Psalm 51

Ps 51:1-4
Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity
And cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions,
And my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, I have sinned
And done what is evil in Your sight,
So that You are justified when You speak
And blameless when You judge.

I was meditating on this passage the other day. I was drawn to these words, “the greatness of Your compassion” and they brought the image of a tsunami like wave of compassion moving toward me, but when it hit, rather than leaving destruction, it cleansed and washed away my sin.

Telling Myself Good News

In our reading through Galatians, we were asked to say to ourselves the “gospel” that Paul is reminding the Galatians of. Here is what I told myself from Galatians 1:3,4:

“Grace and Peace! Grace which is a blessing to your spirit and Peace . . . soul peace. Grace that comes through Jesus, who gave himself willingly for you. Grace! Jesus gave himself willingly for you . . . to buy you! To buy you back! To rescue you from darkness, to save you from being condemned, from being condemned before the Father, from being condemned before those whom you hurt, from being guilty before the one who would devour your soul.

This grace that brings you peace with God. Peace within yourself, peace with those around you! Peace! In your soul.”

Make this soul sing

Thanks to my friend, Casey at “Faraway, So Close” for posting this video. The song seems particularly meaningful to me at this moment in my life. I feel the weight of my inability to be all that I need to be. I need to “fit”, I need to be made “clean”, and I need to feel my “soul sing”

“Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing”

I hopy you will enjoy the video as I did. It’s U2 performing the song Yahweh in Chicago.

Yahweh lyrics

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

Shadow proves the Sunshine

I love this song. It describes so much of where I am and the feeling that things just aren’t the way they are supposed to be. I could wonder, “where is God in all this” when the trouble seems so big, but then if the trouble is the shadow of something out of place, something that is blocking the sun, well, that tells me where God is. He’s where He is supposed to be.

Isn’t the fact that I can judge that there is something wrong the same as seeing the shadow and the light that reveals it?

O, Shine on me!

The Shadow Proves The Sunshine
by Switchfoot

Sunshine, won’t you be my mother
Sunshine, come and help me sing
My heart is darker than these oceans
My heart is frozen underneath

We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight,
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the break of day light where
The shadow proves the sunshine

Oh Lord, why did you forsake me?
Oh Lord, don’t be far away away
Storm clouds gathering beside me
Please Lord, don’t look the other way

Crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the break of day light were
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Yeah Yeah, shine on me

Crooked souls trying to stay up straight
Dry eyes in the pouring rain
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Two scared little runaways
Hold fast to the break of day light were
The shadow proves the sunshine
The shadow proves the sunshine

Yeah Yeah, shine on me

Shine on me,
Let my shadows prove the sunshine

dare you to move

I have really been enjoying this song of late. Great reminder that the answer to our biggest problem is forgiveness. We can’t give it to ourselves. But there is someone who offers it right where we need it.

“I Dare You To Move” by Switchfoot

“Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone’s here
Everyone’s here
Everybody’s watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?

I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before

Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be

I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened”

Maybe redemption has stories to tell
maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here

I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened”