LENT SOUL SONG VISUAL PRAYER
Psalm 130
Tending the Grief
“My whole being waits for you, my God,
listening for your Presence.”
— Psalm 130:4
Read Psalm 130
- What feelings, longings, hopes are evoked in you as you pray this Psalm?
- When life is hard and you are hurting, what makes it difficult to voice your sorrow and bring your pain to God for conversation? What helps you open the whole of yourself in God?
- We are likely to come to God asking for relief and wanting the hurting experience to quickly pass. The Psalmist says, “My soul waits…. My soul watches.” Sometimes, in waiting and giving space, there are great gifts. What helps you wait in silence? What helps you embrace the gifts hidden in pain or sorrowing rather than trying to make it go away?
- The Psalmist presents with a heart touched not only by personal need but the needs of the community (see verse 7, “O Israel.”) What laments are present in your community of faith, your group, your family?
- As you pray the Psalm, again be aware of the healing images (attentive ears, erasing iniquities, drenching forgiveness, etc.) Choose one image and doodle it. It doesn’t have to be great art. What colours will you use? What patterns emerge? What form will your healing image take?
- The Psalm calls attention to a hurting creation. What are the laments of other species or rivers or forests or trees? How might your practices or prayers of lament include all of creation?
Prayer for Entering this Week
Be still and lean,
lean back into the Love
flowing.
Trust the flow to hold you.
Lean back
and drop your shoulders,
loosen your jaw,
relax the tightness round your heart.
Breathe.
Be. Here. Now.
For this moment …
Let each decision go –
Resist each urgency –
Welcome the little deaths and
the “normals” that aren’t.
Be still and lean.
Each letting go,
Each accepting thought
Each welcoming of now
brings closer
this moment
ripe and holding
everything we need. Amen.
