Going with the Flow

I was leading Morning Prayer this early A.M. at St. John's. For the summer, and for the sake of keeping things interesting and allowing the prayer leaders a little flexibility, we don't always use Canticles 11 and 16 on Wednesdays. This morning, as I was transitioning from leading the Psalm into the first reading from Job, I set my prayer book on Canticle 13, A Song of Praise, which begins:

Glory to you, Lord God of our fathers;
you are worthy of praise; glory to you.
Glory to you for the radiance of you holy Name;
we will praise you and highly exalt you for ever.

That seemed like a good message for the morning. Then, I started with the reading:

Then Job answered
‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
look away from them, and desist,
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.

As I continued reading Job aloud, I had this sense that I needed to switch the Canticle. There is something joyous about Canticle 13 in a way that seemed inappropriate coming off of poor Job in his state of lament and trying to understand his situation. So, quick thinking led me to instruct that we would be reading in unison Canticle 10, the Second Song of Isaiah:

Seek the Lord while he wills to be found;
call upon him when he draws near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the evil ones their thoughts;
And let them turn to the Lord, and he will have compassion,
and to our God, for he will richly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as rain and snow fall from the heavens
and return not again, but water the earth,
Bringing forth life and giving growth,
seed for sowing and bread for eating,
So is my word that goes forth from my mouth;
it will not return to me empty;
But it will accomplish that which I have purposed,
and prosper in that for which I sent it.

That felt much more appropriate and fitting for the Job lesson. We did use Canticle 13 after the reading from Acts where Herod ends up dead. Definitely time for a rejoicing song!

And I rejoiced in the ability to be flexible, and listen to the inner voice that was steering me to a different song as I read aloud. It also served as a good foundation for a day of working with clients in the massage setting where my intuition is essential to my practice. Trusting my inner wisdom is what makes me the massage therapist that I am.

Always good to have that kind of grounding in a God moment to inform the rest of my day's work.