Stormy weather - March 27
Today’s Readings: Psalm 137:1-6, 144; Jer. 31:27-34; Rom. 11:25-36; John 11:28-44
O Lord, what are we that you should care for us?
mere mortals that you should think of us?
We are like a puff of wind;
our days are like a passing shadow.
Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down;
touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
Hurl the lightning and scatter them;
shoot out your arrows and rout them.
Stretch out your hand from on high;
rescue me and deliver me from the great waters,
from the hand of foreign peoples (Psalm 144:3-7)
After the springtime severe storms of the past ten days, this psalm calls out and strikes me in a more profound way. The weather radio went off Thursday in the early afternoon. Sam and I were watching James Spann, the meteorologist on one of our local channels. If there is severe weather coming your way, you want Spann calling the shots as he sees them on the radar. Sporting a dress shirt and suspenders, he can look at a map and name the localest of the local hubs. For example, while tracking storm circulation and citing cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, Spann could also help you geolocate the site by saying, “at this corner, there is that mom-and-pop gas station that used to be a Conoco, but now is a Speedway, just across from Hester’s Table, that serves a mean barbeque plate.” Amusement at the weather forecaster’s entertainment ended when the sirens blared through our neighborhood and we saw that the severe weather polygon included our neighborhood.
As we sat hunkered down in our crawlspace, with kids cuddled up in blankets, with stuffed animals and Legos, with two dogs a cat roaming around us, life felt beautiful and fragile. I don’t always think of my own existence in terms of the latter, and on Thursday, I definitely felt vulnerable. The psalmist writes in Psalm 144 of being “like a puff of wind” and time “like a passing shadow” – fleeting, at the whim of nature. Reading of God coming down from the heavens to touch the mountains feels terrifying after seeing the storm damage of Oak Mountain, Roebuck Springs, and Eagle Point, among others in the Birmingham area. Hale County and other spots around the state were damaged as well. The lyrical language of hurling lightning bolts and scattering the people rings all too true as I remember how a friend texted me about her brother driving on the interstate and with one of Thursday’s tornados in his rearview mirror.
We are like a puff of wind, and our days are like a passing shadow. Let us lift our faces to God and open our eyes to how fragile our lives truly are. Let us lift our voices to say thank you that we are cared for by the Lord, whether we sustained damage or missed the brunt of a fierce tornado. Let us lift our hearts to the God who rescues us and delivers us from the great waters. And then, let us offer our whole selves to God – singing songs of deliverance, resilience, and faithfulness, and extending a healing, helping hand to those who have endured losses this week.
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
How do you respond when faced with your mortality? And then, what do you do next? Tell someone? Ignore it? Laugh? Cry? Reflect and pray?
Daily Challenge
Psalm 144 speaks of God as training our hands to respond to needs around us – though couched in the language of war in the psalm. How might your hands be needed in response to the needs of our community this weekend, and into the future. Research some ways you can lend your hands (or your help) to those who are struggling. Then, share your findings with a friend, inviting them to help, too.