How Shall We Sing the Lord's Song in a Strange Land?

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Special to United Methodist Insight | March 12, 2025

I must confess that I have moments of despair almost every day when I read the news. It is the only time in my fairly long life that I have been both embarrassed and ashamed of my country. My friends all around the world are bewildered by what they see as their betrayal by a country they thought was their closest friend and ally.

But I can't live with despair as my primary companion. So you will excuse an aging Old Testament professor if my thoughts turn to Psalm 137. To a high degree we are back by the rivers in Babylon remembering what once was. Our captors attempt to require of us the old songs but instead we feel the haunting question arise "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" The implied answer is "We can't! We've hung up the instruments." And now we see the elements of rage start to rise that wishes to dash the enemy's children against the rock. I am fearful! Fire-bombed Teslas now; what next? And this will become the excuse for counter-violence!

But in the psalms these thoughts are offered up to God and I think it is the hope that a counter word can be spoken. I have long believed that when many despair of singing the Lord's song there is a clear vocation for the people of God. It is to give singing lessons.

And fortunately we have a model for this. The prophet we know by the prosaic name of Deutero-Isaiah (chi 40-55) is the voice of a singer in the midst of the non-singers. He too, in Babylon, quotes the psalms and says "Sing to the Lord a new song!" And sing he does. He begins by announcing comfort. He proclaims that those who wait for the Lord will mount up with wings like eagles. He proclaims God's forgiveness for all the misbegotten decisions that resulted in exile. He draws on almost every image of God in the Hebrew canon. God is deliverer and a new Exodus is possible. God is forgiver and offers it without condition but seeking the response of repentance (in Hebrew turning and going a new way). God is Lord of History and can use even Cyrus for his purpose. Where are the bringers of hope now in whatever guise? God is Creator, not just in the primordial beginning, but an ongoing Creator who offers new life if we see it and grasp it. And those who wait for this Lord of hope, new beginnings, unexpected sources of life, forgiveness, creative futures will mount up on wings like eagles, run and not be weary. For God's word will not go forth empty but accomplish that which it purposes and we can again go out with joy and be brought back in peace.

But the vocation of the people of God who would be singers again requires that we embrace the role of the servant willing to suffer for the sake of the servant's mission--to bring justice through God's spirit to the nations (42:1).

What that looks like will only be apparent in the particular times, places and opportunities to witness to the mission of love, hope and justice--if we choose to act even in small ways in those moments.

This is not the first crisis in the long history of God's people. I am attaching a photo of a special place for me--the western wall in Jerusalem. In the beginning this was a place of lamentation and despair over the destruction of the Second Temple. But it has become more. Yes, the wall has continued to receive laments but on small pieces of paper tucked into the cracks there have been centuries of the prayers of the faithful, and I have left many myself. They are left in the confidence that God still reigns over creation and history. If only the faithful trust in the power of this God of our long faith journey and join as God's people to make God's kingdom visible even in times of challenge or temptations to despair.

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning! Psalm 30:5

The Rev. Dr. Bruce S. Birch is a retired professor of Old Testament studies. This post is republished with permission from his Facebook page.