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.
Wait and watch – two verbs which run through Lent and through life, with the occasional wonder, like Jesus turning up at Lazarus’ grave, to remind us that the morning will come.
130 The Living and the Dead
It is the living who will cry,
out of the depths of hurt and grief.
The dead just wait, shock over,
waiting for the morning, and what
ear and eye have never heard or seen,
good things beyond our feeble sense.
It is the living who will cry,
out of the depths of demons, dark
sin craziness that crosses swords
with love and truth and godliness.
While God lets evil wound him still,
his Son has plumbed the deepest pit.
It is the living who will cry,
out of the depths, and God cries with us,
like the One who wept at Lazarus’ grave
and called him out, a living sign
that nothing, nothing can dislodge us
from God’s love and resurrection power.