Psalm 41 GW

This one comes with a story.

A few years ago, I was in southern Ontario doing a concert tour. I found myself with a free Sunday, and I went with my hosts to church with them, a Canref church near Hamilton, with several hundred in attendance. I knew from past experience it was going to be memorable, and I was not disappointed.

The congregation stood for a song. The pipe organ swelled on the pitch note, then the congregation joined in, and five hundred people who each knew how to sing raised the rafters...

"Let all the earth with loud rejoicing..." Wonderful. Sublime. Not too slow, either... But then came the half rest at the end of the phrase, and the organist held it for at least one beat too long, perhaps closer to two beats. I deflated, puzzled. But the congregation was not puzzled, they knew this game, and came in on the next line out of time and all together... "The greatness of our God acclaim!" Glory! Exultation! Then the rest was too long again... It was like each line was a song unto itself...

The musician in me was sorely conflicted, and I was exhausted by the end of the song for all the mountains and valleys I had traversed. I hardly ever got to be in a congregation that sang like that, but, but, but...

"Bite your tongue and enjoy it, Jamie." If I had not thought this, I am still confident this is something Jesus might have said to me.

............................................................

I went to a different Canref church that afternoon, one not so large, to see what I would see. There was a visiting minister that day, and he had picked the songs, I think, perhaps resting on the belief that all the Genevans are singable to the same degree.

The congregation rose to sing Psalm 41, and three things became quickly apparent; 1) the pastor did not know the song, 2) the organist did not know the song, and 3) the congregation did not know the song. Psalm 41, I discovered, was not a song to be trifled with by amateurs. It was painful and slow, and it mercifully had only four stanzas, and even more mercifully, we only did two.

I had no experience to that point with Genevan Psalm 41. I puzzled over how a song that bad had lasted almost 500 years. But then I sat down that afternoon and tried to learn it. It has a compelling tune and feel, if it is done right. But in order to do it right, you need a fat Italian shopkeeper with an accordion moving at a fast clip. Good luck, Mr. Organist...

One of these days I am going to figure out how to play that tune on my guitar. I have tried a number of times now, but it has defeated me.

In the meanwhile, I built this tune for Psalm 41. When I introduced it to our congregation before service one day, all the little girls got up to dance and to march around the room in a line. I was pretty sure I had struck gold.

Here are the lyrics.

Psalm 41 Gw Lyrics

53.4KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

O Lord, Be Gracious to Me

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

41 Blessed is the one who considers the poor!

In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him;

² the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land;

you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

³ The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health.

⁴ As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!”

⁵ My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?”

⁶ And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,

while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad.

⁷ All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me.

⁸ They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;

he will not rise again from where he lies.”

⁹ Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

¹⁰ But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!

¹¹ By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me.

¹² But you have upheld me because of my integrity,

and set me in your presence forever.

¹³ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!

Amen and Amen.