Psalm 69: 1-36 (links validated 3/26/25a)

In a scene from the TV series The West Wing as President Bartlet prepares for a debate with the Republican presidential candidate running against him, the President asks his staff to do a quick debate drill. It turns out the whole scene is a spoof on the President’s Communications Director Toby Ziegler to see if Toby could hold it together when the President (intentionally) appears to be woefully unprepared for the debate on one particular question. As part of the mock debate drill, Toby asks the President if he would favor the death penalty in case his daughter Zoe were raped and murdered. The President fumbles, gives a rather bloodless and academic answer, and so Toby explodes and tells him what he should have said, which is that of course he would want his daughter’s rapist/murder put to death in the cruelest way possible. You can see the scene here. That scene no doubt sprang from a real-life political moment from 1988 when presidential candidate Michael Dukakis was asked at a debate if he would favor the death penalty for someone in case they had raped and murdered Dukakis’s own wife, Kitty. You can see that debate moment here and for Dukakis this became a defining moment in that his dispassionate and robotic answer felt less than true, less than human. As in the fictional West Wing scene, what people wanted to see was a loving husband saying that of course he would want his wife’s rapist and murderer killed but that is why it is a good thing that victims of crimes and even the President of the United States do not get to make those decisions. Some decisions for justice need to be left in the hands of others. And when it comes to cosmic justice for evildoers, that was the point made in this commentary in terms of how we Christians parse and make sense out of Psalm 69-like wishes for the destruction of our enemies. We admit our own anger over evil and what we would like to do to those who commit acts of violence and treachery. But we leave all this in the far better and wiser hands of our God.

Sixteen times across the better part of 10 sickening minutes George Floyd cried out “I can’t breathe.” Not surprisingly, his cry became the rallying cry of the protests against police brutality and a racist system just generally. More, it became a metaphor for how many people of color feel all the time. “We can’t breathe.” The boot of the oppressor remains on the necks of too many people. The Lectionary begins its reading of Psalm 69 at verse 7 for some reason. But I would like to suggest that it is the opening few verses that capture something that needs naming in this moment: for too many people, they can’t breathe. They feel like the poet of Psalm 69...

“Save Me, O God” by Marty Haugen, on Here Among Us: Songs for the Liturgical Year (2015)

Those who preach this psalm might relate to and relate their similar story to worshipers: during a recent Sunday evening worship service we gave worshipers opportunities to select songs they wanted us to sing together. Most of the songs were familiar old classics. One worshiper, however, chose “Come Quickly, Lord, to Rescue Me,” a psalm based on Psalm 70’s prayer of lament. Our gifted accompanist was unfamiliar with the tune that featured four flats, but valiantly led us through it. But worshipers and even my own discomfort not just with tune but also with its message were almost palpable. It’s perhaps telling that the person who chose this song is a recent refugee from a country where Christians are being intensely persecuted. It reminds us that even if we think we have little personal reason to lament, we have every reason to sing with beleaguered Christians their laments.

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