Hebrew Scripture Theology

This is a bit random, but Charles Hamilton Sorley wrote a beautiful poem in 1915 called 'Expectans Expectavi' (the Latin for 'I waited patiently'). The poem is based loosely around Psalm 40 (one of this weeks passages) and may be of interest. Incidentally, the English composer Charles Wood set the latter half of the poem to music, and 'Expectans Expectavi' has become a treasured English anthem - listen to it!

'Expectans Expectavi'

FROM morn to midnight, all day through,
I laugh and play as others do,
I sin and chatter, just the same
As others with a different name.

And all year long upon the stage, 5
I dance and tumble and do rage
So vehemently, I scarcely see
The inner and eternal me.

I have a temple I do not
Visit, a heart I have forgot, 10
A self that I have never met,
A secret shrine—and yet, and yet

This sanctuary of my soul
Unwitting I keep white and whole,
Unlatched and lit, if Thou should’st care 15
To enter or to tarry there.

With parted lips and outstretched hands
And listening ears Thy servant stands,
Call Thou early, call Thou late,
To Thy great service dedicate.

May, 1915

Lovely poem! Sorley has created a very introspective take on Psalm 40, don’t you think? The relational elements, so prominent in the psalm, seem to me quite muted here.

And where can we find a setting of the anthem of the last two stanzas? The best I could do was a minute’s preview here!

DjR

Yes it is rather an introspective rendering of Psalm 40; its emergence out of a WWI context probably has something to do with this – in spite of broken European relations and the chaotic nature of the world, Sorley finds personal hope in God. Of interest to me is the relation between Psalm 40's language of the 'Pit' from which David cries, and the mire of the WWI trenches from which Sorley cries. The language of Psalm 40 is relational, but the personal search for salvation is a prominent motif that Sorely appropriately plays upon.

I don't have a link to the anthem, but I do have a recording of it; the recording is of particular significance to me as it is my father singing in the choir of St. Paul's Cathedral! I'll happily play it/burn it onto a disk for anyone who is interested!

Rob.