Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
    from where will my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
He who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time on and forevermore.

Mihee Kim-Kort is a Presbyterian minister, speaker, writer, and slinger of hopeful stories about faith and church. Her writing and commentary can be found at TIME, BBC World Service, USA Today, Huffington Post, Christian Century, On Being, Sojourners, and Faith and Leadership. She is co-pastor with her spouse of First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, MD and a doctoral candidate in Religious Studies at Indiana University.

Lord have mercy upon us. Christ have mercy upon us. Lord have mercy upon us.

“Even as we sing these words, calling for mercy, we do so with the hope and belief that God’s mercy is already there. So, I keep going. I roll out of bed and land on my knees. Push myself up. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and do the sanctified work that is breathing. And I keep looking. Keep seeing. Keep feeling. Keep trying to love like there’s no tomorrow. Love hard; love recklessly. Hug a little longer…Laugh, cook, drink, clean, make a huge mess, sit and stare out the window. Let all of it mean something – gratitude, earnestness, hope; let it mean that life is abundant. And tell the children stories, about this abundant life – how it’s meant to be shared, how it’s meant to be experienced by every single human being even if it means we might have to tell the stories that are sad and hard. Because those are the ones that will shape their empathy and compassion. All of it. All of it is necessary for life right now. All this work is worship, and it’s how we’ll make it.”

Prayer

Heart of my own heart,
be my sight
by my song
by my light.
Soften my heart that it would break for your world,
lead my hands and feet to do work that is
poured out for the sake of your children,
make me brave, make me hope, make me trust, make me love.
In Jesus’ sweet, sweet name.  Amen.”