It was almost two months ago that the headlines in the news were full of the story of the OceanGate submersible known as the “Titan” which had lost contact with its surface vessel soon after it had descended into the deep waters above the ruins of the Titanic.  Many of us, me included, followed the story, both fascinated and fearful as we contemplated the fate of the five passengers on board.  We hoped for a miracle.  We hoped that they would be found alive and that recovery vessels would be able to bring them to the surface unharmed, ending the long underwater imprisonment in the cold dark waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.  Of course, as things turned out there was not to be any rescue.  The five passengers on board tragically died in what we all continue to hope was a mercifully quick and painless death.

This Sunday we will not be talking about the “Titan” or its doomed expedition.  We will, however, be talking about the cold dark depths of a man’s sin.  In Psalm 130 the psalmist begins by speaking of being in the depths of despair as a result of his separation from God.  It is a very fearful beginning to this Psalm.  Many of us have felt times of despair due to separation from loved ones, whether through estrangement or through death. I am sure that in our sins we have even felt despair at being separated from God.  The psalmist felt all of that and more.  If you have ever been in this situation or, perhaps, if you are in this situation now…the good news in this Psalm is that one does not have to stay in the depths.  Unlike the tragedy of the “Titan” submersible and its occupants, for whom there was no rescue from the deep darkness; the psalmist reminds us that there is hope for whatever deep waters you find yourself sinking into, even if you are already on the bottom. I hope you will join us on Sunday morning as we look into this Psalm with the message “Prayer for Our Forgiveness.”