Author Archives: Linda Calkins

Psalm 108:1 ‘O God my heart is ready, my heart is ready’. Ready…set…go! We all know those words as they begin a race, whether it be with a person, a car or even a horse. And the contestants are ready, they’ve been ready for a long time. The training often is brutal, the early morningsContinue reading “I AM READY!”

Psalm 93:6 (from the 1748 Book of Common Prayer) Thy testimonies, O Lord, are very sure: holiness becometh thine house for ever. Psalm 19:7 (from the 1748 BCP) …the testimony of the Lord is sure, and giveth wisdom to the simple. There are a number of songs about testimony, such as Melissa Etheridge’s “I wantContinue reading “Testimony”

Psalm 90:3 (from the 1748 Book of Common Prayer) For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday: seeing that it is past as a watch in the night. Tough words, these. We have a difficult time with 50 years, but a thousand is beyond our minds’ comprehension. It would do us someContinue reading “The Beginning of Lent…almost”

This is an incredibly difficult time in the lives of those who are suffering from this pandemic. Matters not what age, gender or country. Whether in hospital, nursing home or at home, Psalm 38 expresses some of the prayers I can only imagine anyone who knows the ravages of this virus can cause. ‘…your handContinue reading “A Psalm for all who suffer from COVID-19”

Psalm 19 has to be one of my favorites. I sang verses 7-10 as a teenager at Pioneer Girl Camp in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, which as I have discovered, they are now committed to memory and can sing them 50 years later. The Psalmist puts forward the sweetness of knowing God’s statutes,Continue reading “A Psalm to Love”

A Refuge for the Oppressed: Psalm 9 Tomorrow, being the 2nd Sunday of Christmas (yes, Christmas is a season, not a day) one of the Gospel choices is from Matthew. It’s about the Holy Family being refugees in Egypt. Not a sweet image like a babe in a manger, nor of a mother keeping allContinue reading “Refugees”

New Years’ Day 2021 Psalm 3:8 Deliverance belongs to the LORD. *    Your blessing be upon your people! Deliverance…we need that for this year, deliverance from the pandemic. Deliverance from an inept government, no matter what state, what country… Deliverance from fear of each other. We read this verse; if we really dig into this, weContinue reading

We think we own this earth of ours, but really it’s being borrowed, according to Psalm 24. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein. There is all kinds of not only discussion but dissension about the earth these days. We know from what scienceContinue reading “The Earth is whose???”

Mercy and Truth have met together…Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. (Psalm 85) There is something stunningly beautiful in its simplicity within this verse. Mercy, Truth meeting together, as in a forest grove. Planned? Maybe. But they meet as friends, as lovers, as bonded in soul and spirit. How we long for mercy andContinue reading “Met and Kissed”

“…under the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until this time of trouble has gone by.” Psalm 57:1 A refuge, a shadow, wings, trouble. Words to which we all can relate. A vision of a mother hen gathering her chicks from the storm. A refuge in the midst of a thunderstorm of quietContinue reading “In the Shadow”