A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey-- Day 12: 2nd Sunday in Lent

This is the twelfth in a series of daily Lenten devotionals put together by Mother Leslie for this season of Lent, 2025. We hope this proves to be uplifting to you through your Lenten journey.

If you would like to see previous devotionals, Look under "Home Worship Materials" on the Site map, or click here.

A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey

Day 12: 2nd Sunday in Lent

Today’s Theme: The Commonwealth of God

Poem: Heaven in Ordinary

Because high heaven made itself so low

That I might glimpse it through a stable door,

Or hear it bless me through a hammer blow,

And call me through the voices of the poor,

Unbidden now, its hidden light breaks through

Amidst the clutter of the every day,

Illuminating things I thought I knew,

Whose dark glass brightens, even as I pray.

Then this world's walls no longer stay my eyes,

A veil is lifted likewise from my heart,

The moment holds me in its strange surprise,

The gates of paradise are drawn apart,

I see his tree, with blossom on its bough,

And nothing can be ordinary now.

--------Malcolm Guite (1957- ), English priest, theologian, musician, and poet

Proverb:

“But our commonwealth is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

----------Philippians 3:20, from today’s epistle

Painting: Detail from Tapestry of Saints, John Nava, Cathedral of Our Lady, Los Angeles

Prayer: The Commonwealth of God

Loving One, who broods over us as a mother hen,

we ask that your commonwealth come on Earth,

and peace and equity reign throughout this land

and all lands.

Help us to never surrender to contempt,

but instead to believethat we can choose good over evil,

that we can deny the power

of resentment, division, and indifference.

Help us to lay willing hands to the plow of justice

as we seek to turn the soil of suffering

into a field of hope.

Help us to plant seeds of compassion with each step,

and make our hearts the fertile ground

to bring the common good to life.

Help us to tend the tender shoots of faith

in You and in each other, Beloved Savior,

to create a verdant field of witness

to the love we bear each other without distinction.

Merciful God, lift up those who struggle,

comfort those who mourn,

soothe those who are anxious,

gathered under your mothering wings.

Amen.

A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey--Day 13: Monday after the 2nd Sunday in Lent

This is the thirteenth in a series of daily Lenten devotionals put together by Mother Leslie for this season of Lent, 2025. We hope this proves to be uplifting to you through your Lenten journey.

If you would like to see previous devotionals, Look under "Home Worship Materials" on the Site map, or click here.

Day 13: Monday after the 2nd Sunday in Lent

Today’s Theme: Known and Loved By God

Poem: Where Will I Find You

Where, Lord, will I find you:

your place is high and obscured.

         And where

               won’t I find you:

         your glory fills the world.

You dwell deep within—

         you’ve fixed the ends of creation.

You stand, a tower for the near,

         refuge to those far off.

You’ve lain above the Ark, here,

         yet live in the highest heavens.

         Exalted among your hosts,

         although beyond their hymns—

         no heavenly sphere

                     could ever contain you,

         let alone a chamber within.

In being borne above them

         on an exalted throne,

you are closer to them

         than their breath and skin.

Their mouths bear witness for them,

         that you alone gave them form.

         Your kingdom’s burden is theirs;

         who wouldn’t fear you?

               And who could fail

                    to search for you—

         who sends down food when it is due?

I sought your nearness.

         With all my heart I called you.

And in my going out to meet you,

         I found you coming toward me,

as in the wonders of your might

         and holy works I saw you.

         Who would say he hasn’t seen

         your glory as the heavens’

               hordes declare

                    their awe of you

         without a sound being heard?

But could the Lord, in truth,

         dwell in men on earth?

How would men you made

         from the dust and clay

fathom your presence there,

         enthroned upon their praise?

         The creatures hovering over

         the world praise your wonders—

               your throne borne high

                    above their heads,

         as you bear all forever.

----------- Yehuda Halevi (1075-1141), one of the greatest Jewish poets, translated by Peter Cole

Proverb:

“Every time you listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls you the Beloved, you will discover within yourself a desire to hear that voice longer and more deeply. It is like discovering a well in the desert.”—Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) Dutch-Canadian Catholic priest, theologian, and author

Painting: The Hand of God, Nada Sarkis, Syrian icon, 2018 (written during time of current war)

Prayer: Inspired by Psalms 138-139

O God,you are our safe harbor; our shelter and our keeper:

   we lay open our hearts before your throne.

Before I yet breathed 

you knew me and had me 

   within the bowl of your mercy:

in you, O God, do I trust,

for you are ever with me

in rejoicing or in travail—

   in trouble or tempest you remain steadfast.

In sundering sea or thundering wave,   

you steady me and strengthen me by your grace.

With the eyes of our hearts

may we see your imprint in the world around us,

O Redeemer and Lover of Our Souls,

that we may tell out your goodness in the world

   in all we do or say.

Cast the mantle of your presence, Lord Christ,

over all those who call upon you for help,

especially those for whom we pray.

Amen.

-----------Leslie Barnes Scoopmire

A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey-- Day 11: Saturday after the 1st Sunday in Lent

This is the tenth in a series of daily Lenten devotionals put together by Mother Leslie for this season of Lent, 2025. We hope this proves to be uplifting to you through your Lenten journey.

If you would like to see previous devotionals, Look under "Home Worship Materials" on the Site map, or click here. We apologize for the dealy in posting this. We llost internet for four days.

Day 11: Saturday after the 1st Sunday in Lent

Today’s Theme: Security in the Storm

(Note: Today’s devotional was created after six tornadoes and high wings traveled through our area and several states during a massive storm causing multiple deaths, injuries, and damages)

Poem: The Storm-Struck Tree

As the storm-struck oak leaned closer to the house —

The remaining six-story half of the tree listing toward the glass box 

Of  the kitchen like someone in the first tilt of stumbling —

The other half crashed into the neighbors’ yards, a massive

Diagonal for which we had no visual cue save for 

An antler dropped by a constellation —

As the ragged half   leaned nearer, the second storm of cloying snow 

Began pulling on the shocked, still-looming splitting, and its branches dragged 

Lower like ripped hems it was tripping over

Until they rustled on the roof under which I

Quickly made dinner, each noise a threat from a body under which we so recently 

Said, Thank goodness for our tree, how it has accompanied us all these years,

Thank goodness for its recitation of the seasons out our windows and over

The little lot of our yard, thank goodness for the birdsong and 
squirrel games 

Which keep us from living alone, and for its proffered shade, the crack of the bat

Resounding through September when its dime-sized acorns 

Land on the tin awning next door. Have

Mercy on us, you, the massively beautiful, now ravaged and charged

With destruction.

We did speak like that. As if from a book of psalms

Because it took up the sky

-------Jessica Greenbaum (1957- ), teacher, social worker, and poet

Proverb:

Those who dwell in the shelter of the Most High

     will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

They will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

     my God, in whom I trust.”

-------------Psalm 91:1-2

Painting: Lightning Dance, Clyde Aspevig (1951- ), Colorado- based landscape painter

Prayer: In the Midst of the Storm

Let us raise our hearts to our Creator,

who is making the heavens and the Earth.

Let us sing praise to our Savior,

whose mercy endures forever,

and sustains the weary with unfailing compassion.

Your creating energy, O God, is awesome in its power:

we worship You and give you glory!

God is our refuge and our shelter,

our steadfast companion in times of trouble or danger.

We turn to you in trust, Holy One,

for You abide with us even in the midst of the storm.

Place your hand of protection

over all who are in danger,

over all who seek the lost or injured,

we humbly pray.

Guide the hands and the hearts

of doctors, nurses, and first responders,

of clergy and chaplains,

as they seek to comfort and heal the injured and the traumatized.

Blessed Jesus, you know our cares and concerns:

gather under your sheltering wing

all those for whom we pray.

Amen.

-------------Leslie Barnes Scoopmire