Impatiently Waiting

"O Israel, wait for the LORD, for with the LORD there is mercy; with him there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins." - Psalm 130:6-7

We're an impatient bunch, we humans. It is perhaps most especially true in an age when we can get information delivered to the palms of our hands almost instantly, we don't like to wait, for anything. We want what we want, and we want it NOW, because there are far too many things which just have to be done to waste any time waiting.

But... what if we stopped to wait, just for a moment? What might we see? Might we even encounter Jesus himself, offering us the mercy and redemption we tend to forget is there amid the busy-ness of our daily life and work?

My favorite musical setting of Psalm 130 comes from John Rutter's Requiem. It begins with a solo cello undergirding the alto and bass voices, with what the composer himself calls a, "knocking at the door." While he is fairly clear that he intended it as an echo of humanity's knocking at God's door, it might also be taken as God knocking on OUR door. The only answer to that can be as the Psalmist has it, that with him there is plenteous redemption, and that our very act of responding to God's presence places us squarely in the camp of the redeemed.

You can listen to the piece here, and watch Mr. Rutter explain the process of composition here.

- Amy+