Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#102

102. LORD, Hear My Prayer and Let My Cry

Text Information

• First Line: LORD, hear my prayer and let my cry
• Title: LORD, Hear My Prayer and Let My Cry
• Versifier (st. 4-6): Marie J. Post (1985)
• Meter: LMD
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Psalm 102
• Topic: New Year - Old Year; Return of Christ; Sickness & Health; Confession of Sin; Creation; New Creation
• Source: Psalter, 1912; (st. 1-3)
• Copyright: Text © 1987, CRC Publications

Tune Information

• Name: SOCIAL BAND
• Harmonizr: J. Harold Moyer (1965, alt.)
• Meter: LMD
• Key: F Major
• Source: J. Ingalls' Christian Harmony, 1805

Text Information:

A prayer asking God to have compassion on Zion and the LORD's anointed and to rebuild the devastated city to the praise of God s glory among the nations.

Scripture References:
st. l = vv. 1-3
st. 2 = vv. 4-11
st. 3 = vv. 12-17
st. 4 = vv. 18-22
st. 5 = vv. 23-26
st. 6 = vv. 1-2, 27-28

The psalmist opens with an appeal to God to hear his prayer (st. 1) and describes his mournful state because of God's wrath (st. 1-2). Still, he is confident that God will rebuild Zion, to the dismay of all its enemies (st. 3). The psalmist asks that God's deliverance be recorded for future generations so that the praise of the LORD will resound in Jerusalem when peoples and nations gather there for worship (st. 4). Finally the psalmist expresses confidence that though heaven and earth will perish (st. 5), God will remain the same; future generations of God's people will continue to live before the LORD (st. 6). Marie J. Post (PHH 5) altered stanzas 1 through 3 from the 1912 Psalter and versified stanzas 4 through 6 in 1985. Psalm 102 is one of the traditional group of penitential psalms (along with 6, 32, 38, 51, 130, and 143.

Liturgical Use:
Penitence; expressions of confidence in God's unfailing commitment to his church, even though it may suffer in a hostile world; Christian worship focusing on illness (st. 5).

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

New England singing master Jeremiah Ingalls (b. Andover, MA, 1764; d. Hancock, Yr, 1828) composed SOCIAL BAND and published it in his 1805 collection of folk hymns, Christian Harmony. SOCIAL BAND is a classically shaped rounded bar form (AABA). Its third line provides a fine contrast and climax to the other (repeated) line. Sing the tune in harmony.

Ingalls was a farmer, cooper, tavern keeper, and singing teacher. After settling in Vermont in 1791, he led the choir and played bass viol in the Congregational Church in Newbury. He moved to a farm between Rochester and Hancock, Vermont, in 1810. Ingalls composed several popular fuguing tunes and compiled The Christian Harmony (1805), one of the earliest collections of American tune books to contain a significant number of folk melodies.

The harmonization (1965) is by J. Harold Moyer (b. Newton, KS, 1927), professor of music at his alma mater, Bethel College, North Newton, Kansas. He also studied at George Peabody College in Nashville, Tennessee, and received his Ph.D. in music composition from the University of Iowa in 1958. Moyer was chair of the tune committee and composed hymn tunes and harmonizations for the Mennonite Hymnal (1969). He also contributed to Hymnal, A Worship Book (1992) of the Brethren and Mennonite churches.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook