Rumination Journal

Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh. Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. We have transgressed and have rebelled; you have not pardoned. You have covered with anger and pursued us; you have killed, you have not pitied. You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. You have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the middle of the peoples. All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. Fear and the pit have come on us, devastation and destruction. My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. My eye pours down, and doesn’t cease, without any intermission, Until Yahweh look down, and see from heaven. — Lamentations 3:40-50 WEB The Book of Lamentations, thought to be authored by the prophet Jeremiah, is a collection of lamentations on the destruction of Jerusalem and the capture, enslavement and exile of its people. Following these events, man...

Psalm 34:18 - Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have crushed spirit.  (WEB). David's words are still true today. And they are so needed today in light of the many who are afflicted, suffering from storm and from violence. Dear Father, You taught us in Your Word that You do not willingly afflict or grieve us. Look with pity on the sorrow of these who are suffering. Remember them in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with Your goodness, lift Your face upon them, and give them peace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. -

Cloud Shielding the Sun, by Lynn Greyling 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 - But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we tell you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left to the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (WEB). Dear Father, we remember our bothers and sisters who have gone on before us. We thank you for giving them to us, to know and to lov...

Genesis 1:1 - In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John 1:1 - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (WEB). Eleanor Farjeon (1881 - 1965) grew up in the literary and dramatic circles of London, the daughter of novelist Benjamin Farjeon. Eleanor began her professional carrier in her teens on the operatic stage. Later, she had great success in writing and eventually published about 80 works in all. She wrote books for children and books adults, but she especially loved writing for children. Around 1930, editor Percy Dearmer was preparing a hymn collection and asked Eleanor to contribute a hymn for children. In his request, Dearmer had two specific requirements. First, the song had to give thanks for each new day. Second, the text had to be set to a Scottish tune known as "Bunessan", which had first appeared in print in 1900 and had already been paired with Mary MacDonald's Christmas carol, "Child in ...

Psalm 46:1-3 - God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas; though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling . (WEB) Martin Luther (1483 - 1546), a German professor of theology, composer, priest, and former monk, came to reject several teachings and practices of the Late Medieval Catholic Church. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. Luther proposed an academic discussion of the power and usefulness of indulgences in his Ninety-Five Theses  of 1517, which he posted on the door of Wittenberg's Castle. This act began years of trial and persecution for Luther. His refusal to retract all of his writings, at the demand of Pope Leo X in 1520 and the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V at the Diet of Worms in 1521, resulted in Luther's excommu...

Jeremiah 10:12-13 - He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens: when he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain, and brings the wind out of his treasuries. (WEB). "I Sing the Mighty Power of God" was written by Isaac Watts (1674 - 1748). Since the early twentieth century, the text has normally been paired a tune sometimes called Forest Green , a traditional English melody arranged in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958). The hymn was originally included in a hymnal written for children, where it was entitled "Praise for Creation and Providence". Isaac Watts loved children. In 1715 he published the collection entitled  Divine and Moral Songs for Children. In the preface, Watts wrote, "Children of high and low degree, of the Church of E...

Religious reformer Martin Luther (November 10, 1483 – February 18, 1546) was the author of many hymns and chorales that remain the foundation of Protestant church music. It is said that without Luther, there could have been no Bach. Martin Luther in 1533, painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder. In his later years, Luther suffered many ailments, including Ménière's disease, vertigo, fainting, tinnitus, and a cataract in one eye. Luther saw these as the efforts of Satan to prevent Luther from doing his important work. Often when Luther was at work in his study, he felt that Satan was perturbing him. Once he had been locked inside for some time, not even demanding food, when Lucas Edenberger, preceptor of Duke Ernst of Saxony, arrived with some musicians to visit Luther. When he did not answer their knocking on the door, Edenberger looked through the keyhole and saw Luther lying on the floor unconscious, his arms outstretched. Edenberger broke open the door, lifted Luther up in...