Psalm Meditation 581
Eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time
August 7, 2011

Psalm 130
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem.
8 It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.
(NRSV)

Sometimes the depths out of which we cry out to God are of our own making. We take something personally that was not meant that way, we read non-existent motives into the actions of others, we misinterpret a word or a gesture that spins us into a deep funk. Even when it is of our own making, the depths are just as deep. We are just as wounded, just as abandoned. When the depths are of our own making we may sink even deeper because, not only does it seem the world has turned on us, we have turned on ourselves. That leaves no one to pull us out except God, and we may find ourselves doubting God’s motives as well.

Whatever the cause of the depths out of which we find the psalmist crying there is enough presence of heart, mind and soul to know that God is out there. God is above the depths waiting and willing to pull us or cheerlead us out of the depths in which we find ourselves. Whether we need forgiveness or simply a fresh perspective on the situation God has taken a place above the foolishness, pettiness or sinfulness in which we find ourselves. Whether we dug the depths ourselves or were pitched into those dug by someone else God is present for us.

Through the years of salvation history folks have given witness to the lengths to which God goes to see that we move from the depths to the abundance that life in God offers. Sometimes God pulls us out from above. Sometimes God comes down with us and pushes us out. Sometimes God sends others to pull or push us out. Sometimes God shows us someone else who is in the depths and we work together to move to higher ground. No matter the method God is at work through steadfast love to offer us redemption, as individuals and as the body of the people of God.

August 1, 2011