Out of the Depths - Mid Week Lenten Worship
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
April 01, 2026
Years ago Michael and I hiked the Virgin River Narrows in
Zion National Park. It’s what is called a slot canyon. Water over time wore a
narrow crevasse between the rocks so that the river now flows deep below what
was once the surface of the land. It continues even now to carve and shape
Zion. The river drops 7800 feet in the 160 miles it travels and in the park it
drops 71 feet every mile. By comparison the Mississippi River drops one inch
per mile. Because of this, when rainstorms show up in the desert, the river changes
from scenic to wild rapidly. They tell hikers to check the weather before
hiking the Narrows, but even so, things can change beyond what we think we can
know. I learned that my first instinct, to climb above the water, would be the
worst choice. It is better to get behind a big rock and let the water flow
around you rather than sweep you away. If there had been a pop-up storm,
without that knowledge, I would be lost. It’s the same experience when people
try to drive out of floods in our time only to get stuck. Deep water moments
are full of chaos.
“Being in deep water” is the idiom for our lives when we
find ourselves overwhelmed or in trouble in lots of ways. And this figure of
speech has its origins in the psalms. Long ago in a desert of the Hebrew
people, the same phenomenon of deserts and water existed. And so it is perhaps
no surprise that there are many places that talk about both the joy of water in
a parched land, but also the chaos that can ensue when waters suddenly become
deep. Psalm 69 speaks of coming into deep waters where the flood sweeps over me
and I am in water up to my neck. Isaiah 43 reassures that when you pass through
the deep waters I will be with you and the rivers will not overwhelm you. Psalm
18 is in awe that God drew me out of deep waters. And of course our psalm
today, opens with “From the depths I called to you.” Whether the psalmist is in
deep water because they were foolish, or just caught off guard. Maybe they had
no choice but to try to navigate the water. For whatever reason, they are in
deep trouble. When we are in this space, we pray for grace and mercy.
But sometimes whenever the river changes from scenic to
wild, as in all potentially dangerous situations, one of our first instincts when
we imagine someone else caught in the depth of trouble is to say- they should
have known better. We look for fault. And we are angered when others have to
risk for those we think have done wrong.
Luckily God’s heart is not the same as ours can be. The
NRSV says that if God marked iniquities, who could stand? As if God stands over
us preparing to tell us we failed to make the grade. Our translation from
Biblical scholar Robert Alter says instead, “Were you to watch for wrongs who
could endure?” If God decided to watch for us to mess up simply to tell us
about it, what an overwhelming toil that would be. Instead, we are met by the
same God of whom Psalm 8 says, “Who am I that you are mindful of me?”
The psalmist tells us “ I hoped and for God’s word I
waited.”
The correct attitude for one who is awe of God is hope
not empty waiting.
I hoped and for God’s word I waited.
God’s word comes. God watches for us, not our wrongs.
Forgiveness is the word God brings to all of our deep water moments. This we
can trust.
And this word is about Jesus and is found in Jesus.
As we are on the eve of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and
the tomb, imagine now how Jesus, a rabbi who knew scripture through and
through, would have been praying these words in his heart and mind, knowing the
existential storm that is about to be unleashed in his betrayal, arrest,
torture and crucifixion. Out of the depths I cry to you, Father. May your ears
listen closely to the voice of my plea. Fully human Jesus prayed for any other
way out of the time that will turn from the scenic entry into Jerusalem to the
raging events mere hours away.
And he will plead with his followers, can you not stay
awake with me to watch and pray before the dawn?
I hoped for the Lord, my whole being hoped, before in
this case, the word from God leads to Jesus uttering the anguished, “not my
will but thine.”
In Jesus, this side of the cross we can enter Christ’s
story by bringing our depths to Jesus who became the embodiment of God’s
forgiveness and grace. It is because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection
that we can be people of hope even in our deepest deep water moments. We can be
in awe of the depth of God’s love because it is the word that comes to us
without fail.
We can trust that even when our nights feel long, dawn
comes. The dawn from on high will break upon us. Our waiting is for the
inbreaking of steadfast kindness and restoration. Righting all our wrongs in
God’s eyes. Forgiveness is God’s and not ours to dispense. This is so that we
can be in awe of a heart so deep, deeper than the deepest waters that feel like
they will overtake us.
The kind of forgiveness that looked at everyone in the
world from the cross and said, “Father forgive them for they have no idea what
they are doing. They have been overtaken by all the chaos that threatens to
drown them. But I will redeem them from all their wrongs.”
As we trust this word, we can become people who are on
the lookout for God and what God is doing. We don’t know the time or manner but
we trust God’s heart. It’s easy to imagine how fervently we would pray for
ourselves or our closest beloveds to not be swept away. For them it is easy to
hope and to wait.
But I confess to you I struggle to pray this word for
those whose foolishness adds to the chaos and harm in the world. Lately it
feels like one flash flood after another caused by those who seem to know no
depths. But this psalm drives me back to the answer to distress- our God is not
a God of despair but hope. And the word we await and receive is forgiveness.
We don’t understand how deep grace flows for those who we
suspect were foolish or even purposeful. It’s because we cannot see from our
own depths the world God sees. But our God so loves us all that God’s word for
all is that Jesus came not to condemn the world but to save it from all its
wrongs. From the darkest nights the dawn will rise and from the depths God will
continue to lift us up. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2026 All rights reserved. May
not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
Sermon Text: Psalm 130
From the depths I called to You, Lord.
Master, hear my voice.
May your ears listen close to the voice of my plea.
Were you, O Lord, to watch for wrongs,
Master, who could endure?
For forgiveness is Yours,
So that you may be feared.
I hoped for the Lord, my being hoped,
And for his word I waited.
My being for the Master-
More than the dawn-watchers watch for the dawn.
Wait, O Israel, for the Lord,
For with the Lord is steadfast kindness,
And great redemption is with Him.
And He will redeem Israel
From all its wrongs.
Psalm 130 translation from
Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms A Translation with Commentary,
W.W.Norton, 2007.
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