Looking for a special way to observe the season of Lent? You are invited to spend 40 Days with the Psalms. This is the title of our Holy Trinity Lenten prayer booklet and it will be available behind each seat in the church and on tables in the lower lobby and narthex on Sunday, Feb. 23. The booklet features psalms assigned for reading in the morning, at noontime and in the evening over the course of forty days. So if you begin on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 26, you will have read through the entire Psalter, consisting of 150 psalms, by Easter Sunday.
I designed this booklet for my own personal use and have been using it every day since June. The psalms I assigned to the morning are those in which praise and thanksgiving to God, for who he is and what he has done, are a prominent feature. I find this is a great way to begin my day. The psalms assigned for midday reading are those which acknowledge God as the source of wisdom, righteousness and salvation, and remind me of my need for him – something I find helpful as I begin each afternoon. At the end of the day, psalms which petition the Lord for protection, remedy, forgiveness or comfort are assigned, so that I close my day looking to him for those things which only he can provide and surrender to him my shortcomings, fears and deep disappointments.
The Psalms are now a part of my life and phrases from them have found their way into my prayers. They provide me with a right understanding of who God is, in all his majesty and power, as the one to whom I should take all my problems and from whom I should expect a response. In the Gospels, Jesus quotes the Psalms more often than any other book in the Old Testament and in the letters of the New Testament, the Psalms are quoted more often, also. Clearly the Psalms were on the lips and running through the mind of Jesus and his followers – an incentive for us to make them a part of our daily prayer discipline.
To highlight our booklet and to encourage its use every day throughout the season of Lent, we will hold a Psalm-A-Thon on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in the church. If you have never participated in a Psalm-A-Thon, consider doing so this year. Here is what you need to know. We will begin at 2pm in the church and read all the way through the Psalms. It will take about four hours, so feel free to drop in at any time between 2pm and 6pm and join us, even for a short while. And anyone who is present when we finish can join Gil and me as we go for dinner at the Station for a “Psalm-A-Thon Completion” celebration!
So dates to remember!
- 40 Days with the Psalms Booklet – available at Holy Trinity, Sunday, Feb. 23
- Psalm-A-Thon on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2-6pm in the church
- Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 7pm in the church
