Hilton Head Island, SC – November 10, 2013
The Chapel Without Walls
Luke 9:37-43; Psalm 130:1-8
A Sermon by John M. Miller
Text – Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications! – Psalm 130:1-2 (RSV)
Psalm 130 is a Song of Ascents, but it originates from out of the depths. It was composed by someone who represented a very saddened Voice from the Deep. Initially it doesn’t sound like a Song of Ascents, really; it is more like a Song of Descents.
You will remember from sermons over the previous two Sundays that there are fifteen Songs of Ascents. Presumably these songs were sung by pilgrims as they walked up to Jerusalem for religious festivals, and as they climbed the various sets of stairs that led up to the temple once they were in Jerusalem.
Only two of the Songs of Ascents are identified as having been composed by King David, and our Song of Ascents for today is not one of those two Psalms. However, it is easy to imagine that it could have been David who wrote the song, and for some reason his name was not affixed to it, either because he didn’t want that, or because someone else didn’t know he wrote the text of Psalm 130.
It is very plausible that David might have written from “out of the depths,” however, because in the historical books of the Bible which tell about him (I and II Samuel and the opening chapters of I Kings), he is seen as someone who suffered from major depression but who also was affected by excessive exaltation. I have said on other occasions that David seems like a classic example of bipolar illness, or, as it used to be described, manic-depressive illness. When he was up he was really up, and when he was down he was really down.
Whoever wrote Psalm 130 didn’t seem to be writing a proper text for a Song of Ascents, because the poetry is anything but “up.” “Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!” (Ps. 130:1-2) I’m struggling here, God, as surely You know. But in case You aren’t aware of my plight, here I am, reminding You in no uncertain terms. Please pay attention, God; You’re my only hope. I’m on my way up to the temple, and I pray You will lift me out of my doldrums when I get there.
Depression is probably the number one reason why people make appointments with psychiatrists or clinical psychologists. They may not verbalize that in their first or second or third visits, but that is often the genesis of their cry for help.
Furthermore, depression is common to almost everyone. Some of the people who claim never to have depression are fortunate beyond their ability to understand good fortune, but some of the others have assiduously avoided coming to grips with their own “out of the depths” feelings. Most people who say they are never depressed haven’t been paying sufficient attention to how they truly feel at all times. Nearly everyone gets “down” from time to time, because from time to time life is a “downer” for all of us.
Have you ever felt financially really up against it? Did you ever feel vocationally or occupationally or professionally up against it? Did the troubles of your children ever send you plummeting into the depths, or a physical calamity which caused great pain, or a bad decision conscientiously but disastrously made, or a foolish action whose calamitous results you could never rectify? Who is alive who manages to avert all such experiences?
“If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that thou mayest be feared” (130:3-4). Again, this sounds so much like David could have written it. Nobody was a more proficient sinner than the Sweet Singer of Israel. Probably David was no worse a sinner than anyone else in the Bible, but he just had a lot more written about him than anyone else. If all the sins of all of us were plastered across the pages of either holy writ or the daily newspapers, we would all probably sound like soul sisters and brothers of Bonnie and Clyde or Edward Snowden.
Sociopaths and psychopaths are not cast down by their sins, because they may be mentally incapable of feeling sorry for their errors. However, normal people deeply feel the pain of their mistakes, and by that experience they are thrust into the depths. Those who aren’t depressed by their grievous mistakes may be incapable of grieving for them, and that’s a far worse problem than the depression normal people feel when they realize how badly they have behaved under certain conditions. Hamlet said that “Conscience doth make cowards of us all,” but some folks seem to live without any awareness of a conscience altogether.
John Bunyan was the 17th century Puritan preacher and author who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. This religious classic is about an individual described by Bunyan simply as “Pilgrim.” Pilgrim is Everyman, and also, perhaps, John Bunyan. How do we progress through all the obstacles which confront us in life, and how shall we escape from the prisons which prevent us from moving forward, even as John Bunyan himself spent years in a literal prison for his unpopular and illegal beliefs? One of the obstacles in Pilgrim’s path was what was described as “The Slough of Despond.” The Slough of Despond is the marsh or bog or swamp of despondency and depression in which the writer of Psalm 130 found himself. As I recall, the whole of Pilgrim’s Progress was written during the years Bunyan spent in an English prison. It was a way for him to try to extricate himself spiritually from the physical bars which surrounded him.
In my opinion, the late, great Harry Chapin was one of the finest songwriters of the 20th century. His songs addressed the longings and desires of all of us, as well speaking to the bumps and bruises we all encounter as we matriculate through life.
One of Harry’s songs indirectly echoes Psalm 130. It is called How Come You Only Love Me When It Rains? The singer tells the story of his lover, and the singer and the lover can be either male or female. The gist of the song is this: The lover is able to express love only when she or he is depressed, when the storms of life sweep across the horizon. When things are up, and all’s right with the world, the lover either cannot or does not display affection. What an irony!
Of course it is better to love in the depths than not to love at all, but it is better still, and certainly more rewarding for everyone, to love constantly, through all the ups and downs of life. How come you only love me when it rains? It’s a painful, poignant, piquant question.
In the Latin funeral mass there is a phrase which says, De profundis de mortis: Out of the depths of death do I cry unto Thee, O Lord. It is the agonized exclamation of Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha at the moment Don Quixote dies; Out of the depths of death do I cry unto Thee, O Lord. My best friend has perished, and I am bereft.
Depression is a very common feeling after the death of someone who was particularly loved and revered: a parent, a spouse, a child, a very close friend, even an admired public figure. It is not healthy if such feelings continue indefinitely, but it is also not healthy to ignore the immensity of the sorrow and loss. Who cannot be depressed when such a thing happens?
Emily Dickinson gave exquisite expression to this universal phenomenon.
The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth, --
The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.
Never suppose that you shall escape depression. If you live, at all, it shall find you. And then what? Then what?
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning” (Ps. 130:5-6).
George Gordon, also known as Lord Byron, wrote of himself, “I doubt sometimes whether a quiet and unagitated life would have suited me --- yet sometimes I long for it.” From that quote came the inspiration for the title of Kay Redfield Jamison’s chronicle of her bi-polar illness. She called her book An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness. Dr. Jamison has a brilliant mind. Despite being engulfed by bi-polar illness at age seventeen and ever after, she was able to go through medical school and become a psychiatrist, ultimately teaching at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Through it all, however, her mood swings were mercurial, as she would bounce back and forth between majestic euphoria and debilitating melancholia.
In her captivating and enlightening memoir, she skillfully describes how depression would overcome her, after she had been on an exhilarating high. “Slowly the darkness began to weave its way into my mind, and before long I was hopelessly out of control. I could not follow the path of my own thoughts. Sentences flew around in my head and fragmented first into phrases and then words; finally only sounds remained” (p. 79).
Be clear about this: Bi-polar illness is a mental illness. It is not a normal situation. It does not produce normal elation or dejection; it results in extreme highs and lows. Nevertheless, all of us can experience the darkness which weaves its way into our minds, and we cannot follow the paths of our own thoughts. Depression is as real as it is sometimes ultimately inexplicable. For most of us, however, depression is circumstantial; it is not chemical or biological. That is, something bad happens, and it throws us into a tailspin. That is a very natural result of the human condition, and it cannot be avoided.
“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits…. O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plenteous redemption! And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities” (Ps. 130:5,7-8).
De profundis: Out of the depths. For most people, thankfully, depression is only an occasional occurrence. When it strikes us, there are four basic means of trying to overcome it: Our inner dealing with ourselves; assistance offered by people close to us – family members or friends; professionally-trained counselors, such as psychologists or psychiatrists; and finally, God Himself.
Some of us are more adept than others at treating our own depression. Personality is a large factor in determining how effective we are as our own counselors. Are we flighty, or are we psychologically as solid as a rock? Are we given to frequent emotional upheavals, or do we calmly try to reason things out? Do we revel in our depression, or do we revile it? Who we are may determine whether or not we can help ourselves when the darkness of depression descends.
Because of some of the same factors, whether others close to us can assist us may be determined by the level of our own emotional or mental maturity. There is no one here who is not aware of the sad truth that some folks are much more easily helped than others. It just goes with the human territory.
If loving, caring lay people cannot assist others in obliterating their depression, it is then, especially, when we need to seek professional help. Depression may be normal, but it need not be permanent. Talking through the causes of depression with someone skilled at doing that can be enormously liberating. Furthermore, there are numerous medications, many of them new in the past few years, which lift spirits and restore equilibrium. And while many people might conclude they cannot afford such professional help, in truth they may not be able not to afford it.
But finally, and for everyone, there is God. In all instances where anyone receives help in overcoming depression, ultimately God is involved: when we talk ourselves out of our own doldrums, when relatives or friends aid us, when professionals use their skills, and when we pray directly to God for His intervention. Because all good comes from God, anything that helps us, in the end, is a gift from God.
God doesn’t want anyone to suffer from depression. His will is for our happiness and good health. He is always ready to lift us up when we find ourselves in the depths. But that is much more likely to happen if we truly believe He can and will raise us. Trust in God is its own reward, and it behooves all of us to plead for His divine intervention in our human dilemmas.
“Out of the depths I cry to Thee, O Lord! Lord, hear my voice! …I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.”