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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! 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
PilgrimageAndrew 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! 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?
How could we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
a question to live by
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 – Restoration (Author’s purposes are finally realised)
• Act VI – Church – most of script is missing!
• faithful improvisation (also works for songs!)
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