First Presbyterian Church
Honest Pain, Honest Prayer
October 3, 2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Our unison scripture reading is found on page 576. It will also be our only scripture reading. I thought I had room to use Luke 17, but I don't. Once I finished writing about Psalm 137 I knew I was done. Unfortunately, by then the bulletin was already printed. I'll preach most of my sermon before the choir sings, so don't anyone panic that I have another twenty minutes to go after the anthem.

Psalm 137 is one of those problem psalms that's just a little too honest for most of us. It reveals that the psalms were written by real people with ordinary experiences and human emotions. We tend to prefer the psalms that are joyful, thankful and upbeat. But some psalms don't give thanks in all circumstances; they aren't model prayers of heroes but honest words from people struggling with faith and despair. And so one of the psalm's messages to us is that we can afford to be honest with God, and share what's on our minds, even if it isn't nice. Even if it doesn't seem Christian. God knows what's in our hearts, so we might as well admit it to ourselves.

Psalm 137 is about remembering what's important. The Babylonian captivity was a make or break event for the Israelites. The leaders of Israel were killed; all the artisans and priests, the scribes and the landowners were taken as captives to Babylon, where they had to collaborate with their conquerors.

The Babylonians were a wealthy society. A network of canals kept the land irrigated . It required a strong bureaucracy to keep the canals in working order. The rushes and water weeds had to be cleared, the silt shoveled out, and banks reinforced against floods. Bitumen had to be processed to use as plugs and patches. The canals, or ‘rivers' of Babylon , as we have it in the psalm, were symbols of the power of the city.

Psalm 137 is a lament of an Israelite musician, who would rather have a damaged strumming hand and be unable to sing than to forget Jerusalem. This is a psalm about remembering. Remembering that the Israelites belonged in Israel, remembering that Jerusalem was fallen, remembering that their neighbors, the Edomites, rejoiced in their defeat and looted the city. Listen for the word of God as we read it together from Psalm 137.

NRS Psalm 137:1 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 theedomites 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 ends our reading from the psalms.

This is the sort of psalm that makes us uncomfortable. What in the world is that doing in the Bible? Where is God's word heard in that? That desire for vengeance, even against innocent children? Is this something we want our children reading? On World Communion Sunday, when we take the peacemaking offering, what is this doing in the lectionary?

Whenever I read something especially shocking in the Bible, I look for other verses about the same event. It helps me put the verses in their historical context. So I checked out scriptures similar to verse 9. Five other what could possibly be going on?

The prophets Elisha, Isaiah, Nahum, and Hosea prophesied of the evils of war. They listed Israel 's sins of injustice, exploitation and faithlessness. If they didn't change their ways, they would be devastated by other nations. The prophets listed what would happen: their fortresses destroyed , young men killed with swords, pregnant women disemboweled , and infants dashed into pieces. (1)

And so the psalm becomes an anguished cry, a recognition that only those who are victorious in war are the happy ones; the rest are miserable. But do we need to hear of such despair? What good does it do?

In South Africa, when apartheid was dismantled , they established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Perpetrators and victims told their stories to the commission. Perpetrators were given amnesty once the truth was told. Sometimes they even apologized and repented . But the commission was primarily there to listen to the victims. Lucas Baba Sikwepere came to the commission. “He ….was permanently blinded by his torture by South African police…[He] said, ‘I feel what has been making me sick all the time is the fact that I couldn't tell my story. But now I—it feel like I got my sight back by coming here and telling you my story.' Being able to tell the truth moderates a thirst for revenge.” (2)

We can't really talk about forgiveness and reconciliation until we remember the harm that has been done. We have to face the mistakes our ancestors made; it's tempting to think of ourselves and our families as innocent of any wrong-doing, but we know that isn't the case. I would rather not know the mistakes America made; I would like to think our country was always right. I still remember the horror and disappointment I felt as a child when I first heard of the ways my white ancestors treated Native Americans.

But hiding history isn't helpful to anyone. When powerful people acknowledge the truth, healing can really take place.

In 1990, President George Bush sent every Japanese-American survivor of the internment camps a check for $20,000. He wrote “A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories; neither can they fully convey our Nation's resolve to rectify injustice and to uphold the rights of individuals. We can never fully right the wrongs of the past. But we can take a clear stand for justice and recognize that serious injustices were done to Japanese Americans during World War II.” President Bush didn't have anything to do with the internment camps; he was only 21 when Franklin Roosevelt issued executive order 9066. But President Bush knew his power to bring healing to many families. When we use our power for healing, we become a part of God's healing.

Anthem: It is Well with My Soul

After World War II, the country of Germany embarked on a long process of healing. One pastor says, “Many a young German is weary of hearing about the Holocaust and the other crimes of the Nazis. But I cannot forget a 17-year-old gymnasium student who told me ‘We have had to study the Holocaust at three different stages in our curriculum. You will hear young people complain that they are fed “up to here” with Holocaust studies. But my experience is that each new study has gone deeper than the one preceding it. Perhaps we should never stop trying to understand it.'” (3)

‘Forgive and forget' isn't a good peacemaking slogan. ‘Remember and repent” or ‘remember and forgive' (4) are better; memory makes for a permanent peace.

We do a lot of remembering in prayer. During communion, we remember.

We remember God's saving work when the Israelites were delivered from Egypt . We remember God's prophets who proclaimed painful truths. We remember Christ's teachings. We remember the humiliating way he died. And because we remember those terrible times, we can appreciate the glory and the truth of the resurrection. It is well with our souls. Thanks be to God.

(1) Hosea 10: 13-15 You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your power and in the multitude of your warriors, therefore the tumult of war shall rise against your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle when mothers were dashed in pieces with their children. Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great wicked ness. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

Hosea 13: 16 Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

Nahum 3:8-10 Are you better than Thebes that sat by the Nile , with water around her, her rampart a sea, water her wall? Ethiopia was her strength, Egypt too, and that without limit; Put and the Libyans were her helpers. Yet she became an exile, she went into captivity; even her infants were dashed in pieces at the head of every street; lots were cast for her nobles, all her dignitaries were bound in fetters.

Isaiah 13:15-18 Whoever is found will be thrust through, and whoever is caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be plundered , and their wives ravished . See, I am stirring up the Med es against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the young men; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; their eyes will not pity children. And Babylon , the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

2 Kings 8:12 Hazael asked , "Why does my lord weep?" He answered , "Because I know the evil that you will do to the people of Israel ; you will set their fortresses on fire, you will kill their young men with the sword, dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their pregnant women."

(2) Shriver, Donald W. “Bridging the abyss of revenge,” Christian Century, Dec. 1, 1999 , p. 1169+.

(3) Shriver, Donald W. “Bridging the abyss of revenge,” Christian Century, Dec. 1, 1999 , p. 1169+.

(4) Shriver, Donald W. “Bridging the abyss of revenge,” Christian Century, Dec. 1, 1999 , p. 1169+.