Have mercy on me, Oh God according to thy steadfast love

Today we begin Lent - the preparation for the celebration of the Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For though we have sinned we are confident that God’s grace is not simply sufficient, but abundant beyond all need in bringing us not just forgiveness but a restoration to the life of Christ.

The side bar has my previous Lent and Easter posts.

Have mercy on me,
O God, according to thy steadfast love;
according to thy abundant mercy 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 thee, thee only, have I sinned,
and done that which is evil in thy sight,
so that thou art justified in thy sentence
and blameless in thy judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being;
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Fill me with joy and gladness;
let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice.

Hide thy face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart,
O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not thy holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors thy ways,
and sinners will return to thee.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.

O Lord, open thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth thy praise.
For thou hast no delight in sacrifice;
were I to give a burnt offering,
thou wouldst not be pleased.

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
broken and contrite heart,
God, thou wilt not despise.Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure;
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices,


Psalm 51 RSVCE

“I Did What It Said”

What’s the Harm explains the harm in using GPS systems.

Satellite navigation systems are a godsend to the modern driver. But the data contained in them is not perfect and should not be relied on blindly. People can get hurt.



Bo Bai

Age: 32
Bedford Hills, New York
Rental car destroyed
January 2, 2008
He followed an instruction to turn right from his GPS putting him on a train track in front of an oncoming train. The resulting accident destroyed his rental car and delayed commuters for hours. He was ticketed was to be held liable for costs.
More information

Necdet Bakimci

Gibraltar, Lincolnshire, England
1600 miles off course on delivery
July 20, 2008
He programmed his destination of the Rock of Gibraltar as he left Antakya, Turkey. But because Gibraltar is technically part of the UK, the device routed him to another Gibraltar – a shore town in England. He was 1,600 miles off course.
more information

While a GPS is better than stopping for directions, it is only a navigation aid, you have to navigate.

Remember your most important instrument is that big piece of raparound glass called a windshield - look through it!

The First Sunday of Advent

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Paul addressed the Thessalonians:

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all men, as we do to you, so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Finally, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, just as you are doing, you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 3:12 - 4:2

As the Benedict XVI pointed out in the title of his first encyclical God is Love and God calls on us to love one another.

God is, not by metaphor or analogy, but in his very essence Love. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be love one has to have another to love and it is the love of the Three Persons that is that essence. A love so great that he made mankind to share that love, and when we went astray sent the Son as a babe because God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

This is a radical Christian idea.

And because of this God calls on us to love one another as we love ourselves, so that he may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before our God and Father.

Forsaken

And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
"Eli, Eli, lama sabach-thani?" that is,


My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?


Why art thou so far from helping me,
from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry by day,
but thou dost not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.

Yet thou art holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In thee our fathers trusted; they trusted,
and thou didst deliver them.

To thee they cried, and were saved;
in thee they trusted,
and were not disappointed.

But I am a worm, and no man; scorned by men,
and despised by the people.
they make mouths at me, they wag their heads;

"He committed his cause to the LORD;
let him deliver him, let him rescue him,
for he delights in him!"

Yet thou art he who took me from the womb;
thou didst keep me safe upon my mother's breasts.

Upon thee was I cast from my birth,
and since my mother bore me thou hast been my God.

Be not far from me,
for trouble is near and there is none to help.

Many bulls encompass me, strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
They open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax, it is melted within my breast;

My strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
thou dost lay me in the dust of death.

Yea, dogs are round about me;
a company of evildoers encircle me;
they have pierced my hands and feet--

I can count all my bones-- they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my raiment they cast lots.


But thou, O LORD, be not far off!
O thou my help, hasten to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,

My life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion,
my afflicted soul from the horns of the wild oxen!

I will tell of thy name to my brethren;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee:

You who fear the LORD, praise him!
all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!

For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
and he has not hid his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.

From thee comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
May your hearts live for ever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD;
and all the families of the nations shall worship before him.

For dominion belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.

Yea, to him shall all the proud of the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and he who cannot keep himself alive.

Posterity shall serve him;

men shall tell of the Lord

to the coming generation,
and proclaim his deliverance

to a people yet unborn,

that he has wrought it.


Good Friday
Mathew 27;46 and Psalm 22 RSVCE overlapping

Ash Wednesday

In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread
till thou return to the earth,
out of which thou wast taken:

for dust thou art,
and into dust thou shalt return.




‘But now, now

– it is the Lord who speaks –

come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning.’


Let your hearts be broken,
not your garments torn,
turn to the Lord your God again,
for he is all tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger,
rich in graciousness,
and ready to relent.

Who knows if he will not turn again,
will not relent,
will not leave a blessing as he passes,
oblation and libation
for the Lord your God?


Sound the trumpet in Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn assembly,
call the people together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even the infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his bed room
and the bride her alcove.


Between vestibule and altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord,
lament.
Let them say,
‘Spare your people, the Lord!

Do not make your heritage a thing of shame,
a by word for the nations.
Why should it be said among the nations,
“Where is their God?”


’Then the Lord,
jealous on behalf of his land,

took pity on his people.



Gen 3:19, Joel 2:12 - 18