Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear friends,

In Psalm 69 the Psalmist calls for God’s help, feeling as if “the waters have risen up to my neck” (Psalm 69:1). This kind of forlornness is not unique to the situation of the author, who goes on to say “I have come into deep waters, and the torrent washes over me. I have grown weary with my crying; my throat is inflamed; my eyes have failed from looking for my God” (Psalm 69-3-4). The reality of the deep pit of pain from which the Psalmist calls is alluded to in many places throughout the Bible, think of the deep pain Naomi and Job experience, the crying out and thirst of Christ as he is crucified, and the confusion of his body, not in the tomb when Mary and Mary went to look for him. It is part of the human experience, and many know it all too well.

In many of the Psalms there is a cycle from Lament to Hope, but the cycle does not tend to move swiftly. The Psalms are often a calling-out-song to God. Sometimes we do the calling to God, and sometimes God does the calling to us. In the Daily Office there are a few options for the “Invitatory.” Those praying the office are invited as generations before us have been invited, by the words of Psalm 95 and 96 in the “Venite” (Latin for come), or Psalm 100, Jubilate (Joyfully), or the Pascha nostrum (Christ Our Passover – this one is used in Easter). At Seminary when we had daily Morning Prayer, the Venite seemed to be chosen more often than not. We the praying were invited to worship God afresh with ancient words. There are lines that stir in my heart from those three years of invitation – “In his hand are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his and he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land” – recalling the story of creation. In quiet times, a reminder of a creative and loving God welling up in you in invitation to further prayer, further relationship with Christ, can provide a base, a safe place to land. These songs and prayers known by heart over time can be that which calls us back to know that we can ask, “In your great mercy, O God, answer me with your unfailing help” (Psalm 69:14-15).

-Mtr. Taylor