God’s Steadfast Love Endures
AM Psalm 95*, 22 • PM Psalm 40:1-14 (15-19), 54
Lam. 3:1-9, 19-33 • 1 Pet. 1:10-20
John 13:36-38 [AM] • John 19:38-42 [PM]
* for the Invitatory
On this day known as Good Friday, when we recall Jesus’ crucifixion and death, we have a reading from Lamentations which also seems to speak to our current times, when much of the world is living in social and physical isolation.
He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has put heavy chains on me...he has blocked my ways with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. (Lam.3:7 & 9)
I don't believe that He (God) is truly the source of this despair, but that may be our interpretation of the situation at such times when we feel alone—that we are even separated from God. I admit that I have certainly felt “walled in” and “blocked” in this time of global upheaval—but perhaps the greater message to take away from this scripture is revealed in Lamentations 3: 22 & 24:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end... “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
Emmanuel. God is with us. Jesus—whose death we remember on this day—is and always has been with us, even in these hours when his earthly body lay in a rock-hewn tomb, behind a stone. Even in that period of isolation, God was with us, to be revealed again in glory on that first Easter Morning. May we continue to feel God’s presence and steadfast love and to have hope in him whose love never ceases.
Written by Shannon Dillard Mitchell
Shannon is grateful for the friends and family who keep me connected and for St. Paul’s dedication to online ministries. Thanks be to God!