A Faith Station

Albert Bogle October 05, 2022 0 2

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Psalm 137 (NRSVA)

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 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, 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!

Although I’ve travelled a lot I don’t like being away from home. I miss my family. But my bouts of home sickness pail into insignificance when thinking on the plight of those who are exiled from their homes for a lifetime because of unjust political upheavals. I recall speaking to a man in South Korea at the demilitarised zone (DMZ). He told me, like many others, he often came to look across into North Korea to think of his home and his brother whom he had not seen for over 60 years. Later that day I discovered a railway station that had been built but has never been used. It is there to welcome their families when the country is reunited. It is an act of faith building for the future that has still to come.

Today’s psalm recalls the longing for home, but also the longing to be in a good place to recover faith and welcome hope. The psalmist asks the question: how can I sing praise to God when I’m in a bad place? The lesson God’s people learned in captivity was that faith is found in the singing of the lament and the expectation that hope will return. Perhaps we could all begin by building a faith station?

PRAYER:

Lord

For those who have nowhere to turn

When for them all seems lost

Grant them peace

Grant them a road home

Lord

Give us faith to build faith stations

Where the estranged can find home

Places of welcome

Even when all seems lost