Sun. Apr. 21, 2013 (Julia Bowering)

Julia Bowering launched from Psalm 42 and 43 to describe personal encounters with thirst, relating that to a thirst for God. Fainting in the desert on a hike from lack of water was not the encounter she desired, but remains with her as a metaphor for life without the Lord. As the hart yearns for water, so my soul pants for you. This song is for those who felt abandoned by God or overwhelmed in despair. The two psalms (laments) are so perfectly written to fit together, particularly the refrain (“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?...”) that repeats again and again, challenging God in the way that those close to death are wont to do. In a day after bombings in Boston and plots in Toronto, this lament calls out to Julia with its raw honesty. She noted the history of Jewish peoples called for frequent festivals and feasts, to which God was to be praised and thanked for his blessings, and this contrasts with the despair that so often occupied life. Though we experience God in different ways and different seasons, our call is nevertheless to maintain hope, no matter our experience, even when the silence of God’s absence presses upon us. So too is voicelessness where we soon find ourselves in dependency. Turn to prayer, Julia asks, as the Psalmist did in Psalm 43 in the hope of finding God will be there to support us. [AP]
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