The Wings of the Dawn

“If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.”

                                                Psalm 139: 9-10

The practice of prayer is an important, beautiful, and often difficult thing in Christian life. One of the small things I am doing at Kwantlen is host a time of morning prayer on the days I am on campus, praying through scripture: the Psalms and the Gospel of Mark. It is a very humble, small beginning – sometimes I am alone, sometimes I am joined by one or two others. But in its very smallness this activity is still one which is crucial for inspiring and equipping followers of Christ to experience and prepare ourselves for what God may do in the normal moments of our day.

Prayer can be difficult, too. Particularly in busy lives where there is always something to do or something to be distracted by. When we slow down with scripture and in silence we might experience a sense of disorientation. Our doubts, fears, and anxieties love to rush to the surface. The Psalmist knows this experience: “Out of the depths I cry to you!” we pray time and time again through the psalter.

But the poetry and profundity of the Psalms is also something to take deep comfort in. The passage from Psalm 139 above is a remarkable piece of poetry; the simple phrase “the wings of the dawn” is full of imagery and power, as if the morning sunrise were a bird that our souls fly away on, rising to meet the beauty and the pain of an ordinary day, settling down in places where we might think God is far away. Yet “even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.”

So “comfort, comfort my people,” says our God. Take the time to slow down in prayer. Open yourself to the fear and anxiety that might be present with every morning, with every beautiful dawn. And trust that where ever you are – at work, at home, on the road, at Kwantlen – no place is empty of God’s guiding presence, his steady right hand. God call us to himself no matter what our circumstances, as this morning we read Jesus say in Mark: 2: 27 – “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners”.