Gathered breath

Saturday in the Fifth Week of Lent

How shall we sing the Lord’s song
upon an alien soil?
Psalm 137:4

Outside all is grey and quiet. No traffic or hustle. Even my usual squirrel companion, who most mornings is busily visible outside my window, is absent. The landscape seems almost alien. As if the world is holding its breath.

Most years, somewhere along the way, I also find the Lenten landscape to be alien. This year the journey has taken so many twists and turns that I am often at a loss how to describe where I am. And now the way is about to spiral again, as we intentionally enter into the sacred space of loss. How can we sing the Lord’s song in this time?

There is a song to sing. More than one. A song of lament. A song of hope. A song of longing. And, yes, a song of joy. We hold our breath in preparation. We gather within us the spiritual gifts that God has given us in order to be able to sing love into the world.



 Image by Constanze Riechert-Kurtze from Pixabay