(Please reflect on the scripture passages and read the commentary before listening to the music.)
PSALM OFFERING 5 OPUS 7
A prayer for the victims of world hunger.
My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like the wounded in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. The tongue of the infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives them anything. Happier were those pierced by the sword than those pierced by hunger, whose life drains away, deprived of the produce of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food in the destruction of my people. (Lamentations 2: 11-12, 4: 4, 9-10)
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day. (Amos 8: 4-7, 9-10)
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel. (Luke 1: 46-53)
Everyday our television is filled with images of those who are starving. The faces of the hungry are a part of our news, special reports, and advertisements. Somewhere in the world there is famine and drought. Nations use hunger and starvation as a weapon against those they hate. Legislators plot to rob the food from the mouths of children by cutting food stamps. Those who once contributed to food shelters are now the clients of those same food shelves trying to stave off starvation. As the quote from Lamentations expresses above, death by the sword is far more humane than a slow, torturous death by starvation. Our farmers work very hard to grow the necessary food we need to feed a hungry world, yet, that food does not reach those who are in need of it most. Corporations withhold food from those in need in order to make more profit.
Psalm Offering 5 is a musical prayer for the hungry and starving peoples of our world.
ABOUT THE MUSIC: Psalm Offering 5 is written in F Lydian mode. It is in the form of a variation on a theme. It begins with the themes stated very simply in 2/4 time, and is treated as a sung chorale. It modulates to the key of A major and shifts the meter to 3/4 time. The next two variations are in 6/8 time, the first in E major, the second in G major. The following variation changes the meter to 4/4 time and is in the key of C minor, with the final variation remaining in 4/4 time but shifting the key to C Lydian mode to the final Coda.
(c) 2017 by BRUTH Music Publishing Company.
Scriptural Text by Coogan, Michael D.; Brettler, Marc Z.; Perkins, Pheme; Newsom, Carol A.. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version. © 2010 by Oxford University Press Inc. All rights reserved.
