Hope in a time of challenge.

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
   Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
   to the voice of my supplications!

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
   Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
   so that you may be revered.

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
   and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
   more than those who watch for the morning,
   more than those who watch for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!
   For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
   and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel
   from all its iniquities.

                                Hope in a time of challenge.

The Psalm for this Sunday, Passion Sunday, sits alongside the passages from Ezekiel and John about life coming afresh to the valley of dry bones and the raising of Jesus’ friend Lazarus, speaking of the overwhelming hope that we can have in God. Psalm 130 is a prayer that shows that it is especially when we are in “the depths” that God hears our cries. I wonder whether this is because we are more likely to call on God when we are in greatest need? We rarely think about and it certainly doesn’t appear in the psalms, that we might cry to the Lord from the mountaintops! 

The idea of “the depths” conjures up an image of a hopeless, dark situation in which we feel trapped. The writer of the psalm also says “ my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning” reminding us of those nights when we thought that it would never end, we were so sleepless, or we were anxious over the health of someone we loved or we were to learn the results of an important test. We wondered, we felt worried about a difficult situation, the kind of experience that St John of the Cross called la noche oscura del alma, the long dark night of the soul? This is what it means to watch for the morning, to wait, longing, aching, hoping, for the Lord.

In many ways this is the situation that we find ourselves in at this time, longing for the virus to be overcome, that we can once again leave their homes, return to normal life and worship together in Church, so my prayer is that we can remain hopeful, holding onto God’s love, letting it fill our hearts and that the light of his presence can shine through that long dark night and lead us into a closer relationship with one another and with God’s kingdom.

Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world.
Grant that by faith in him, who suffered on the cross, we may triumph in the power of his victory.