Yesterday after a meeting, I stopped at a market on my way home. I found myself standing in line behind a woman and her young granddaughter. The grandmother was a bit frazzled, but the child seemed quite content to sit in her stroller. She was singing to herself, and as I listened, I realized she was actually chanting, "How will you find your way home?" I cannot say for sure, but I got the sense the words had little meaning for her; she was just enjoying the sound of the words and the rhythm. I smiled at the grandmother and said, "Ah, I see you travel with a singer!" She looked at me and rolled her eyes, giving me the sense that she had been hearing that chant for awhile. I then joined my voice with the child's. That made the woman laugh, and she took the short reprieve to calmly pay for her purchases and get things organized for their journey home. Perhaps this is what all psalmists know: when we stray, we can sing our way back to God.
I was going to continue with the NRSV version of Psalm 42, but Lynn Bauman's translation is so beautiful, I have decided to share part of it instead.
My heart is broken, it will not mend.
Yet I remember in a mountain land beyond this realm,
on heights of hills that now seem far away,
When the the depths in me called out to touch the depths in you.
Like roaring waters through great canyons, deep,
your presence there came crashing over me.
And in the daytime your loving kindness was like a flood
that swept and lifted my soul.
At night my heart welled up in songs of praise,
I sang to you, the God of All.
Why are you troubled, O my soul:
Why this great despondency, this deep despair?
Await God's grace, God's help in hope, God's care,
A time of praise will surely come
And bring you to the presence of the One
who is your saving Lord.
Psalm 42: 8-11, 15-16
Ancient Songs Sung Anew
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