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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Dr Krish Kandiah

Good Morning.

When my home office ceiling began shuddering, I excused myself from the zoom meeting and went to investigate. Upstairs I found two of my children – and the rest of their class via videolink – dancing away energetically to Crazy Frog. The impromptu party had overtaken their online lesson and even the teachers appeared delighted at the welcome relief to the miseries of self-isolation. Thankfully there was no long-lasting damage to the ceiling – but for the rest of the week, try as I might, I just couldn’t get the annoyingly inane tune out of my head.

Maybe there’s a song that plays on repeat in your mind. A song that makes you cry for someone you miss, a song of rage that reflects your daily struggles, or a song of despair because you have lost hope.

Psalm 40 has always been my go-to song in difficult times. I once heard it sung at the end of a U2 concert: it wormed its way into my brain then and it has never left:

I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.

The ancient songwriter cried out to God - not to take away the slimy pits of life - but to be lifted away from them. Perhaps, like him, with firmer ground under our feet we may discover a new song in our mouths.

Lord God, may songs of adoration replace our anguish, songs of faith arise from our fear, and songs of hope ring out from our helplessness.

Amen.

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