Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

³ For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment. ⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. ⁹ Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right^[b] spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.” Psalm 51:1-11

“Create in me a clean heart, O G-d, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free spirit.”  Psalm 51 is one of the penitential psalms. Psalm 51 is often called the “Miserere” which is the opening word of the psalm in the Latin translation. It is a personal awareness and reminder of our collective wrongdoing and penitence. Verse 17, which reads “The sacrifice acceptable to G-d is a broken spirit” is a wonderful acknowledgment of human sinfulness which is why it is appointed for Ash Wednesday.  We are reminded that G-d does not ask a whole lot that is out of our reach, or responsibility – G-d simply wants each one of us to look into our hearts, and realize how broken we all are – and how much we all need G-d’s love, mercy and Grace.

Pastor Dave

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ² Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; ³ Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

⁴ There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. ⁵ God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. ⁶ The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. ⁷ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

⁸ Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. ⁹ He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. ¹¹ The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46:1-11 

“G-d is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” reads psalm 46.  Martin Luther paraphrased this line to read “A Mighty Fortress is Our G-d.”  How does this read to a contemporary audience today? What might a mighty fortress be for us today? Where do we go to take refuge from this world? From what do we draw strength? For many we might say the following: “A mighty bank account is our G-d”, or “A mighty mansion is our G-d”. To take refuge is something is to put our complete trust in that thing. Psalm 46 is stating, from the beginning, that G-d is the one whom we are to put our complete trust. What does the Psalmist say then that we are not to fear? It is not a trivial thing, because what verses 2 and 3 describe is nothing less than overwhelming, cataclysmic disaster. Where did we turn in the waning hours of the September 11, 2001 disaster?  Where did many seek refuge following the Katrina and Wilma hurricanes, or the most recent tornadoes and floods? Again I ask, where do we go to take refuge when all around us is falling apart?

Pastor Dave