Posts with the tag “steadfast-love”

We’ve come through the shadows of Holy Week, and Easter morning has dawned once again. Christ is risen! Whether 2,000 years ago or today, this is a simple, yet irrational declaration: Christ is risen! We don’t fully understand Resurrection. We can’t make logical sense of it. But it is perfect and fitting for God, whose steadfast love endures forever because even death cannot stop Love. So, listen ...  Read More

Of all the difficult, terrible things that can happen in this world, one of the scariest is being alone. Suffering, pain, tragedy—all are easier to bear when we know we are not alone in the struggle. When Jesus cries out from the cross, echoing the opening verses of Psalm 22, he cries out of a longing not to be alone in the midst of senseless violence. Our song today invites us to remain present a...  Read More

This would make a good study to do alone or with a small group. The Passover praise psalm118:1 O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!118:2 Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures forever."118:19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.118:20 This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter t...  Read More

We have arrived at Holy Week. We followed Jesus into Jerusalem amidst joyful multitudes who hailed him as a king, yet we know Friday is coming. The triumphant multitudes will not stick around long. Yet, God’s steadfast love never fails. So, as we move into this holiest of weeks, listen to “You Will Be Found” from the musical Dear Evan Hansen and consider: “How does God’s steadfast love find you, e...  Read More

“Fill me with laughter.” This is not what we expect so deep into the season of Lent. We are supposed to be getting more serious the closer we get to Good Friday, right? Or, perhaps Psalm 126 is right on time. Laughter, stories, and memories of God’s provision are necessary at all stages of our journey with God as individuals and as family in Christ. They shore up our faith and feed our hope. They ...  Read More

This would make a good study to do alone or with a small group. The one whose wrongdoing is forgiven, whose sin is covered over, is truly happy! The one the LORD doesn’t consider guilty—in whose spirit there is no dishonesty—that one is truly happy!When I kept quiet, my bones wore out; I was groaning all day long—every day, every night!—because your hand was heavy upon me. My energy was sapped as ...  Read More

Steadfast love. What does that mean? Much as we might like it to mean that we will never experience problems and life will be easy and happy all the time, that kind of love is a fairy tale—and not a very good fairy tale, at that. Psalm 32 offers a richer and more robust account of God’s steadfast love—a love that never ends and never fails, no matter what life throws at us. As you listen to Kacey ...  Read More

Like many of us, the writer of Psalm 27 knows trouble, as does Jesus when he is confronted by the Pharisees attempting to scare him into being quiet or, at the very least, getting out of town (Luke 13:31). Yet both the psalmist and Jesus do an odd thing when faced with threats: they stay the course. They refuse to be swallowed up and swayed by fear. Instead, they root themselves in God, whose stea...  Read More