Words upon Our Hearts – March 20

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 119:145-176; PM Psalm 128, 129, 130
Exod. 7:8-24; 2 Cor. 2:14-3:6; Mark 10:1-16

When I was a third or fourth grader, I had to memorize a poem for an English project. We had a Golden Book version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poetry that Mom would read to my sisters and me from time to time. This project had parameters that exceeded the resources we readily had at home. So, my mom went to Bog Sted, the local bookstore in Cloverdale, and bought a book titled “Piping Down the Valleys Wild”. This compilation was for adults and children alike, as a primer to expose readers to the who’s who of poetry.

There was surely gnashing of teeth in the deliberation process to select a poem. I dragged my feet. My mom reminded me of the deadline, as the assignment was more than a show-and-tell exercise. Memorization and recitation were the other pieces of this. In the end, I chose “Sea Fever” by British poet laureate John Masefield. Even now, 40 years later, the words of that poem are exhilarating to me:

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and the grey dawn breaking…

I learned then, and it is true for me now, that memorization is not easy for me. I can hold the spirit of something within me. Repeating verbatim is excruciating…for I doubt myself and fear I will get something wrong. And yet, I can hear the words of “Sea Fever” in my head. I recall my mom’s voice reciting them and coaching me along. Those words are some of the many phrases written clearly on my heart and gently etched in my memory. Do you have creative works indelibly marked upon your essence?

I was taken back to this long memory as I read the epistle appointed for this morning, an excerpt of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. He pens this note to the church in Corinth to ensure they are following the guidance of those who truly follow the mission and ministry of Jesus. As he positions himself as a source of authenticity, he rhetorically asks if he needs letters of recommendation to lend him credence. And then he says this: “You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.” (3:2-3)

When I read these words this morning, I think about the words of the prophet Jeremiah we heard in worship on Sunday from our Old Testament lesson:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:33-34)

I love the line: “I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Friends, we keep reading and studying Holy Scripture so that God’s word will be written upon our hearts. We will live out the words of God’s love. We will do more than say the prescriptions. We will act and speak and become people of sincerity, “sent from God and standing in his presence” (2 Cor 2:17). It is a big job, I know. And that is why we study and pray and wrestle with our faith. It does not come easily. As the apostle Paul reminds us, we are not competent in ourselves to accomplish this. “Our competence is from God who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (5b-6)

My prayers are with you this Lent,

Katherine+

Reflection and Challenge

What are the words that sit as indelible marks upon your soul? What other words do you wish to be added? As you read the Bible, make note of the words that you want to keep on the tip of your tongue. Write them down on slips of paper. Keep them in your pocket. Put them under your pillow. Let those words shape your prayers with God this week.