Wednesday 22 March 2023

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Today is Wednesday the 22nd of March, in the fourth week of Lent.

The Choir of Royal Holloway sings, ‘One in Christ’:

‘When we were still far off you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living you declared your love and opened the gate of glory.’

Today’s reading is from the Prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 49:8-15

Thus says the Lord:

In a time of favour I have answered you,

on a day of salvation I have helped you;

I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,

to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages;

saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out’,

to those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’

They shall feed along the ways,

on all the bare heights shall be their pasture;

they shall not hunger or thirst,

neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

for he who has pity on them will lead them,

and by springs of water will guide them.

And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

and my highways shall be raised up.

Lo, these shall come from far away,

and lo, these from the north and from the west,

and these from the land of Syene.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

break forth, O mountains, into singing!

For the Lord has comforted his people,

and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me,

my Lord has forgotten me.’

Can a woman forget her nursing-child,

or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these may forget,

yet I will not forget you.

You might start your prayer with this passage by stepping back from its details and instead noticing its tone, the kind of feelings that it stirs up in you. Did you hear it as encouraging, challenging, threatening, comforting? Or do you find yourself responding in some other way?

God starts here by insisting to those who hear these words: “I have answered you”, “I have helped you”. What can you point to in your own experience that bears out the truth in those words?

The one who hears this encouragement is then asked to pass it on to others. Are there ways in which you’re able to encourage and help others as God has encouraged and helped you?

As the passage is read again, notice how God responds to feelings that I have been overlooked or forgotten.

How do you want, in your turn, to respond to all that you’ve heard from God in this time of prayer? Take a moment or two now to speak to God in whatever way seems good to you.

You have given all to me

To you, Lord, I return it

Everything is Yours

Do with it what you will

Give me only your love and your grace

That is enough for me.

Amen.