Sunday March 12 Lent 3
Click here for simplified daily office prayers
Psalm 93
A psalm of praise to God who is forever and who makes the world secure. “The waters lifted up their voice” means that although the raging sea (the original chaos) is threatening to drown everything, God’s voice is stronger. Appropriate for a Sunday when we celebrate God’s victory in the resurrection of Christ.
The raging sea can be circumstances in our lives, in our inner life, or in the life of the world and we rejoice in the victory of God’s goodness over all the rages of our times.
Psalm 96
Praise to God who really will bring equity (equality) and righteousness (which really means ‘dignity’ and ‘justice’) to the whole of humanity —every part of the world rejoices at God’s care.
Jeremiah 6: 9-15 What’s Jeremiah about?
About 600 years before Jesus, Jeremiah interprets the imminent disaster of Babylon’s attack, as God being unable to ignore the terrible consequences of exploiting the poor.
The socially disruptive consequences of extreme poverty both locally and internationally are the way we experience the same thing in our time. In Lent Jeremiah asks us to face the same uncomfortable truths. There is hope for the world if we do.
Mark 5: 1-20 What’s Mark about?
On Sundays in Lent we continue to read from Mark. Jesus has just calmed a storm on a lake and now calms another kind of storm—inside someone. There is hope that the storms of our times can also be calmed through the presence of Jesus’ justice. Notice that the Jews who are raising pigs—which are disgusting—want Jesus to leave so they can continue with their disgusting business.
There are strong forces in our society which want justice to depart in order that more money can be made. The story applies very directly to our world.
Yet, Mark is saying, even that storm can be calmed if we welcome Jesus’ justice—on a Sunday we anticipate God’s final victory in Jesus’ resurrection.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life,
may we always thirst for you,
the spring of life and source of goodness;
through him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Click here to share your thoughts on the web site.