Easter Sunday – April 4, 2010

Forty days ago (not counting Sundays!) I shared with our congregation an idea for an observance of the season of Lent, reading the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) every day for the duration of the holy season. Over the next fifty days we will give attention to life lived in the light of God’s triumph over death. The season reaches its climax with the celebration of Pentecost; this year on Sunday, May 23.

So, here is an Eastertide idea. Read through the Psalms. These are, as Thomas Merton pointed out, penned by people “who knew who God was.” In what Dietrich Bonhoeffer has called “the prayer book of the Bible,” we find a collection of heartfelt prayers.

Two approaches intrigue me. First, try praying your way through the entire collection of 150 psalms between now and then. Three psalms a day over fifty days will cover it.

Or, second, take the long ago suggestion of the early church father, John Chrysostom. He proposed that a Christian person – if push came to shove – would only need to know the 63rd Psalm and to pray it daily in order to build a flourishing life of faith How might it be to try and pray that psalm at an appointed time every day between now and Pentecost?

This is simply an idea for people growing in the ways of faith, learning more of what it means to listen for the voice of God that speaks through the timeless words of scripture. If you wish to send along feedback, thoughts, or reflections – not to mention ideas that have dawned on you or faith-deepening experiences that you have had with any of this – I would love to hear from you. Know that there is a receptive brother in faith who is praying along with you on this side of the email.

Peace to you,

Stephen H. Cook
Pastor
First Baptist Church
871 Main Street
Danville, VA 24541
Phone: 434.793.8331
E-mail: s.cook@fbcdanville.com