THIRD FRIDAY IN LENT

Welcome to a Lent daybook for these 40 days of prayer. You can see all the previous Lent daybook 2019 posts here.

Is this your first time to practice Lent? Here's a simple introduction.

Look: Cain and Abel, Titian

Listen: “Adagio for Strings, Op. 11” from Barber: Cello Concerto - Medea Suite - Adagio for Strings, Samuel Barber, Royal Scottish National Orchestra

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Read: Psalm 69; Jeremiah 5:1-9; Romans 2:25-3:18; John 5:30-47

Excerpts:

“You know my reproach, and my shame and my dishonor; my foes are all known to you. Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Let their own table before them become a snare; and when they are at peace, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually. Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be a desolation; let no one dwell in their tents. For they persecute him whom you have struck down, and they recount the pain of those you have wounded. Add to them punishment upon punishment; may they have no acquittal from you. Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

But I am afflicted and in pain; let your salvation, O God, set me on high!”

*

”Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her. Though they say, “As the Lord lives,” yet they swear falsely. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.”

*

”For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

*

”For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me.”

— Psalm 69:19-29 * Jeremiah 5:1-3 * Romans 2:9b-18 * John 5:36b-43a (ESV)

Sunday Scripture readings are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary (Year C). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the Book of Common Prayer (Year 1) with the Psalm for the Morning Office.

Pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.”

— The Lord's Prayer

Do:

Traditionally, the Church sets aside Lenten Fridays, the weekday of Jesus’ crucifixion, to abstain from eating meat or to a partial (one meal) or whole fast (24 hours without solid food). You can read more about this tradition and its spiritual implications here, here, and here.

*Spend 15 minutes in silence.*

**Reflect prayerfully on the previous week.**

The Hebrew word selah (see-lah) is repeated throughout the Psalms. The definition of this word is probably a musical reference, calling for a break in the singing of the Psalm. The Amplified Bible (AMP) adds the explanatory phrase, "pause, and calmly think of that!", each time the word Selah shows up in the Psalms.

Today, take some time to be silent, without any noise or distraction, to pause and calmly think about the weeks of Lent leading up to today. There’s no need to strive for a profound insight during this time. Just be still. If you begin to sense thoughts or feelings bubbling up in the quiet, notice them without trying to analyze. You might breathe out one phrase each time you're tempted to become distracted. Try something like the “Jesus Prayer”. When you feel distracted or anxious breathe in “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God” and exhale “have mercy on me the sinner”. Another option is to echo the psalmist: "Selah, pause and calmly think of that".

Trust God as your Heavenly Father to be present with you through Christ and by His Spirit. End your time with a simple prayer or chorus. Go about your day and into the weekend with peace.

(See all Lent daybook posts from 2018 here.)

Lent Daybook, 15: Nobody's Living Right