Week thirteen of Ordinary Time

by Anna Gabhart

"If you keep the Sabbath, you start to see creation not as somewhere to get away from your ordinary life, but a place to frame an attentiveness to your life." Eugene Peterson

“Attention is the beginning of devotion.” Mary Oliver

It is week thirteen of Ordinary Time. Take a moment. Take a breath. Take notice. What is around you. What do you hear, see, taste, smell, touch.  

Wherever you are read Psalm 136 out loud:

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

O give thanks to the God of gods,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

O give thanks to the Lord of lords,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who alone does great wonders,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who by understanding made the heavens,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who spread out the earth on the waters,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who made the great lights,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

the sun to rule over the day,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

the moon and stars to rule over the night,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who struck Egypt through their firstborn,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

 and brought Israel out from among them,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who divided the Red Sea[a] in two,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

and made Israel pass through the midst of it,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who led his people through the wilderness,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who struck down great kings,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

and killed famous kings,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

Sihon, king of the Amorites,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

and Og, king of Bashan,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

and gave their land as a heritage,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

a heritage to his servant Israel,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

It is he who remembered us in our low estate,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

and rescued us from our foes,

    for his steadfast love endures forever;

who gives food to all flesh,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

O give thanks to the God of heaven,

    for his steadfast love endures forever.

Prompt: 

Pay attention. What is around you? Where in your own experience has the Lord’s steadfast love endured forever? 

Make a list of those things, of those people, of those places, where God’s steadfast love has endured in your own life. Or places in your life where you desire God’s steadfast love. 

Use “for his steadfast love endures forever” as a refrain, as a meditation, as you go about this week. 

Prayer: 

Faithful God, who created the world and all that is in it, help us to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to touch your creation. Be the lens that we see each other through, that we see the world through. Help us to be awake; to pay attention so that we can more fully experience your goodness and creativity in the places we find ourselves. Show us the way to find small sabbaths throughout the week, places of rest along the way. For your steadfast love endures forever, Amen.