Whenever I notice those who make the decisions about what to include and what to omit from the lectionary readings, I wonder what and why? Today the appointed Psalm,107, jumps from verse 9 to the closing verse 43 which says: “Whoever is wise will ponder these things, and consider well the mercies of the Lord.” Being intrigued, I turned to the Bible to see what I needed to ponder. I suggest you might want to do the same.

Take some time to read the entire Psalm, possibly aloud. Then notice the groups of folks that the Lord delivers from their distress: those hungry and thirsty in the wilderness on their way home from the exile in Babylon, prisoners, the sick, and those on the sea caught in an ocean storm. Considering these descriptions as metaphors for our own life, think about a time when you were hungry or thirsty for divine union, or when you may have found yourself sitting in darkness, gloom and misery, or when you may have been sick in body, mind, or spirit, or when it may have felt like the overwhelming waves of the circumstances of your life were going to swamp you. How did you come to recognize the Holy One delivering you over and over? How have you responded? If your deliverance from your distress was something else, you might want to compose another stanza (or two or even more) to give thanks for God's steadfast love and mercy in your life.

As I was meditating on “pondering”, I kept hearing over and over a phrase from a familiar hymn: “Ponder anew what the Almighty can do.” (The Episcopal Hymnal 1982, #390, “Praise to the Lord.”) I offer it to you as you “ponder. . . and consider well” how God is working in your life and in the world around you here and now, and give thanks.