a new song on my lips.
ps.40:4
Sometimes a song can save your soul, perhaps your life.
When it feels like we are drowning in misery and doubts, violence, despair, apathy and isolation - what helps us lift ourselves and also help each other up? Sometimes it’s music. A song that comes on the radio or the dancefloor, or a tune heard inside our heart, courtesy of the mysterious inner DJ that spins on and on.
Today’s psalm gives voice to the mute horror that is part of the human condition, the silent sorrow and helpless hurt that we each encounter sooner or later, often for no fault of our own. For this poet - those times feel a deep pit with no footing.
But then, somehow, there is salvation, and some sort of release, firm footing, if only for a moment, and with it, a new song:
וַיַּעֲלֵ֤נִי ׀ מִבּ֥וֹר שָׁאוֹן֮ מִטִּ֢יט הַיָּ֫וֵ֥ן וַיָּ֖קֶם עַל־סֶ֥לַע רַגְלַ֗י כּוֹנֵ֥ן אֲשֻׁרָֽי׃
וַיִּתֵּ֬ן בְּפִ֨י ׀ שִׁ֥יר חָדָשׁ֮ תְּהִלָּ֢ה לֵאלֹ֫הֵ֥ינוּ יִרְא֣וּ רַבִּ֣ים וְיִירָ֑אוּ וְ֝יִבְטְח֗וּ בַּיהֹוָֽה׃
“I waited patiently for you and you leaned toward me
And heard me
And raised me up from the pit
From the mud, from the clay
And set my foot upon a rock
So that my step was firm
And put a new song on my lips.
Your song
That many may hear it with awe
And have confidence in you.”
Ps. 40:3-4
Norman Fisher’s translation captures the low depth and the relief of rising up, with a new song to lead the way onwards. The song is not just there to remind each of us that there is a way beyond the pit towards trust and more optimism - it’s also a call for communal singing, for the public practice of singing together to hold our souls and elevate our spirits. Songs can capture our collective soul and purpose. Songs help us heal and deal and harmonize and hope a little harder.
The oldest layer in the Hebrew Bible is the Song of the Sea - attributed to that mega mythic moment when the Hebrews cross the Sea of Reeds info final freedom - and begin to drum, dance, and sing together.
In his commentary about that son, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook famously wrote:
“…Included in faith in God, is the song of life, the song of existence, the song of being. Song is the most penetrating perception… (rising up) from the depths of nature that lies deep within us, something that prose can never capture. For this reason, the true lens of life is specifically within the framework of the song of life, whereas the everyday is expressed via prose. Woe to the one who wishes to eliminate from their life the glory of song. They lose the entire content of life and all of its truth. Prose only has value to the extent that it is an extension of the song of life... “
Last week I was honored to attend an interfaith gathering at one of NYC’s grandest cathedrals, and among the fiery sermons and worthy words, prose and prayer, there were powerful songs that got us on our feet. One of them was a Congregational song, beloved in the African-American community, adapted from the original version by Vincent Harding:
“We are building up a new world. Builders must be strong.
Courage, loved ones, don't get weary, though the way be long.
If you’re hungry, come and join us. Yes, this way is long.
We are building up a new world. We are growing strong. “
And perhaps one of the reasons songs are so powerful is because they resonate from within our ability to hear and our capacity to listen even deeper - to the music, to each other, to the mystery within and beyond the noise and distractions. That too is what this poet wants us to notice. The god that this psalm calls on is the power that prefers deep listening to any ritual or religious rotation of empty gestures and prosaic pomp:
זֶ֤בַח וּמִנְחָ֨ה ׀ לֹֽא־חָפַ֗צְתָּ אׇ֭זְנַיִם כָּרִ֣יתָ לִּ֑י עוֹלָ֥ה וַ֝חֲטָאָ֗ה לֹ֣א שָׁאָֽלְתָּ׃
You gave me to understand that
You do not desire sacrifice and grain offering;
You do not ask for burnt offering and purgation offering. You listen to me instead.
Ps. 40:7
We need new songs to help us from the pit. We are called upon to practice an ever deeper sense of listening, new and better world, song by song.
Our Next Monthly Zoom Session:
If it wasn’t King David who wrote the Psalms, despite popular religious lore, and according to most reliable scholarship - then who are the authors of these poets of piety and protest? Did they leave us some important information to decode as we struggle with our personal and public problems?
Clues are everywhere.
Join me on June 6th for our monthly Zoom conversation Below the Bible Belt - and find out more about the authors and how these ancient hymns may be helpful to us during this difficult time in the world, and as we each face challenges and celebrate life’s blessings.
Whether you are new to this journey or have been on it for a while - please join us on June 6th 2024, 5pm ET and please bring your questions, comments, responses and reflections on the PSLAMS so far.
Here’s the link to the next Below the Bible Belt Zoom Live Conversation:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88915392821
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Let there be healing, and may peace prevail.
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