Sing

Psalm 137:1-6 (NRSV)

¹By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion. On the willows^* there
we hung up our harps. For there our captors
asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth,

saying,‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’

How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!

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.
⁴⁵⁶

The Old Testament histories recount the exiles of God's people. The people of Judah lost their way, turning from God to worship other idols. When their faithfulness waned, God gave them into the hands of their enemy, the Babylonians.

Psalm 137 recounts the bitterness of that captivity. By the "rivers of Babylon," they sat and wept...and remembered.

Their captors mocked them, forcing them to sing "the songs of Zion."

Yet in the singing, there was a memory, and a deeply held pledge not to forget Jerusalem. Even in exile, God's people would not give up their identity, and eventually they would be restored.

Yesterday, I got to be present for a few moments of worship at my old seminary. I happened to be on the Emory campus at just the right time, and stopped by the chapel to see what was happening.

The worship music was provided by the "Georgia State Prison Women's Chorus."

About 15 female prisoners, together with women from the seminary choir, sang songs of praise with emotion and power.

"God did not give us a spirit of fear," they sang.

I don't know what any of them did, or how their lives unfolded to land them inside prison.

I do know that even in exile, they are remembering their identity. They sing, and they remember that they are loved children of God.

A wonderful lesson for us all.

Prayer: Father, may you remember us, even when we sit and cry by the "Rivers of Babylon" in our own lives.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.

Tomorrow's Scripture: 2 Timothy 1:1-7