Sermon Oct.3, 2010: Pentecost 19C
Did you hear the last verse of the Psalm this morning, or take it in when you said the words aloud?
(wait) ..... great then lets carry on with something else.
...I have a thought that the lack of response is due to the content of the text. I am sure that more than one of you read the sentence a second time, or puzzled over it, or closed the book quickly so as to not think about the image created.
The Psalm read: “Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock!”
Lovely image, isn’t it?
The Psalm is one of gut wrenching anger, despair and grief. The people of Israel have been carried off by an opposing military offensive and find themselves by the waters of Babylon –away from their homes, separated from their family, surrounded by foreigners and strange practices. They are sad, repentant and discouraged by their behaviour which is interpreted as their disobedience to the law of God. They weep for the days of old and speak curses against the oppressors. That is what we hear today; a deeply emotional poetic expression of the tumult of a displaced people.
So there -is the why of the text, but some of you may be asking why is this text included in scripture, repeated and remembered?
Take a moment to pause and remember when you last heard a graphic image and choose to share that image with another.
Consider this: By watching the news on television one is inundated with images that are just as graphic and similar in cause and reason as the verse written in Psalm 137. Now think about the last movie you went to in the theatre, reflect on the previews; how many acts of violence were present in just one trailer. –multiply this by five or six previews, and then consider how many acts of vengeance or revenge violence were present in the movie. Consider the presence of revengeful thoughts and acts in a regular primetime T.V. show? Have you read the newspaper recently, you will find such sentiment and image there too? What lovely images face us every day.
The truth is that the human condition of our world, fallen humanity, is no different today than it was centuries ago. Images of vengeance against an oppressor, thoughts of revenge and uttered curses are as close to our lips as they were to our ancestors.
Why is it that the image of children being dashed against stones should well up inside us an anger, a protest of too much when it appears in scripture, yet in our world it is a daily occurrence to which we turn a blind eye and a hardened heart. This image doesn’t bother us because of its grotesqueness, it bothers us because the incarnate God who has come to stand in humanity in and among us –agitates the heart of our very being with a sense that all is not right in the world. We look at the image as the culprit of angst, but it is misplaced anger and shame that we allow vengeance to exist in the world and revenge to creep into our own lives and emotions. It is easier to say what should be excluded in scripture than face the issues in the real world.
We are part of–and thus can be held responsible- for a society that de-humanizes people and social relationships, the falling apart of households, the perpetual speed of change and stress; stress, chaos and sin that breeds gang violence, swarmings, child abuse and neglect, a rise in homicides and punitive justice, an appetite for war.
Psalm 137 wrestles with human emotion and circumstance; with an eye to seeking understanding that would bring meaning to life. The poetic song expresses the peoples’ understanding of how God is part of the crisis they find themselves in. And yes, here God is represented as standing with one people, a people with whom God has made a covenant; and so with repentance on the part of the people, they see a return to their homeland and a crushing of the oppressor by the hand of God.
Our theology and understanding of God is perhaps, as we see it, a more evolved theology –one where God is not seen as a cosmic deity favouring one people over another, punishing those not following the law, using nations as if pawns on a chess board and being the God who will enact punitive justice –vengeance at the end of time. We may say that we are above this kind of theology but it is thriving amongst large sections of societies in this country and around the global.
If this is not the theology we believe in, if our understanding and experience of God is different -then it is high time for it to be shared in the chaotic world; a theological understanding to be lived and in the living to bring hope, reduce violence, foster forgiveness and reignite relationships through reconciliation.
How?
At Lutheran World Federation meetings earlier this year, LWF repented and apologized to Mennonite and Anabaptist peoples for Lutheran acts of violence, torture and death executed by Lutheran hands over differences in theology not only in Europe, but here in North America.
Living a different understanding of God and theology, is refusing to watch CNN over and over so that you can retell those horrible images and stories at the coffee shop; on the contrary one could share a story of hope, like an aha moment or an event you enjoyed with a friend.
Living a different understanding of God and theology is, no matter how much you dislike a neighbour and feel they deserve revenge, you neither mention these feelings to others or act on the emotion, rather you seek ways to build that relationship.
Living a different understanding of God and theology is going to a hockey game and not calling for a fight and if one erupts you do not stand and get hyped up, but remain seated unenthused until it is done.
Living a different understanding of God and theology is refusing to promote violence in any means and stopping a perpetuation of vengeful portrayals through the voice of your hard earn dollars. That means refusing to buy video games or home movies soaked in acts of violence.
Living a different understanding of God and theology means a lot of hard work and a willingness to live as a child of God – a person seeking understanding and a coming-forth of new societal values. If the images of Psalm 137 disturb us, are we called to do anything less than eradicate such images...and until such a time as eradication comes to fruition in the world around us, then Psalm 137 needs to be said, put up before us, rubbed in our faces, challenging us to do better.
And better means fulfilling the law: “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and mind and soul; and love your neighbour as yourself.” Two laws connected through an image of relationship –a relationship built of obedience and grace.
In May, during my class on contemporary theology, the professor commented during a daily devotion that theology really boils down to one thing: our understanding of the kingdom of God. The professor chose a hymn with images that painted a picture that represented the kingdom of God to him and suggested that we try the exercise, saying that our understanding of the kingdom colours our understanding of God –and emotionally connecting with this theology through song becomes how it is that we act as a Christian person in the world. It states exactly how we live our understanding of God and theology.
The hymn I chose is the one chosen as today’s hymn of the day, “All Are Welcome.” The words paint lovely grace-filled images of the kingdom of God; a kingdom that is created now, a kingdom that faces distressing images of children being bashed and goes beyond to tackle the issues of everyday life and society –refusing to turn a blind eye but rather embracing an understanding of a God full of grace, reconciliation and forgiveness. It is about the Incarnate Christ, at work today, through us –with the vision and mission of creating lovely images which are truly lovely in reality.
Today may this hymn be not only our prayer, but God’s mission, God’s vision, our image and theology of God and the fullness of the kingdom of God. And as hope bearers may we digest the words through our singing of them, that we will live them now and forever. Amen.
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