The Heavens Are Telling
By Phil Allard
Readings for March 1, 2024: Preparing for the Third Sunday in Lent
As I sat with today’s readings before I started writing I could not separate Psalm 19 from Haydn’s Oratorio, Creation. This Psalm was part of the libretto of the Oratorio. Hymn 409 in our Hymnal uses one of the basic musical themes from the Oratorio, but uses a distant paraphrase of this Psalm. I guess after singing for so many years I have a tune for everything. I find this Psalm to validate many of my experiences seeing God in nature.
I have spent several decades in the deserts of the American west banging on rocks, marveling at God’s creation. When I arrived in Las Vegas and started surveying the Mojave I was taken aback by the barren landscape. It took me six months to start to see what was happening there. I learned that each creosote bush sustained an island of living things in its shade. I also learned not to use creosote bush twigs as firewood. The twigs smell like a tire fire. Maybe that is why God had Moses’s bush burn but not be consumed by the fire?
Everywhere one can look proclaims the Glory of God. His handiwork is shown in all things. This is why a walk in the woods or a stroll along the shore can be a form of worship. But this is not sufficient. Starting at the seventh verse the Psalm begins to praise the law of the Lord and how that helps us on our journey.
The reading from Acts is part of the testimony of St. Stephen where he refers back to the time when Moses presented the law to the Israelites and the time when the Israelites rejected Moses in favor of false idols. St. Stephen speaks in praise of the laws but he states that the leaders of the Temple have walked away from them. This is part of the incitement that led to his martyrdom. Let this time of Lent be the time when we speak the truth, at least to ourselves. I’ll close with some quotes from the Psalm:
12 Who can tell how often he offends
Cleanse me from my secret faults.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of
My heart be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my strength and my redeemer
