Lent 2026 Guide-DIGITAL - Flipbook - Page 25
Action in Contemplation
Gracious and compassionate God: Work within our hearts and minds to
truly identify with the cruel mistreatment of the foreigners in this land, so
that we would love them as our very own selves – Amen.
Challenge the cruel mistreatment of the foreigner by volunteering to teach
English through Plymouth's RENEW program, which serves immigrants
and refugees from several continents who now call Des Moines home.
– Scott Morrison, RENEW English Learners
Devotion 2
Inspiration
Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow,
my soul and body with grief. My life is consumed by anguish and my years
by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow
weak. – Psalm 31: 9-10
And when troubles come, there’s very little point in trying to make the math
of it all work out in our heads. It’s not a solvable problem. It’s just the reality
we live in. – Nadia Bolz-Webber, Sermon on December 14, 2025
Reflection
The Psalmist says that their enemies, neighbors, and friends are all against
them and have forgotten them. Then declares a trust in God’s deliverance
and love. This speaks about my struggle with fairness and reality. I feel like I
sit at the table of trouble. I think about worldly trouble like the war in Gaza,
or Ukraine, or personal trouble with generational trauma that affects my
loved ones in their bones. I ask, how is this trouble equitable, and when will
there be peace? Shouldn’t there be more fairness or balance in suffering? Yet
trouble is part of our reality. It is “how it is right now,” as some say. God helps
me to take a new turn, to let troubles be, and reminds me again to relinquish
my illusion of control. I do not ignore the trouble or sweep it under a rug,
but I feel what I need to feel, seek peace through curiosity and love, and ask
God to help me find a place of equanimity at the table of trouble.
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