Oh echoes of Ecclesiastes here! We are but grass, our lives are fleeting. Yet G-d has been there from generation to generation, before and after our lives, setting them as part of a larger narrative.
When I was in my first parish, an older woman had gone through a time of terrible losses. We talked about how difficult that grief had been, and how hopeless she had felt. I asked what had helped? She said that one night she had gone outside, and looked up at the sky. It was a stunningly clear night, and the darkness above her was filled with stars. “And then I saw that what happened to me, to the people I had loved, was a small part of something so much bigger. And I knew I could keep going.”
“So teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” (v. 12)
Psalm 90 (NRSV) A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling-place
in all generations.
2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust,
and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
4 For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are consumed by your anger;
by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8 You have set our iniquities before you,
our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
our years come to an end like a sigh.
10 The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
11 Who considers the power of your anger?
Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
12 So teach us to count our days
that we may gain a wise heart.
13 Turn, O Lord! How long?
Have compassion on your servants!
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
16 Let your work be manifest to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.
17 Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!
Pray…
from the BAS: Eternal Father of our mortal race, in Jesus Christ your grace has come upon us. For his sake, prosper the work of our hands until he returns to gladden our hearts forever.
Listen…
stbedeschapel 