Singing the Blues in Psalm 6
There is healing in naming our suffering and hope.
“And it stoned me to my soul,” belts out Van Morrison as he described an experience of longing and catharsis as a kid. Whether a hunger or thirst or desire for healing, human longing is real. So too, the poet in Psalm 6 expresses the deep-lodged kind of longing that emerges from a soul in need.
Articulating the Hurt and Hope
It may be tempting to think of the blues or psalms of lament as only wallowing in the pain of our lives, but a further hearing may reveal an act of daring and soul-filled faith. Though I cannot say I suffer today in the way that this poet does, he may sing perhaps for all of us on those days when we do:
Be gracious to me O Lord, for I am languishing…
Turn, O Lord and save my life…
I am weary with my weariness…
My eyes are worn out from too many tears… (Ps. 6:2,4).
Like a lot of great music, this Psalm was probably written and composed by an individual before it seeped inside the soul of a nation like a really good wine.
Psalms Like the Blues are Multivalent
In addition to naming the poet’s own longing for healing, Psalm 6 articulates more broadly an appeal to God for the healing of the land, social systems in need of repair, justice for those that have too little and justice for those who have (frankly) too much.
The Power of Music, Faith and Prayer
Music is powerful. Add to that a particular kind of faith, and it can be quite revolutionary. The particular faith in which the poet in Psalm 6 is rooted is an understanding of God as love and that the purpose of human beings is to reflect such love.
Love as Cliche’ and Love as Practice
Love is a term that is widely preached, though sometimes seldom seen. The Bible is full of stories where love exists in those who walk in solidarity with those who struggle. It can be seen where belief is born outside of the ordinary places of “church” and “righteous people.” It can be seen in the shadow of a cross and perhaps in our own compassion when we dare to show it.
The Mystic Grace of Hospitality
It is said that when Van Morrison wrote the song “And it Stoned Me,” Morrison and his friends had been fishing all day in his home of Ireland. They were thirsty. They stopped at a house where they saw an old man. They asked him for some water and (apparently having no running water) he gave them water from a nearby stream.
Upon drinking this water, Morrison is said to have slipped into a mystical state. Maybe dehydrated. Maybe exhausted. Maybe he had tasted some of the bitterness of life, but in the moment of this act of hospitality, he seems to have experienced the incredible grace that ensues when human needs are met.
Blues are Meant to be Heard
“There is a God who hears us,” the Psalmist maintains, even in the depths of our blues. This is why we do not have to shy away from pain, or suffering, or hurt, or regret, but ours is to receive or to be a voice of change. Ours is offer and to receive streams of living water. Ours is to hold out those moments of mystic grace that propel us and others a little further down the road.
