When Our Souls Are Full of Troubles--Oct. 23, 2020

 

Merciful God, around the world

many have been killed by the plague;

we feel shut in, and cannot escape.

 

Our eyes grow dim with sorrow;

our souls are full of troubles.

 

You have told us what is good,

what you require of us—

 

to do justice and love kindness,

to walk humbly with you—

 

but we are worried, distracted,

thinking only of ourselves.

 

Help us repent of our failures

and choose a better part.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 88; 148; 6; 20

Micah 6:1-8

Rev. 9:13-21

Luke 10:38-42

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 88:3, 9

For my soul is full of troubles,
          and my life draws near to Sheol.

I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
          my eye grows dim through sorrow.

 

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
     and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
     and to walk humbly with your God?

 

Rev. 9:20

The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.

 

Luke 10:41-42

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”