Saturday after Ash Wednesday

I read from a prayer book almost everyday. I like to use "For all the saints", a publication that includes daily prayers, three daily texts, a meditation from a coworker, all the psalms,and three daily offices.  I am a liturgist in this way, enjoying and appreciating the rhythm of a spiritual life that comes to  me from a source beyond myself and my own yearnings.  I take what I get everyday from these readings. Somedays I am connected to the words I am reading and praying, other days not so much.     Johannes Willebrands, Lutheran theologian and ecumenist, wrote, "The creative and redemptive work of God cannot be swallowed up by all that sin kindles in the human heart, nor be definitely blocked.  But that leads us to a keen perception of our own responsibility as Christians facing the future of humanity and also to awareness of the gravity of our divisions.  To the extent that they obscure our witness in a world tempted by suicide they are an obstacle to the proclamation of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ."  God will accomplish God's purposes for us, with us, in spite of us.  But its more fun to be part of what God is doing than to oppose it.