he laughed again. 

 

In the Lutheran calendar today we remember Lars Olsen Skrefsrud (1820-1910) Missionary to India

                                                              Matthew 23:12

All 
who 

exalt them-selves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. 

Lars Skrefsrud was born in Noway where he seemed to be following in his father’s alcoholic footsteps. He got into  trouble with the law - he and his com-panions robbed a bank! - they got away but he spent 4 years in prison. Having hit bottom, he pulled his life together and headed to India as a missionary. WIth his wife, he spent the rest of his life working and preaching among the Santals, an oppressed tribe in northern India who had never seen a Christian 

                                             missionary.  

The New Lutheran Book... suggests prayers:

For those in prison and for those who minister to them. 

For alcoholics, 

For those who are near despair. 

For missionaries to remote places.

 For the Santal Church. 

                                        “Merciful God, you look with compassion on all who by their addictions are in bondage, and you call them to recovery and purpose....Strengthen us by (Lars') example to work for the salvation of all whom the world or the church overlooks or ignores, that your Name may be glorified throughput the earth....