First Sunday in Lent

‘How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.’ Psalm 84:1-2

your home is found not just
behind stain glass windows
but within the broken panes
of poverty’s buildings.

your place of doing business
is not just somewhere up there,
but in the classrooms filled
with special needs kids and
in eating places struggling
to stay open with limited staff.

you hand us the sheet music
we need and the instruments
to accompany us in the subways
of New York as well as Kyiv
and in hospices, care centers,
and apartments of the lonely.

© 2022 Thom M. Shuman