In deepest night, in darkest days,
When harps are hung, no songs we raise,
When silence must suffice as praise,
Yet sounding in us quietly there is the song of God.
(ELWB #699 v.1)
This new hymn of lament by Susan Palo Cherwien, in our hymn book, captures the mood of many in the drab winter season. Well, we are lucky this year to have had such a break in the weather. But even without a deep freeze we still have dark days.
It is not by accident that the trend to go on a warm winter vacation has mushroomed recently and become more common-place than ever. If you are one of those going away for a warm get-away I hope you enjoy it and are refreshed by it. (And I know you are probably not reading this.)
But if you are at home, reading your newsletter, you may feel like singing this song of lament. The thing is, our feelings of sadness are legitimate and important to the whole spectrum of our emotional life. Our faith appropriately speaks to us in the wide range of emotional states we may experience. So not only when we wear broad smiles and sing happy songs, but also in our sadness and pain, God’s love holds us near. Then the psalms can be our friend.
Remember the exiled Israelites, so saddened by their losses that they could no longer sing the songs of Israel. They hung their harps on the willows with no intention of using them again (Psalm 137). What stronger longing for redemption could we experience than that of Psalm 130, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.” Even when we have no strength to sing a song, God’s song hums quietly within us. With souls down-cast, “Deep calls to deep, at the thunder of your cataracts; all your waves and your billows have gone over me” (Psalm 42:7).
Feeling sad is not always bad. It is a time to turn our hearts toward God who inclines to our pain and breathes a saving breath on us. So many pressures mount up on our shoulders and weigh us down. We feel it most in this dark season between Christmas and Easter. As Lent approaches we begin with a focus on our mortality and acknowledge our feeble limitations. But we continue our relentless march toward resurrection hope. It is the spring-time of the soul, and new life is promised. God’s love sustains our weary souls and builds us up.
What I love about Lent is the honest acknowledgment of our failures and shortcomings against the backdrop of God’s inexhaustible love. We confess our sins because we are sure of God’s forgiveness. This is what our faith is about — the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Now that is something to sing about!
When through the waters winds our path, Around us pain, around us death:May God give you Peace on your Lenten Journey.
Deep calls to deep, a saving breath,
And found beside us faithfully there is the love of God.
(ELWB #699 v.3)
Pastor David
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