# Lent Day 3 > Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God. ### Opening Prayer: *Gracious God, today begins a period of inner reflection and examination. The days stretch before me and invite me inward to that silent, holy space that holds your Spirit. This special time beckons me to see my life through Christ's eyes and the truth and reality of your love incarnate. Give me the grace to enter the space of these days with anticipation of our meeting. And, when I open my soul to your presence, let your loving kindness flow over me and seep into the pockets of my heart. I ask this for the sake of your love.* #### Psalm for the Week: Psalm 63 #### My Soul Thirsts for You #### A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. *63 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;my soul thirsts for you;my flesh faints for you,as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,beholding your power and glory.3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,my lips will praise you.4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,6 when I remember you upon my bed,and meditate on you in the watches of the night;7 for you have been my help,and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.* *8 My soul clings to you;your right hand upholds me.9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword;they shall be a portion for jackals.11 But the king shall rejoice in God;all who swear by for the mouths of liars will be stopped.* #### The Day of the Lord *2 Blow a trumpet in Zion;sound an alarm on my holy mountain!Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near,2 a day of darkness and gloom,a day of clouds and thick darkness!Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before,nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.* *3 Fire devours before them,and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them,but behind them a desolate wilderness,and nothing escapes them.4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses,and like war horses they run.5 As with the rumbling of chariots,they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle.* *6 Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale.7 Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way;they do not swerve from their paths.8 They do not jostle one another;each marches in his path;they burst through the weapons and are not halted.9 They leap upon the city,they run upon the walls,they climb up into the houses,they enter through the windows like a thief.* *10 The earth quakes before them;the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened,and the stars withdraw their shining.11 The Lord utters his voice before his army,for his camp is exceedingly great; he who executes his word is powerful. For the day of the Lord is great and very awesome;who can endure it?Return to the Lord* *12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart,with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;* *and he relents over disaster.* *14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly;16 gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room,and the bride her chamber.* *17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord,and make not your heritage a reproach,a byword among the nations.[a]Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”* #### My Soul Thirsts for You #### A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. *63 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you;my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,my lips will praise you.4 So I will bless you as long as I live;in your name I will lift up my hands.* *5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.* *9 But those who seek to destroy my life shall go down into the depths of the earth;10 they shall be given over to the power of the sword; they shall be a portion for jackals.11 But the king shall rejoice in God; all who swear by him shall exult, for the mouths of liars will be stopped.* #### Scripture for the Day: Matthew 6:1-21 #### Giving to the Needy *6 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.* *2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.* *The Lord's Prayer* *5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.* *7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:* *“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.[a] 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done,[b] on earth as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread,[c] 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.[d]14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.* #### Fasting *16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.* #### Lay Up Treasures in Heaven *19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[e] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.* #### Reading for Reflection: *Dorothy Sayers writes that to make the Easter story into something that neither startles, shocks, terrifies, nor excites is “to crucify the Son of God afresh.” Certainly that would have been unthinkable for Jesus’ first followers, who experienced it firsthand: the heady excitement of his entry into Jerusalem, the traitorous cunning of Judas and the guilty recognition of their own cowardice, the terror of his slow suffocation, and finally the disarming wonder of an empty grave and a living body resurrected from the dead.* ​ *As for us, his latter-day disciples, few would deny the magnitude or drama of these events. But how many of us embrace their pain and promise? How many of us, even at Easter, give Christ’s death and resurrection any more attention than the weather?* ​ *To observe Lent is to strike at the root of such complacency. Lent (literally “springtime”) is a time of preparation, a time to return to the desert where Jesus spent forty trying days readying for his ministry. He allowed himself to be tested, and if we are serious about following him, we will do the same.* ​ *First popularized in the fourth century, Lent is traditionally associated with penitence, fasting, almsgiving, and prayer. It is time for “giving things up” balanced by “giving to” those in need. Yet whatever else it may be, Lent should never be morose—an annual ordeal during which we begrudgingly forgo a handful of pleasures. Instead, we ought to approach Lent as an opportunity, not a requirement. After all, it is meant to be the church’s springtime, a time when, out of the darkness of sin’s winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges. No wonder one liturgy refers to it as “this joyful season.”* ​ *Put another way, Lent is the season in which we ought to be surprised by joy. Our self-sacrifices serve no purpose unless, by laying aside this or that desire, we are able to focus on our heart’s deepest longing: unity with Christ. In him—in his suffering and death, his resurrection and triumph—we find our truest joy.* ​ *Such joy is costly, however. It arises from the horror of our sin, which crucified Christ. This is why Meister Eckhart points out that those who have the hardest time with Lent are the “god people.” Most of us are willing to give up a thing or two; we may also admit our need for renewal. But to die with Christ?* ​ *Spiritual masters often refer to a kind of “dread,” the nagging sense that we have missed something important and have been somehow untrue—to ourselves, to others, to God. Lent is a good time to confront the source of that feeling. It is a time to let go of excuses for failings and shortcomings; a time to stop hanging on to whatever shreds of goodness we perceive in ourselves; a time to ask God to show us what we really look like. Finally, it is a time to face up to the personal role each of us plays in prolonging Christ’s agony at Golgotha. As Richard John Neuhaus (paraphrasing John Donne) advises, “Send not to know by whom the nails were driven; they were driven by you, by me.”* ​ *And yet our need for repentance cannot erase the good news that Christ overcame all sin. His resurrection frees us from ourselves. His empty tomb turns our attention away from all that is wrong with us and with the world, and spurs us on to experience the abundant life he promises. (Bread and Wine; Readings for Lent and Easter, The Plow Publishing house)* #### Reflection and Listening: silent and written #### Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself #### Song for the Week: Jesus I My Cross Have Taken *Jesus, I my cross have taken,* *All to leave and follow Thee.* *Destitute, despised, forsaken,* *Thou from hence my all shall be.* *Perish every fond ambition,* *All I’ve sought or hoped or known.* *Yet how rich is my condition!* *God and heaven are still my own.* *Let the world despise and leave me,* *They have left my Savior, too.* *Human hearts and looks deceive me;* *Thou art not, like them, untrue.* *O while Thou dost smile upon me,* *God of wisdom, love, and might,* *Foes may hate and friends disown me,* *Show Thy face and all is bright.* *Man may trouble and distress me,* *’Twill but drive me to Thy breast.* *Life with trials hard may press me;* *Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.* *Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me* *While Thy love is left to me;* *Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me,* *Were that joy unmixed with Thee.* *Go, then, earthly fame and treasure,* *Come disaster, scorn and pain* *In Thy service, pain is pleasure,* *With Thy favor, loss is gain* *I have called Thee Abba Father,* *I have stayed my heart on Thee* *Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;* *All must work for good to me.* *Soul, then know thy full salvation* *Rise o’er sin and fear and care* *Joy to find in every station,* *Something still to do or bear.* *Think what Spirit dwells within thee,* *Think what Father’s smiles are thine,* *Think that Jesus died to win thee,* *Child of heaven, canst thou repine.* *Haste thee on from grace to glory,* *Armed by faith, and winged by prayer.* *Heaven’s eternal days before thee,* *God’s own hand shall guide us there.* *Soon shall close thy earthly mission,* *Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,* *Hope shall change to glad fruition,* *Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.* ### Closing Prayer: *O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in trust shall be our strength: by the power of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer)*