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"In peace let us pray to the Lord."
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A Greeting
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
(Psalm 51:15)
A Small Verse
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan
and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.
(Luke 4:1)
A Reading
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing spirit.
(Psalm 51:10-12)
Music
Meditative Verse
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love.
(Psalm 51:1)
A Reflection
One morning in early January, as we lined up to be counted before beginning work in the courtyard, we were instead marched outside and ordered into a covered truck. It was the first time that we had left the compound. No announcement was made as to our destination, but I had an idea of where we were headed. A few minutes later we emerged from the truck in a place that I had first seen when I was on the island in 1962: the lime quarry … We assumed it was another way of enforcing discipline ... an attempt to crush our spirits. But those first few weeks at the quarry had the opposite effect on us. Despite blistered and bleeding hands, we were invigorated. I much preferred being outside in nature, being able to see grass and trees, to observe birds flitting overhead, to feel the wind blowing in from the sea. Within a few days, we were walking to the quarry and [could] smell the eucalyptus blossoms, spot the occasional springbok or kudu grazing in the distance. Although some of the men regarded the march as drudgery, I never did.
- from Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela
Verse for the Day
You desire truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
(Psalm 51:6)
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In her Saturday prayers on Twitter, ELCIC National Bishop Susan Johnson invites us to deepen the connection we can make between our prayers, our desire to be disciples, and our capacity to meet the suffering of the world. Over the next forty days, we will feature one of these prayers each day (and sometimes linger on one for a few days). The first tweet on Saturdays is always the invitational, “In peace, let us pray to the Lord.” What do we pray for? In today’s song, we hear ‘Ukuthula’, a longing call for the peace that comes after the passion of Jesus, the peace that flows from salvation. It is also the deep peace of a restored world. The hand gestures of the singers reflect the changing words of longing for 'gratefulness', 'faith', 'victory' and 'comfort'. In the coming days, we will experience all of these. Peace in silence is where we find ourselves today, in our own wildernesses, and peace in the world is where we are journeying in hope. During this time, we will follow the stories of prophets old and new, from whom we hear a call to justice and who provide us with inspiration. Some will be well-known, like Nelson Mandela, and others less so. Mandela spent eighteen prison years at Robben Island, off the coast of South Africa near Cape Town. In the reflection above, we hear him describe walking from inside the prison to outdoors where he was required to labour in hot sun at a lime quarry. Instead of being crushed in spirit, he is deepened in his resolve to make change "for all humanity". Later as President, Mandela would initiate a Truth and Reconciliation Committee that confronted the legacy of apartheid through exchanges of listening, repentance and in some cases, forgiveness. Lent begins with repentance. In the cry of the Psalmist and in the cry of the singers, we hear the request for God to make a clean and ‘right’ heart within us. We are asking for a return to the wholeness we had when we were created by God. What does that look like for you? What is the vision you carry for a new and right world, both within yourself and in the communities you care about? Together we will put one foot in front of the other and start the journey. Jesus walks with us into the wilderness, and indeed leads us on the way.
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It is possible to virtually tour the inside of Robben Island prison.
This link brings you to the threshold between inside and out.
In the next forty days we will dwell with people inside the prisons of
their circumstances, and envision with them something else.
Click the link, then follow the arrows or click and drag to navigate.
https://goo.gl/maps/Q57ktLPKXj92
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LC† Journey for Justice is a project of
Lutherans Connect / Lutheran Campus Ministry Toronto,
supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
Join us on Facebook and find us on Instagram. Follow us @LutConnect
