the song, day 5

Come to Stillness:

Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer:

O Lord, as we spend time with you and your Word this day, let us hear the words of your Ancient Song; and let us listen closely for the Song of God that rises in our hearts. In Christ. Amen. (JLB)

Psalm for the Week: Psalm 100

Scripture for the Day: Exodus 15:1-21

Reading for Reflection:

When he awoke, the song was there.  Its melody beckoned and begged him to sing it.  It hung upon the wind and settled in the meadows where he walked.  He knew its lovely words and could have sung it all, but feared to sing a song whose harmony was far too perfect for human ear to understand.  And still at midnight it stirred him to awareness, and with its haunting melody it drew him with a curious mystery to stand before an open window.  In rhapsody it played among the stars.  It rippled through Andromeda and deepened Vega’s hues.  It swirled in heavy strains from galaxy to galaxy and gave him back his very fingerprint.  “Sing the Song!” the heavens seemed to cry.  “We never could have been without the melody that you alone can sing.” (The Singer by Calvin Miller)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

Song for the Week: Thy Mercy, My God

Thy mercy, my God, is the theme of my song,
The joy of my heart. and the boast of my tongue;
Thy free grace alone, from the first to the last,
Hath won my affections, and bound my soul fast.

Without Thy sweet mercy I could not live here;
Sin would reduce me to utter despair;
But, through Thy free goodness, my spirits revive,
And He that first made me still keeps me alive.

Thy mercy is more than a match for my heart,
Which wonders to feel its own hardness depart;
Dissolved by Thy goodness, I fall to the ground,
And weep to the praise of the mercy I’ve found.

Great Father of mercies, Thy goodness I own,
And the covenant love of Thy crucified Son;
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.
All praise to the Spirit, Whose whisper divine
Seals mercy, and pardon, and righteousness mine.

Closing Prayer

Everything in all of creation, O Lord, is a unique song of yours. And when we sing our song—that song that is buried deeply within each of us—we are indeed being who we were made to be. We are in harmony (shalom) with the voice of our Maker. Help us to sing our song (Your song) clearly and fully this day. In the name of Jesus. Amen. (JLB)