Third Sunday In Lent (6)
O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him who alone doeth great wonders: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him that stretched out the earth above the waters: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him that made great lights: for his mercy endureth for ever:
The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:
The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:
And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever:
With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him which divided the Red sea into parts: for his mercy endureth for ever:
And made Israel to pass through the midst of it: for his mercy endureth for ever:
But overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him which led his people through the wilderness: for his mercy endureth for ever.
To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Sihon king of the Amorites: for his mercy endureth for ever:
And Og the king of Bashan: for his mercy endureth for ever:
And gave their land for an heritage: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:
And hath redeemed us from our enemies: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.
O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.
It is a one-note existence. Time has no meaning. Friends have used these words to describe a slippage in their sense of time over the last year. Perhaps that’s partly what drew me to these two of today’s readings. They both feature a nimble handling of time: in the Gospel, there is the unusual interplay of past and present, while Psalm 136 hints at eternity in its use of repetition.
In the Gospel, Jesus expresses a truth central to our understanding of the Trinity. Using language we are not accustomed to, Jesus refers to Abraham within a timeline, while placing himself—at one with God the Father, and the Holy Spirit—outside the realm of time. These words given to John suggest another: timelessness.
Those who have kept vigil with a sleepless baby, a sick child, at the bedside of a dying friend, or through trials even more personal, might relate to the idea of time being measured in breaths, or in the way light shifts in a room. Here time is measured in waves of anxiety, or joy, or in a subtle ebb and flow, from seemingly unbearable to less so.
During this global crisis, some are finding that while their experience of sorrow has deepened, so has their experience of joy—if in more subtle ways: the joy in a physically distanced encounter with an affable stranger, for instance, or in the sight of migratory visitors, or spring’s first skim of green in the yard.
In Psalm 136 the repetition, some might call it anaphora, is both comforting and insistent. Perhaps the repetition is comforting in its insistence. It happens that Anaphora also describes the section of the Eucharist that includes recalling Christ’s Passion, Resurrection and Ascension.
This process of recollection, this repetition, is so important to the practice of our faith. It can at once enhance and dissolve a sense of time passing—helping us, perhaps, to move closer towards apprehending John’s Gospel, Jesus’ words and Jesus himself: how someone can be both mortal and immortal.
In our unmooring from “ordinary life,” perhaps we can find space within to receive more fully God’s mercy, His goodness.
Heavenly Father, please open us to the spirtual fruits of Lent. Let us find nourishment in Your love, that we may perservere through the end of the pandemic and beyond.
- Alison Goodwin