Lent E Retreat
Psalm
24
1 The earth is the LORD's, and
everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he
founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may
ascend the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4
Those who have clean hands and a pure heart,
who do not put their trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.
5 They will receive blessing
from the LORD
and vindication from God their Savior.
6 Such
is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.
“Who
shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no
one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in
the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent
fathers are all dead- as if innocence had ever been- and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready,
having each of us chosen wronl, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of
pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak and involved. But there is no one
but us. There never has been.
–
Annie Dillard
Take some time reading the first six verses of Psalm 24. This was a psalm for pilgrims preparing
to enter Jerusalem, the holy city – the site of the Temple and the place where devout Jews went on pilgrimage to worship
and be renewed. Part of the realization we have when we prepare to enter a holy place or put ourselves
in a holy frame of mind can be a sense of our own unworthiness. This can be a distraction if we let it.
The good news of our faith is that worthiness itself is a preposterous notion! God’s love,
mercy and compassion and the new life we’ve been given in Christ Jesus make worthiness absolutely unnecessary.
·
Recall a time when you were
on a sacred journey – who or what were you seeking? What happened?
·
Where, for you, is a holy
or divne place?
·
Is the notion of ‘worthiness’
something you give undue attention to?
· Spend some time with verse 4 above – can you indentify ‘false
gods’ in your life?
·
How does it feel to know
that you are the one chosen to stand in the presence of God, to do the work of God’s kingdom?
Lent E Retreat
Psalm
24
1 The earth is the LORD's, and
everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he
founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.
3 Who may
ascend the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4
Those who have clean hands and a pure heart,
who do not put their trust in an idol
or swear by a false god.
5 They will receive blessing
from the LORD
and vindication from God their Savior.
6 Such
is the generation of those who seek him,
who seek your face, God of Jacob.
“Who
shall ascend the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? There is no
one but us. There is no one to send, nor a clean hand, nor a pure heart on the face of the earth, nor in
the earth, but only us, a generation comforting ourselves with the notion that we have come at an awkward time, that our innocent
fathers are all dead- as if innocence had ever been- and our children busy and troubled, and we ourselves unfit, not yet ready,
having each of us chosen wronl, made a false start, failed, yielded to impulse and the tangled comfort of
pleasures, and grown exhausted, unable to seek the thread, weak and involved. But there is no one
but us. There never has been.
–
Annie Dillard
Take some time reading the first six verses of Psalm 24. This was a psalm for pilgrims preparing
to enter Jerusalem, the holy city – the site of the Temple and the place where devout Jews went on pilgrimage to worship
and be renewed. Part of the realization we have when we prepare to enter a holy place or put ourselves
in a holy frame of mind can be a sense of our own unworthiness. This can be a distraction if we let it.
The good news of our faith is that worthiness itself is a preposterous notion! God’s love,
mercy and compassion and the new life we’ve been given in Christ Jesus make worthiness absolutely unnecessary.
·
Recall a time when you were
on a sacred journey – who or what were you seeking? What happened?
·
Where, for you, is a holy
or divne place?
·
Is the notion of ‘worthiness’
something you give undue attention to?
· Spend some time with verse 4 above – can you indentify ‘false
gods’ in your life?
·
How does it feel to know
that you are the one chosen to stand in the presence of God, to do the work of God’s kingdom?
