singing in a strange land Psalm 137

singing in a strange land

Psalm 137 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there we hung up our harps. 3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

4 How could we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! 6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem's fall, how they said, "Tear it down! Down to its foundations!" 8 O daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! 9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!

are we as Church in exile? • minority group on the margins, no links to state power • beliefs and values at odds with surrounding society • having to work out what living faithfully looks like against a backdrop of competing worldviews / religious options • loss of established structures and influence, crisis of confidence • old certainties gone, old ways of being church become impossible to maintain

Pilgrimage Andrew Moon

How could we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

refusing to engage 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there we hung up our harps. 3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, so that they may have sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. Jeremiah 29: 5 -6 • Be where you are, Live where you are • Don’t be passive and turn in on yourselves – thrive!

nostalgia 4 How could we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? 5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! 6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

10 For this is what the LORD says: Only when Babylon's seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill my promise to you and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29: 10 -11 • Let go of the past, you are where I mean you to be

anger, desire for judgment 7 Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem's fall, how they said, "Tear it down! Down to its foundations!" 8 O daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction! Happy shall they be who pay you back what you have done to us! 9 Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!

7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29: 7 • Engage with the context you’re in • Know it, and engage with its issues, otherwise how can you pray for it and seek its wellbeing?

a question to live by How could we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land? How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

3 For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”

singing the song • Need to know the strange land pretty well! • Out on the edge engaging with context • Give up the idea that everyone shares our values (or perhaps that they should) • Lost in translation? – music, words, concepts

redemption as drama • Act I – Creation (the Author’s intentions) • Act II – Fall (it goes horribly wrong) • Act III – Israel • Act IV – Jesus • Act VI – Church – most of script is missing! • faithful improvisation (also works for songs!) • Act VI – Restoration (Author’s purposes are finally realised)