Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Reading:  John 11:1-45
Commemoration of John Donne (1572-1631), English poet and cleric

"Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"  John 11:37

Like the people mourning with Mary, sister of Lazarus, we often have very specific ways we want to see God at work in the world. Why doesn't God just intervene and stop war? We pray and pray and a friend dies of cancer anyway. Why didn't God just heal her and let her live? A poem by Dorothy Sayers, friend and colleague of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis:

            "…Hard it is, very hard,
            To travel up the slow and stony road
            To Calvary, to redeem mankind; far better
            To make but one sceptered miracle,
            Lean through the cloud, lift the right hand of power
            And with a sudden lightning smite the world perfect.
            Yet this was not God's way, who had the power,
            But set it by, choosing the cross, the thorn,
            The sorrowful wounds. Something there is, perhaps,
            That power destroys in passing, something supreme,
            To whose great value in the eyes of God
            That cross, that thorn, and those five wounds bear                            witness."
                                                (The Devil To Pay)

Most loving God, your ways are not our ways; calm our hearts and soothe our questing minds with your wisdom, Amen


  • Memorize a scripture verse.

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