Evening Sermon-- Psalm 103 Penance and the Desire for God

     In the Vespers service of the Byzantine Rite, after the introductory prayers, the priest is directed by the liturgical books to stand before the Royal Doors with his head uncovered while he recites the Prayers of the Evening.  During this time, the choir or the people are singing Psalm 103. 

     The Church has long understood this simple gesture as having a deep mystical meaning.  The priest, standing with his head uncovered before the closed doors, represents our forefather Adam, weeping outside the gates of Paradise.  Having the head uncovered is a symbol of mourning in the ancient Near East, we think, for example of the Prophet King David, who could be seen ascending the slope of the Mount of Olives, weeping and with his head uncovered, as he and those who were loyal to him evacuated the Holy City on account of the approach of David’s rebellious son Absalom.  The priest, here in the Vespers service, adopts a posture of mourning, just like Adam before the gates of Paradise.  He is mourning on account of his sins, and the sins of all the people, for it is sin that puts us at a distance from God. 

     This simple gesture of repentance takes on all the more meaning during the days of the Nativity Fast, the forty days of fasting by which we prepare for the feast of the birth of our Saviour.  In the figure of the priest, there is Adam, our father, weeping before the entrance to Paradise (thrust out from the presence of God), while the choir sings the words of Psalm 103, which is often referred to as “the Evening Psalm.” What makes this the Evening Psalm par excellence is the fact that it includes a description of the whole of God’s creation as it prepares for the rest of night.  The Psalm’s description is harmonious and ordered; everything works together like a machine.  Yet, Adam is alienated from this order.  It is an order that is largely hidden from him; in which he can no longer play a part.  Nevertheless, he takes a sad pleasure in beholding it, and he can still learn, and thus also love, something concerning the Living God from it. 

     There is no better thought for us to begin the Nativity Fast than the remembrance of Adam thus cast out of Paradise. In this way, we begin to appreciate the great aspirations of mankind before the coming of Christ—the longing to be saved from “something,” the longing to inherit “something,” the burning desire that could not be defined, and could not be quenched.  Although we now possess Christ by means of the fullness of Revelation, we still know this longing, for our destiny in Christ has not fully been revealed or realized.  Although Christ has revealed to us the way of freedom from sin and death, many are still enslaved to the tyranny of entrenched vices, struggling along the way of perfection.  They feel most deeply, most exquisitely, their exile from the harmony and order of the universe that God has made.  We, who so struggle, have our own prayer that rings out from the verses of the same psalm.  We cry out: “Would that my thoughts be pleasing to Him.” Then follows the firm resolution: “I will rejoice in the Lord.” Let us not be discouraged.  Let us rejoice in the Lord. Then, indeed, our thoughts will be pleasing to Him.