Looking Up? Psalm 130: 1-4
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.
A song of despair. Things cannot get much worse, everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, there is no hope left, nowhere to run, no one to turn to.
Or is there?
In 2001 my then Parish was in the midst of the Foot and Mouth epidemic, one of the first cases in Scotland was a couple of hundred yards from the Church. In those long months there was always a constant worry among the farmers that they could be next. Phoning one family one day (then, as now, visiting was not an option) I started to finish our conversation saying, that well, all we can do is pray for you, to which the lady answered “if you can pray for us, you are doing a lot,… please do so as much as you can”.
The Psalm writer cries out to God in prayer, as he knows that without God, he is really without hope or help. But with God there is not only hope, there is also promise.
As we face these dark pre-Easter days, we do so with a community spirit, but also with God on our side (and he is) we will come out the other side stronger and better than before.
Prayer
Lord God our loving Father in Heaven Hear our voice as we call upon you, we need again the assurance that you will never forsake us, that in the midst of our fear and confusion you are with us
In your Mercy hear our prayer
Amen