Missing ‘Alleluia’

I love spring peepers. These tiny tree frogs emerge from hibernation to usher in warmer temperatures and later sunsets with their chorus of mating calls. I’m awed by the volume and vivaciousness of their calls and will often stop and listen. (I’ve even stopped driving just to roll down my window and tune in to their sounds.) Their presence is a clear and joyful reminder that spring is coming!

The joy of listening to the spring peepers is always preceded by cold, dark winter months. Though, winter’s cold weather and shorter days naturally cause us to slow down. It prompts us to rest and reflect as one year ends and another begins. Winter begins with the “shortest” day of the year, and, yet naturally invites us to experience the lengthening of days as spring approaches. Winter is a season for pause, reflection, and anticipation.

The season of Lent is similar, as it invites us to reflect, repent, and eagerly await Easter’s arrival. I appreciate the Lenten practices of many liturgical churches—fasting is encouraged, music becomes more somber, sanctuaries are emptied of décor and crucifixes are veiled, and the word “Alleluia” is removed from liturgies. These practices are intended to build anticipation for Resurrection Sunday. They invite us to reflect upon and mourn our sin; they remind us of our desperate, daily need for God; and they require us to hold onto hope that the “Alleluia” is coming.

Today, join us as we pause to reflect, repent, and pray through Isaiah 58:1-12 (NIV).

1 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back.
    Raise your voice like a trumpet.
Declare to my people their rebellion
    and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.
2 For day after day they seek me out;
    they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right
    and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions
    and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
    ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
    and you have not noticed?’

Selah: Reflect, mourn, and repent for the errors of our nation and the Church. Pray for our nation and the Church.

“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
    and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
    and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
    and expect your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
    only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed
    and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast,
    a day acceptable to the Lord?

Selah: Reflect, mourn, and repent for your personal sin. Pray for God’s grace and forgiveness.

6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
    and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
    and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Selah: Ask for God’s guidance and wisdom for righteous living.

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
    and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Selah: Thank God for His grace, provision, and salvation. Alleluia! Praise the Lord!