Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Psalm 71 verses 1 through 3:
1 In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
let me never be ashamed.
2 In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free;
incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe;
you are my crag and my stronghold.
As we prepare for this coming Sunday, we continue to have on our minds the horrific events of last Sunday’s shooting in First Baptist Sutherland Springs. The attack of worshipers at church is an especially heinous act of evil, and it disturbs me to wonder whether evil is growing more bold in these unsettling times. That is a disturbing thought.
Today’s Gospel Lesson is the story of John the Baptist’s beheading — another especially disturbing image which I have spared us from reading. And then there is the Psalm, which I offer as the meditation for us all to consider as a word of prayer amidst the unsettling events of the week and world. “Be my strong rock,” the psalmist asks of God, “a castle to keep me safe.”
As we all prepare for Sunday, I hope that we will plan to come to church with boldness. We must not allow evil to deter us from worship. We must not allow the world to dismay us with its evil. We must not be afraid.
“A Mighty Fortress is Our God” we sang two Sundays ago on Reformation Sunday. God is still our mighty fortress, our strong rock, our castle, “a bulwark never failing”.
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