FROM THE PASTOR
Devotion: Saranam Kyrie
“As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, ‘where is your God?’ These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I went with the throng, and led them in procession to the house of God…why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, m help and my God.” (Psalm 42:1-5)
Kyrie. Lord, have mercy. The throngs of Kyrie cries come into procession to the house of God. In the chancel, at the altar, they are connected to the great story of salvation and to the God who raised Jesus from the dead. Then the Kyrie procession goes to the narthex. There all is not so certain, faith is not so palpable. The pastor shakes the hand and meets the Kyrie of the one who just received the diagnosis, who just buried a loved one, whose marriage is falling apart, who is losing a job, who is trying to live one day at a time. Kyrie.
Jesus, Savior, Lord, Lo to you I fly
Sarenam, Sarenam, Sarenam
You are the rock,
My refuge higher than ISarenam, Sarenam, Sarenam
With lit candles we gathered at St. Paul’s International Lutheran Church after the South Asian Tsunami to comfort one another and pray for the victims and their families. South Asian Lutherans from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Taiwan, testified to the great sadness through their tears and prayer. Kyrie. We sang Sarenam, which means “Refuge” in Sanskrit, and we took refuge in one another. The growth of our Asian ministries has provided comfort and Gospel compassion for many immigrants from the beleaguered Tsunami lands, grieving and anxious for hope and spiritual comfort. A Kyrie people call on the Lord for mercy, offering their Kyrie for the life of the world.
When your soul is cast down, in your Kyrie wait for the Lord.
Prayer: In my times of sadness, when I worry, when I am facing loss or when my soul is cast down, dear Lord have mercy. Amen
Stephen Paul Bouman
