The Church and the Nations

RAGE AND THE HOLY GOD Psalm 137 This Psalm challenges our willingness to see all of Scripture as the inspired Word of God. I recall Bishop Pike in the 1950's sneering about this, asking who would be willing to read the closing verse ("Happy are they who take the little ones of Babylon and dash them against the rocks.") and follow it with the Gloria ("Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.") Offensive, shocking, unsettling, perhaps a bit embarrassing. Does it fit as the inspired Word, and if so, how? It does fit, and it has an important place in the canon of Scripture - especially as this comes in the Psalms. What are the Psalms but the prayers of the faithful to our Almighty Father in heaven? Nothing glossed over, the fullest span of emotions, faithfully and deeply expressed. And so we have David's honest and transparent contrition following his adultery (Ps. 51). We are comfortable with the high levels of praise in those Psalms, and we relate to David's no holds barred, full disclosure of his sinful heart. What about this Psalm and its rage? Does it go outside the boundaries in its fierce language of revenge against the Babylonians? In my experience I haven't come close to this level of ugly rage, but then I have enjoyed the unusual protection of religious freedom in the United States. But - others, many of you, have not. And that's the point. For those who have known experiences like this psalmist's, this speaks and speaks deeply. We give our human experiences to the psalmists, and we look to them to speak for us. Petitions like these about enemies, writes W. Brueggemann, give "freedom of expression to those raw edges in our life that do not easily submit to the religious conviction we profess on good days. By addressing these feelings of rage to God rather than to our enemies points in faith to the divine presence and the relinquishment of personal retribution." Who is this enemy and what is the situation of this Psalm? The writer, a faithful Jew, has been taken in exile to Babylon. There the captors mockingly ask them to sing songs of his faith. Instead the writer asks God to take vengeance on the Edomites. Why them in particular? Because the Edomites broke off an alliance with Jerusalem just before the invasion by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Thus the Edomites earned the ignoble distinction of turning their backs on the Jews at a time that resulted in political disaster. This provokes the writer to bless those who do to the Babylonian children what the Babylonians have done to Jewish children. But can this Psalm, with its shock and horror, speak to and speak for some today? THE LEAST EVANGELIZED .... THROUGH THE EYES OF RAGE For this Psalm to vent the feelings today that were experienced in Babylon, the circumstances then must find a close fit today. If we look for those circumstances of the Psalm - exile and betrayal - we may find more correlations than we may have thought. Some are high profile, most are not. Take the Lost Boys of Sudan. These boys lived in Christian villages that were targeted by the government armies for destruction. The boys escaped and walked - for years and for hundreds of miles. One thing that has emerged from their experience for the good of the whole church is their lamentations, a body of songs and hymns that describe the depth of their despair and anguish, their fear of God deserting them in their experience, and their prayer that He has not. Remember the Church of Uganda under Idi Amin. The rage and fear at the oppression of the church under this dictator was - for some - a purifying influence. Bp. Festo Kivengere wrote a book entitled, "I Love Idi Amin." In it he described the darkness of his soul as he faced his hatred of this man who tried to turn the church there into ashes. By facing this darkness honestly, God gave him the grace to turn his heart toward his persecutor. Through the Internet the world reads of the young women who were captured in Afghanistan in 2005 and the 25 Koreans who were taken hostage in 2007. The world rose up in indignation, the church prayed, and we rejoice at the courage and faith of the Christians. Additionally there are anecdotes, stories passed around the Christian community that tell of atrocities and soul-mending. These go by word of mouth from those who were there or nearby. They are uplifting, at the same time that they are horrifying. For every high profile story that makes the Internet, how many others are there whose names and tales never leave the compound, the mine, the prison, the brothel where the persecution takes place? These are the sad and grisly tales of pastors thrown in cells not fit for animals, Christian young women sold into the sex trade, men forced to work in mines and given drugs like opium to endure more pain to produce more work, leaders tortured to reveal names of fellow believers or places where Bibles are stashed. For these - and they number in the thousands today - this Psalm gives them a companion in experience, in rage, in feeling, and in faith that God will hear. Church Steps . . . Towards the Nations Pray for those in persecution, in torture, in despair, in forced exile. They need our prayers! Sunday Scenes gives a weekly comment on the lectionary for a cumulative perspective on the missionary theme of Scripture. Rev. Tad de Bordenave, Founder and Former Director