Author Archives: Linda Calkins

Strange title for a Psalm, but there it is. It’s from Psalm 12:8 ‘The wicked prowl on every side, and that which is worthless is highly prized by everyone.’ We all have baubles, bangles and beads, in the song known to many of us. Stuff which is not worth anything, but we hold onto itContinue reading “Worthless”

When I was a girl, I belonged to an organization within our Baptist Church of girls and women; aptly named ‘Pioneer Girls’. There was a theme and it came from Psalm 119:105: ‘Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.’ Every time we met, we said that as aContinue reading “Light”

Psalm 116 is one of my favorites for one particular reasons. It is the carving on my parents’ grave of verse 13: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants.’ They were precious in their life, and now in their death they are precious to God. My mother died inContinue reading “Precious”

I’m not a fan of the term ‘Lord’ for God, or Jesus, or really anyone or anything. It’s too patriarchal and too feudal in its origins. Sometimes I substitute Wisdom, sometimes just skip the usage of this word. And God is far more than a pronoun, even though both Hebrew Scripture and New Testament referContinue reading “Worship”

Psalm 89 is not the easiest psalm to read. It’s long, it’s got some history to it, and it feels too old. But there is a verse, a section actually, that speaks to me about God’s disappearance. ‘How long will you hide yourself…will you hide yourself forever?…Remember how short life is, how frail you haveContinue reading “Where did you go, God?”

This word, lamentation, has very little meaning for us in our modern language. It was used in Scripture to note a time of deep distress. There is even a book in the Hebrew Scripture entitles ‘The Lamentations of Jeremiah’. But for this day, Psalm 56, the verse that has been, for me, one of comfortContinue reading “Lamentations and Shadows”