Lent Meditation: Day 26 - March 15, 2026

📖 Scripture Verse

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble….

Come now and look upon the works of the LORD,

what awesome things he has done on earth.

It is he who makes war to cease in all the world;

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, 

and burns the shields with fire.

“Be still, then, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations;

I will be exalted in the earth.”

—Psalm 46:1, 8-11 (BCP translation p. 649)

🕯️Meditation

When the world seems uncertain, troubled, chaotic, and even basic things about how we expect to be able to manage our day to day lives becomes questionable, then affirming that God is refuge and strength becomes spiritually essential.  When the earthly things that we so often rely on wobble, we have to turn to the real stability that God offers.  This stability is shown in God’s desire for peace: “It is he who makes war to cease in all the world.”  The stillness that the voice of the LORD calls for in the passage above is not a prayerful, meditative silence, but rather the awed quiet demanded by a God who says violence is futile and weapons of destruction are ultimately of no use.  The Lord’s voice in Psalm 46, is the Lord’s voice in Isaiah 2:4: “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

While we long for peace with justice among the nations, our ability to move that forward may feel very limited.  Yet we can cultivate an ethic of peace and peacemaking in our own lives, in the ways we choose to be gentle with others and ourselves, in the ways we seek to turn the temperature down, even as we maintain our emotional boundaries.  Peace among nations starts with peace in our own daily interactions at home and at work and out and about in the city.  “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9).

🙏 Prayer

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP. p. 815).

Walk through Lent with us. Sign up to receive a daily meditation from Father Ethan delivered directly to your inbox.