I Will Sing A New Song


"To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.

I waited patiently for the Lord;
   he inclined to me and heard my cry. 
He drew me up from the desolate pit,
   out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
   making my steps secure. 
He put a new song in my mouth,
   a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
   and put their trust in the Lord. 

Happy are those who make
   the Lord their trust,
who do not turn to the proud,
   to those who go astray after false gods. 
You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
   your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us;
   none can compare with you.
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
   they would be more than can be counted." ~ Psalm 40:1-5

✥

"And now let us welcome the new year, full of things that never were." ~ Rainer Maria Rilke


It was the first semester of my senior year in college. I was fortunate as a student at the University of Texas in Austin that I lived so close to the Frank Erwin Center where some pretty awesome concerts happened throughout my college career. That fall, I finally got to see the band U2, after playing their most recent album, Joshua Tree, over and over and over...

It was a rebellious time for me. My parents were in the midst of a divorce and I had just broken up with my long term boyfriend the year before. I was nervous about graduating and not sure what I was going to do once I did. As an English major living during a time of recession, I didn't have a whole lot of options.

 Most importantly, I was feeling a bit cut off from my faith. I had always been involved with my church at home and had even stayed involved through a local church in Austin while in college. But something just wasn't gelling with me anymore, and because of all of the above, I felt like I was on shaky ground.

 And then at the U2 concert I heard this Psalm sung as a song called "40." And I heard 16,000 people singing it as we all left the show and flooded into the parking lot.

 It nudged my faith as if it were a flower opening for the sunshine.

 Psalm 40 has followed me throughout the years, and the opening lines became pivotal for me as I went into ministry.

 And each day I am reminded of a renewed opportunity to sing a new song. To begin again. To stand firm on solid ground after wading through the mud. To welcome the new, as the poet Rilke reminds us.

 The mud - the unease, the worry - will come again. The new will lose its luster. The song's tune will disappear into the sounds that compete with it.

 But much as Martin Luther reminded himself of his baptism when all seemed lost, this psalm reminds us that the new will come again. Hope will come again.

 And that always with God, we stand on solid ground.
Gracious One: Put a new song upon my lips and let me sing your praises even as I find my footing in uncertainty and sorrow. Amen.

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