Hope for those in exile

 Among the many songs Linda Ronstadt has performed and recorded is the reggae song, “By the rivers of Babylon,” which draws on verses from two Psalms which you may hear this fall in many churches: 

The last verse of Psalm 19, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord my strength and my redeemer,”  and the beginning of Psalm 137: “By the rivers of Babylon…”  which is a sad and angry song about being an exile.

Invocation is often the use of that first phrase:  a preacher will say it before he begins to preach.

But we rarely hear the second because of the anger and even rage that psalm expresses as the words go on from the beginning of the experience of exile. 

Yet many of us do feel in exile or as a stranger in a strange land from time to time even in a familiar place or somewhere far away from home. 

And that is certainly the case with many people who are currently refugees in our world.

Among them are those who have been welcomed to Tucson or people who are waiting in refugee resettlement programs or people who are in a home country where they no longer feel at home or safe. 

And these are among the people we have special care for and special concern about at this time especially considering the recent upheaval and changes in the Middle East and the repercussions we will continue to feel for decades to come. 

After the initial expression of loss, sorrow, and grief from psalm 19, the reggae song takes an interesting turn : moving to the hopeful and prayerful expressions of psalm 19,

In these times it is especially welcome to have those closing words of Psalm 19 so that we don’t immure ourselves in lasting despair or dwell in gratuitous negativity as we discuss these events.

Indeed we are reminded in that psalm 19 from its first words, “the heavens declare the glory of God,”  to its last, “let the words of my mouth be acceptable in thy sight,” that indeed all human beings are part of the creation of God and that the God who created us is the God who redeemed us is the God who will see us through.

So let the words we speak and the meditations at the deepest root of our being be thoughts of praise and words of hope.

A previous version of this essay appeared in the Arizona Daily Star, Keeping the Faith section, September 19th 2021, page E3.