Singing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land

10-2-22Sermon Notes“Singing the Lord’s Song in a Strange Land”

“Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” I’m picturing Dorothy, from The Wizard of Oz, holding her little dog, looking at the strange land that she found herself in. She knew that wherever they were…it wasn’t home.

Multiply that feeling of strangeness and homesickness by many times over, and you might begin to understand how the exiles felt in Babylonian exile. You see, in 586 B.C. the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, carrying off into exile all the most skilled and talented Jews into exile – away from their homes and into a strange land.

Psalm 137 is a poem about homesickness…but more than that. The exiles felt cut off from everything they had known – everything precious to them. They literally felt cut off from God, because they thought of God as dwelling in their holy city, Jerusalem. They were carried off to Babylon, where they gathered by the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates). There, they sat in the dust and cried. Can you hear the homesickness, anger, and grief in the Psalmist’s words?

By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down, and there we 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! Tear it down!
Down to its foundations!”
8 O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
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!

This Sunday we will talk about homesickness, anger and grief…the exiles, and our own; because to be honest, sometimes we all feel like we don’t know what to do with all these changes! We will also share the Lord’s Supper, and be reminded that we can indeed sing the Lord’s song in a strange land!

See you Sunday,
Pastor Sam