Retrieve Lament, Day 29 with Roger Feldman, Sojourn Music and Psalm 31 (+ suggested resources for Lent 2013)

"Once, ritual lament would have been chanted; women would have been paid to beat their breasts and howl for you all night, when all is silent. Where can we find such customs now? So many have long since disappeared or been disowned.

That’s what you had to come for: to retrieve

the lament that we omitted."

-- Ranier Maria Rilke, from Requiem For A Friend

During Lent I'll share almost-daily meditations of Scripture, hymns, and art reflecting this time of tension between dying and birth.

Won't you join me?

March 18 , Day 29

mock-up for Roger Feldman's "One", a commission from Laity Lodge
photo credit: Jessie Nilo

I'm grateful for a freshly stocked imagination for this morning's meditation on Psalm 31, a combination of lament and praise for God our refuge.

via Laity Lodge's website: Roger’s work will consist of natural and native materials drawn from the land. Once completed, it will serve not only as a new “space” of its own, but also open the entire field as a place of quiet retreat. It’s a simple five-minute hike from the Lodge and reveals the Canyon in a surprising and unique way. The work will also better bridge the Lodge and The Quiet House, just up the hill.

Psalm 31

^{In te, Domine, speravi}
¹In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge;
     let me never be put to shame; *
     deliver me in your righteousness.
²Incline your ear to me; *
     make haste to deliver me.
³Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe,
     for you are my crag and my stronghold; *
     for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.

tower in progress: Roger Feldman's "One", a Laity Lodge commission

⁴Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me, *

     for you are my tower of strength.
⁵Into your hands I commend my spirit, *
     for you have redeemed me,
     O LORD, O God of truth.
⁶I hate those who cling to worthless idols, *
     and I put my trust in the LORD.
⁷I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy; *
     for you have seen my affliction;
     you know my distress.
⁸You have not shut me up in the power of the enemy; *
     you have set my feet in an open place.
⁹Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; *
     my eye is consumed with sorrow,
     and also my throat and my belly.
¹⁰For my life is wasted with grief,
     and my years with sighing; *
     my strength fails me because of affliction,
     and my bones are consumed.
¹¹I have become a reproach to all my enemies and
     even to my neighbors,
     a dismay to those of my acquaintance; *
     when they see me in the street they avoid me.
¹²I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; *
     I am as useless as a broken pot.
¹³For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
     fear is all around; *
     they put their heads together against me;
     they plot to take my life.

vision of what will be: Roger Feldman's "One", a commission from Laity Lodge

¹⁴But as for me, I have trusted in you, O LORD. *
     I have said, "You are my God.
¹⁵My times are in your hand; *
     rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
     and from those who persecute me.
¹⁶Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
     and in your loving-kindness save me."
¹⁷LORD, let me not be ashamed for having called upon you; *
     rather, let the wicked be put to shame;
     let them be silent in the grave.
¹⁸Let the lying lips be silenced which speak against
     the righteous, *
     haughtily, disdainfully, and with contempt.
¹⁹How great is your goodness, O LORD!
     which you have laid up for those who fear you; *
     which you have done in the sight of all
     for those who put their trust in you.
²⁰You hide them in the covert of your presence from those
     who slander them; *
     you keep them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.

view from tower in progress: Roger Feldman's "One", a commission from Laity Lodge

²¹Blessed be the LORD! *

     for he has shown me the wonders of his love in a
     besieged city.
²²Yet I said in my alarm,
     "I have been cut off from the sight of your eyes." *e
     Nevertheless, you heard the sound of my entreaty
     when I cried out to you.
²³Love the LORD, all you who worship him; *
     the LORD protects the faithful,
     but repays to the full those who act haughtily.
²⁴Be strong and let your heart take courage, *
     all you who wait for the LORD.

A hymn of response:  Rock of Ages, Brooks Ritter at Soujourn Music

While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyes shall close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.