As the deer fails to teach lament, so does the Church
As the deer fails to teach lament, so also the church.
Psalm 42 is classified as an individual psalm of lament[1],[2].
TLH categorizes it as a psalm “Of Prayer; Against the Enemies of the Church”[3]
– that is, imprecatory. The psalm itself shares the psalmists’ despair at the
seeming victory of the godless and his separation from God’s presence at the
temple. What should be we learn from this psalm? We should desire God’s
presence, hear His Word in public worship, and receive the salvation He gives
in his Word[4]. Luther
uses Psalm 42 in his “Brief Exhortation to Confession”[5]
as an image of yearning for God’s Word, absolution, and the Sacrament.
“As the deer” says none of those things. It is a pop
evangelical song[6]
that, other than the paraphrase of verse 1 in stanza 1, fails to capture the depth
or intent of its inspired author. How could our hymnal committee make such a
silly mistake; unless it isn’t? Have we become so comfortable in this world
that we are unable to lament the evil surrounding us and recognize our deep
need for confession, absolution, and the Sacrament in the context of corporate
worship? Are we unable to recognize faith lamenting in trials yet hoping in God,
that this fluff passes for Psalm 42 in our ‘sacrifice of praise’? Perhaps this
helps to explain why our synod’s response to COVID was normalizing “online
worship”[7]
and providing practical advice[8]
instead of suggesting lament?
In AC XXIV, Melanchthon states “Falsely are our churches
accused of abolishing the Mass; for the Mass is retained among us, and
celebrated with the highest reverence. Nearly all the usual ceremonies are also
preserved” – something, perhaps, we should reflect on – “save that the parts
sung in Latin are interspersed here and there with German hymns which have been
added to teach the people.” What exactly does “as the deer” teach? Perhaps this
song is fine for personal piety, but it fails to be representative of the psalm
we are claiming to sing. If our kids find themselves in jail someday for their
faith – like Paul and Silas in Acts 16 – we want them singing the holy and
inspired words of God, words that share the full counsel of God, that teach us
how to lament and place our hope in God, not pop evangelical fluff that riffs
off a single verse and fails to convey the depth of God’s truth.
The song “As the deer” serves neither the purpose of lament
nor of imprecation, much less exhortation to confession. As we don’t read a commentary
by Luther in the lectionary and call it the Word of the Lord, so we shouldn’t
sing pop evangelical song and call it a psalm.
[1]
The Lutheran Study Bible, pg 846
[2]
Dr. Gregory Schulz provides a crash course in lament: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3Nwh7iSBfs,
see also Logia 24-2. “Lament is a modality of human affection directed to God,
and anchored in eschatological hope”
[3]
The Lutheran Hymnal, pg 166
[4]
Paraphrase of commentary in The Lutheran Study Bible, pg 887
[5]
Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions, pg 653. Excerpt: “For those who really desire to be
true Christians, to be rid of their sins, and to have a cheerful conscience
already possess the true hunger and thirst. They reach for the bread, just as
Psalm 42:1 says of a hunted deer, burning in the heat with thirst, “As a deer
pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God.” In other words, as
a deer with anxious and trembling eagerness strains toward a fresh, flowing
stream, so I yearn anxiously and tremblingly for God’s Word, Absolution, the
Sacrament, and so forth.”
[6]
Note, the song is not found in CW, nor the ELS’ Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary,
nor the LCMS’ Lutheran Service Book. It is in the ELCA’s Evangelical Lutheran
Worship…
[8]
“For such a time as this” did not speak of repentance or lament; but attempted
explained the physics of viral particles and why parishioners could shop at
grocery stores and skip church with a clean conscience.
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