Plunge into the Ocean of Love, where heart meets Heart,
Where sorrows are comforted, and wounds are mended.
There, melodies of sadness mingle with dolphin songs of joy;
Past fears dissolve in deep harmonics tones, the future- pure mystery.
For eternal moments lived in total surrender glide smoothly over troubled waters.
Hide not from Love, O friends,
sink not into the sea of despair, the mire of hatred.
Awaken, O my heart, that I drown not in fear!
Too long have I sailed where’er the winds have blown!
Drop anchor!
O, Heart of all hearts, set a clear course, that I might follow!
Guide me to the Promised Shore!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
Psalm 137 expresses the raw emotions of people suffering a loss that doesn’t have a resolve; the destruction of the temple and the exile in Babylon. Their loss is profound. Their grief is for something destroyed that is unlikely to be reestablished in their lifetime. Their home, their sacred spaces, are gone. The destruction is complete.
Imprecatory psalms are calling out from hurt, anger, and the scars left by violence. They can be explained as a way to tell God the truth, even the ugliness of hate that lives within human hearts. These psalms voice the horrors within so that anger and pain do not fester and rot all that is good. The people are using violent rhetoric in stead of violent action. In some ways, the faithful know that giving vengeance to God is the only way to freedom and to new beginnings. God has and will bring about justice.
These psalms are difficult to read as a White Christian who has never experienced this type of pain. More likely, it is people like me who inflict this type of pain on others. It is important to hear this psalm and the voices of the oppressed, not because we will understand, but because we can at the very least acknowledge that there is pain that those of us in privileged positions will never experience. God, who dwells with the angry and grieving, knows intimately how they feel. As a child of God, I should be aware of the pain my siblings face.
Imprecatory psalms remind us to trust that God will do what is right and just (and loving) when we cannot. Part of the work that God does when these prayers, laments, and imprecatory psalms are offered up, is to transform us in ways we cannot imagine. I don’t want to ignore or make light of the deep pain expressed in this psalm and that people still feel today. It’s real and it’s terrible and it’s heartbreaking. And yet, I still have hope that God’s compassion and love can transform hate and fear and heartache into something holy and beautiful. All we need to do is open our hearts to God.
Check out other psalm reflections in the links below or find more of my writing published in Presbyterian Outlook or listen to my experiments in podcasting on the Period Pastor Podcast. Follow me @periodpastor
I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020. Shortly after, we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, the church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. While we were using Psalms in year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. In Advent of 2020 we rejoined those who use the lectionary in year B. Advent of 2021 year C. When we returned to in person worship, we took the psalm reflections out of the order of worship. I continued to write them for the blog. Advent of 2022 year A. I left church work in July of 2023 but continued the practice of writing psalm reflections. Advent of 2023 year B.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections.
1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 25, 2nd Sunday in Advent instead of a Psalm the lectionary gives Luke 1:68-79, 3rd Sunday in Advent instead of a Psalm the lectionary gives Isaiah 12:2-6, 4th Sunday in Advent Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Psalm 148, New Year’s Day Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Christmas Psalm 147, Epiphany Psalm 72, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 36, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 19, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 71, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 138, 6th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 1, 7th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 37, Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Lent) Psalm 99
Lent: Ash Wednesday Psalm 51, 1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 91, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 27, 3rd Sunday in Lent Psalm 63, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 32, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 126, 6th Sunday in Lent (Palm or Passion Sunday) Psalm 118 or 31
Easter: Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 150, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 30, 4thSunday of Easter Psalm 23 or 114, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 148, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 67 or 109, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 97 or Psalm 2, Day of Pentecost Psalm 104
Season After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 or Psalm 22, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 77 or Psalm 16, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 30 or Psalm 66, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 82 or Psalm 25, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 52 or Psalm 15, 7thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 85 or Psalm 138, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 107 or Psalm 49, 9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 50 or Psalm 33, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 80 or Psalm 82, 11th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 71or Psalm 103, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 81 or Psalm 112, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 1, 14thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 14 or Psalm 51, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 79 or Psalm 113, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 91 or Psalm 146, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 137 or Psalm 37, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 66 or Psalm 111, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119 or Psalm 121, 20th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 65 or Psalm 84, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119 or Psalm 32, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 145 or Psalm 98 or Psalm 17, 23rdSunday after Pentecost Psalm 98, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 46.
Sources and notes:
“Psalm 137 is a song about Zion, but it is not one of the “songs of Zion.” The songs of Zion are hymns full of joy and confidence. In them, Jerusalem is majestic and invincible, secure against the threats of hostile armies (read Psalms 46 and 48). In this psalm, Jerusalem has been razed to its foundations, and the psalm is full of bitter memories and vehement pain.” Mays p. 421
“Unlike all the other psalms, this one refers to particular times, places, and events. It identifies a specific historical setting. It looks back on the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon and its Edomite allies, on a time of residence in the foreign territory of Babylon, and on the experiences of a captive, deported people. The psalm seems to be the voice of exiles who have returned to live in the ruins of a Jerusalem not yet rebuilt. The memories of their humiliation by and in Babylon are fresh, and the account with the treacherous Edomites still unsettled. The composer may have been one of the temple musicians carried into exile with harp and repertoire of temple music. He and his gild of Levitical singers would have been the special targets of their captor’s cruel humor.” Mays p. 421
“Their Babylonian captors taunted the singers with a request for one of “the songs of Zion.” The expression is likely a general one referring to hymns to praise the LORD sung in the temple at Jerusalem, not to a specialized genre. The request was intended as an insult to the exiles’ God, similar to the derogatory question, “Where is your God?” (Psalms 42-43). Captors and captives alike were very clear that the issue was not music; it was faith. There could be no hymns of joy in Babylon. That would have been betrayal, singing joyous songs of the sovereignty of the LORD in a territory that represented another sovereignty. The voice of faith “there” was the voice of prayer with tears. Note Nehemiah’s response tote news about Jerusalem’s conditions (New 1:4).” Mays pp. 422-423
“The singers remember Jerusalem by appealing to the LORD to remember Jerusalem by vindicating the destruction against the partners in its fall, Edom and Babylon. The beatitudes in verses 8-9, with their harsh contents, sere as wish prayers. In sum, the prayers are a naked appeal for retribution. Slaughter of children (v. 9) was an occasional military policy where the purpose was to eliminate a population (cf. II Kings 8:12; Hos. 10:14; Nahum 3:10). There is no evading the passionate pain and anger that animates these prayers. They call of the accounts in the books of history to be balanced. But they are not to be reduced to a personal desire for savage revenge. The singers pray out of a zeal for the LORD and the place of the LORD’s habitation. They pray with the understanding of the reign of the LORD the looks for its manifestation in the affairs of peoples and nations. In this they have a context in the chorus of prophecies that look for the punishment of Edom and Babylon (on Babylon, Isa. 47:1-15; Jer. 51:1-58; on Odom, Isa. 34:1-17; Jer. 49:7-22; Ezek. 35:1-15; Obadiah). Whatever justifiable reservations may lead us to omit their prayers from our lections and prayers must not obscure the question their passion and understand places against ours.” Mays p. 423
“In imprecatory psalms the singers invoke the wrath of God upon a foe. In nearly every psalm in the Psalter that laments oppression by a foe or adversary, the foe is not named. In Psalm 137, though, the foe is clearly identified as Babylon, indicating that the psalm most likely dates to during or just after the Babylonian exile (596-538 BCE).” W p. 245
“The psalm singers lament that their “captors” and “tormentors” ask them for “songs” and “mirth,” specified more exactly in the last colon of verse 3 as “one of the songs of Zion.” ___ is the word used in the superscription of each of the Songs of Ascents (Pss 120-134). The words of the captors and tormentors in verse 3 may be likened to the words of taunters in other psalms who say to the psalmist, “Where is your God?” (Pss 42:3; 10; 79:10).” W p. 246
“If the psalmist forgets Jerusalem, then the psalmist’s right hand will forget, and if the psalmist forgets, she will be unable to speak. The terms “right hand” and “tongue” may be thought of as verism, referring to all human action, thus condemning completely the one who forgets Jerusalem. Other scholars maintain that the reference is to the “right hand” that strums the harp and the “tongue” that sings, meaning that the psalmist vows never to sign again if she forgets Zion.” W p. 247
“According to the book of Genesis the Edomites are descended from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, son of Isaac and grandson of Abraham (Gen 25:30), and the book of Obadiah states that the Edomites took part in the saving of the temple and destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587.” W p. 248
“However we choose to interpret the words of verse 9, there is no way to soften or alter their sentiment. And we should not try to do so. Psalm 137 is a heartfelt lament sung to God, asking for God’s justice in the face of absolute despair and hopelessness. It is a song of revenge sung on behalf of the victims of Babylon’s destruction. Psalm 137, along with the other imprecatory psalms in the Psalter, reminds us of the basic human desire for revenge when we or those we love have been wronged. God does not ask us to suppress those emotions but rather to speak about them in plain and heartfelt terms. In the speaking out we give voice to the pain, the feelings of helplessness, and the burning anger to God, trusting that God’s justice will be done. Not to remember and not to speak is to suppress and acquiesce.” W p. 249
“I suggest that the communal function of this psalm is to act out and transmit to the next generation the yearning and the hate that belongs to every dislocated Jew. It is important that generation after generation we remember with Jews that the present arrangements are not right, not acceptable, and not finally to be accepted. Psalm 137 draws its power and authority out of another vision, marked by homecoming, which seems remote, but is not for one instant in doubt. There will be a homecoming to peace, justice, and freedom. This psalm is the ongoing practice of that hope against enormous odds. It is always, “Lest we forget.”” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 75
“Most of the psalm (except for v. 7) is not even addressed to Yahweh. It is a musing, perhaps a statement of resolve for any who want to listen, not asking for response or even agreement. But it is a resolve not to be nullified. This is indeed hope against all the facts. Such hope must necessarily be visceral and unapologetic. Such a statement might be an embarrassment to bourgeois folk who have never lost that much, been abused that much, or hoped that much. But such a statement is not embarrassing to those who have been marginalized long enough. So the psalm could serve a Catholic in North Ireland, a black in South Africa, a Palestinian on the West Bank, and exploited women in our society. In such deep anguish, one dare never forget.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 75
Verses 1-3 “This voice has a sense of Yahweh’s abandonment. The grief is compounded by the torment of their overlords’ requiring them to sing Zion songs in order to humiliate, to show how helpless and bereft they are. Such a scandalous scene was savagely repeated in the death camp of Treblinka, where Jews were forced to sing and dance of their Jewishness. It was a part of the humiliation intending to rob Jews of their identity, their dignity, and their hope. Such songs of Zion are not for public review. Indeed, the songs of Zion are pornographic when they are sung among those who do not hope in Zion.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 75
“I am not sure how such a psalm fits with Christian faith. I suggest it asks about faithful tenacity. It asks about our capacity to endure, to maintain identity, to embrace a calling in situations of feel-out. Of course, we have present in our tradition–as do Jews–the call to forgive enemies. This psalm poses some questions: Can there be a claim that overrides forgiveness for the sake of constancy? Can forgiveness be a mode of coming to terms too easily? Could it be that genuine forgiveness is possible only when there has been a genuine articulation of hatred?” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 77
“We may note this much in the psalm: the speaker does not take action. The speaker does not, in face, crush the heads of babes against rocks. It is a pryer, a wish, a hope, a yearning. But even the venom is left in God’s hands. Perhaps there is a division of labor here to be celebrated: Israel hopes; Yahweh avenges as he chooses. The capacity to leave vengeance to God may free Israel for its primary vocation, which is the tenacious hope that prevents sell-out. Indeed, one may speculate that if Israel could not boldly leave vengeance to God and had worried about vengeance on its own, Israel might have had no energy or freedom to hope. Perhaps it is precisely the capacity to turn that over to God which leaves Israel free to hope for the new Jerusalem.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 77
Referring to Psalm 79 and 137 “They are psalms that pose difficult theological questions to any conventional faith. I will hope to show that they are also important theological and pastoral resources, precisely because they do not carry with them any articulated resolve of the issue. They leave us lingering in the unresolved, dangling in the depth of the pit without any explicit sign of rescue. That is an important statement to have in the repertoire, precisely because life is like that. Faith does not always resolve life. There is not for every personal crisis of disorientation a way out, if only we can press the right button. Too much pastoral action is inclined and tempted to resolved things, no matter how the situation really is. Faith is treated like the great answer book. Insofar as these psalms are witnesses to faith, they attest that faith means staying in the midst of the disorientation, not retreating to an old orientation that is over and done with, and not charging ahead to some imagined resolution that rushes ahead of the slow, tortuous pace of reality.” Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p. 78
“It is readily situation in the grief and humiliation of Jews who are deported to Babylon. In the grief and humiliation of Jews who were deported to Babylon. In the midst of that empire, the Jews were scorned for the specificity of their faith and their liturgy as they sang the songs of Zion. They were scorned because they insisted on this specificity and refused to accommodate to the empire. Even in their displacement, they enacted their passion for Jerusalem and its temple, perhaps sings such “Songs of Zion” as Psalms 46 and 84. Along with their resolve not to abandon their faith or comprise their identity, they bore witness in a foreign land, in an empire that was alien to and in contradiction to their faith.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 98
“Indeed, the psalm’s faint verses constitute a child venting of emotions without specificity at all. This is a raw wish for vengeance growing out of the rawness of humiliation, failure, and shame. Consequently, the rhetoric becomes as radical as can be imagined–not only are perpetrators to be paid back, but their innocent, helpless, vulnerable “little ones,” too, should be include in the savage recompense.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 98
“But even in the face of such deep resentment against our own enemies, Psalm 137 is an invitation to imagine an alternative to violent policy and action. That alternative is violent rhetoric, rhetoric in the place of violent policies and violent actions. Psalm 69 and 137 are testimony to the awareness that the world around us is not a safe or “nice” place. It is a violent place. We might hope and wish that we would catch up to Jesus and his readiness to forgive. But it is clear that we have not arrived there yet. Still further, psalms such as Psalms 69 and 137 suggest that we will not arrive there before our deep dark secrets are brought to light, voiced, and expressed in God’s presence–God, the one from whom no secrets are hid.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 99
“Instead of pretense, the Psalms offer a script whereby that ugly, unruly underside is handed over to the majesty and wisdom of God, who knows and takes seriously our wounded speech and who then acts in the freedom the that belongs only to God.” Brueggemann, From Whom No Secrets are Hid p. 99
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Brueggemann, Walter. Davis Hanskins, Editor. 2022. Our Hearts Wait: Worshiping Through Praise and Lament in the Psalms Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY.
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