Sunday, April 06, 2014

Out of the Deepest Depths of Lent

Today's Psalm (130) seems well suited to the depths of Lent, and while I prefer the KJV to the NRSV that was used today in church,

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.  
Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. 
If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. 
I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 
My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: 
I say, more than they that watch for the morning. 
Let Israel hope in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. 
And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130 (KJV)

I would much rather have heard the John Rutter interpretation from his Requiem entitled, "Out of the Deep" which begins with a dark and gloomy cello solo in a minor chord (C minor) at the lowest note the instrument can play but changes into a more comfortable and hopeful C major by the time we hear of the Lord's "plenteous redemption". In those chords I hear and feel the promise of Jesus to redeem us from those deep and dark iniquities from which we have been so vainly trying to cleanse ourselves these past five weeks.

Listen for yourself and remember that even in the depths, there is hope, and we need to trust in Christ as our Lord to pull us out.


1 comment:

  1. I appreciate your citation of this Psalm, and mentioning the Requiem by John Rutter. Excuse my digression, but some resources are also mentioning another phenomenon attesting to the Glory of god, that being 4 blood moons that are to occur on Passover, during Feast of Tabernacles this year and next year, also confirmed by the NASA web site. I am posting a very brief excerpt about this on my blog, grafted in and on the journey blogspot.com. The important thing to bear in mind is the hymn writer who advised, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face; and the cares of life will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace." Thank you.

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