In the dark night of my soul
I long for someone’s comfort and no one comes.
There is no one to call.
I imagine Jesus in the Garden praying
Until sweat became blood
And even the disciples would not wake.
This night is my garden.
When will help come?
Where is grace?
Will I be able to take one more step?
The dark night passes and no one came.
Or, perhaps Christ was here all along
Leading me into the dawn.
— Naomi Faw
Alive Now, March/April 2012
Palm Sunday, and also Passion Sunday... With populist fanfare Jesus descends from the Mount of Olives into the valley of the shadows of his death. And we too, following, make our own sharp descent into the maelstrom of the week’s intrigue. …
It is hard work, the work before us this week. If Jesus’ first followers found themselves wishing to go back to the good days before the unpleasantness began or, like us, jumping ahead to the glory they might have imagined lay ahead, like them we have to remain here for a while. For this hour, to this place, this coming trouble — this is where Jesus journeys, and all his disciples, like it or not, must journey with him.
- Thomas R. Steagald
Shadows, Darkness, and Dawn
May Christ open your eyes
that you may see the light of creation.
May Christ open your ears
that you may hear the song of the earth.
May Christ open your heart
that you may give and receive love.
- Sam Hamilton-Poore
Earth Gospel: A Guide to Prayer for God’s Creation
Self-denial means knowing only Christ,
and no longer oneself.
It means seeing only Christ,
who goes ahead of us,
and no longer the path
that is too difficult for us.
Again, self-denial is saying only:
He goes ahead of us; hold fast to him.
- - Dietrich Bonhoeffer
God of wilderness and water,
your Son was baptized and tempted as we are.
Guide us through this season,
that we may not avoid struggle,
but open ourselves to blessing,
through the cleansing depths of repentance
and the heaven-rending words of the Spirit.
In a culture built on consumption -- especially of food -- it is easy to forget the poor that Jesus cared so much about. We get caught up in the acquiring, buying and eating. Yet as wierd as it sounds, the more stuff we consume, the more our spirits wither and starve.
