Sunday 15 January. Epiphany 2. Psalm 40.1-12
I give my heart to God
In the poem by Christina Rosetti “In The Bleak Mid-Winter”, the poet ponders on what she might give to God. “What shall I give him, poor as I am?” The Psalmist had already arrived at the same conclusion which she did, “Yet what I can I give Him, — Give my heart.” The psalmist wonders at all the bountiful mercy that God has shown them and knows that they cannot begin to communicate God’s generosity adequately. God asks in return not for sacrifices or any ritual burnt offerings. He requires the psalmist, and us, to have ears and hearts open both to him and the world. If we have both our ears and our hearts open to God then we hear what it is that he wants us to give to the world, communicating to it his faithfulness and salvation, his loving kindness and truth.
Pamela Ive is Parish Deacon in Capel, Tudeley & Five Oak Green, and Diocesan Director of Ordinands in the Diocese of Rochester.
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