Psalm 137:1-4
Lockdown: Oppression or Opportunity
Learning from the voices of the Exile
Its been 22 weeks since lockdown began in the UK and whilst we have seen an easing of restrictions and a slow return to semblances of what was normal, we are all still being impacted significantly by the threat of this COVID 19 virus and without approved immunisation or treatment its likely that we stay this way for some time.
How long? At this stage no-one really knows though we have people around us that are making educated guesses.
As Churches we have not been able to formally meet in person throughout this time. The restrictions on our gathering together inside are significant with regard to the former ways of doing things and its unlikely that many will hurry this process in order to ensure that we do things safely and sensibly.
Whether we think the Government is acting in our interests or their own interests,
whether we feel the virus is a significant or minor threat,
whether we are happy to comply with restrictions or not – we cannot escape the fact that we are in a period of major shift, the impacts of which are far reaching, significant and likely to be with us for some time.
Personally, I found lock down initially quite ok, I am a person who likes change and I generally find the challenge of rethinking helpful. However, the longer things have gone on, I have become more impacted by the restrictions..particularly not having the freedom to be with people and to be able to embrace them or hug them. And whilst I’m very happy being on my own most of the time, i have felt starved of that connection and its impacted me emotionally.
Speaking to folk as i do I know a lot of people feel this way too.
We are in a strange land, that we are not quite used to, the social landscape has changed and there is not a lot we can do about it, or is there.
There are many people who have commented on this season and compared it to a period of exile. But what do they mean by that? Well, we haven’t actually been displaced from our country for political or economic reasons so the predominant use of the word doesn’t quite apply. However, we have experienced a kind of social exile through lockdown and the world around us has changed restricting and cutting us off from that which we knew, were comfortable with and possibly felt secure in.
By no desire on our part we find ourselves in a different world against or
wishes with not real understanding of how long or whether or not we will ever return to the way we once lived.
So I understand the analogy and accept it. But is it helpful?
Well I want to suggest, as you might have already guessed, that I think it is or at least it could be if we are willing to examine the lessons from Scripture about how God has helped and supported his people in exile.
So I want to share today some thoughts on this idea of exile and what it meant for the people of God, how it helped them and maybe how it might help us.
I’ve anchored my thoughts in Psalm 137:1-4 read them with me…
By the waters of Babylon,
there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion. 2
On the willows[a] there
we hung up our lyres. 3
For there our captors required of us songs,
and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4
How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?
So the first thing I want to say about exile as I’ve looked at it is this:
Exile Re-sets Reality
This Psalm is a lament, a lament over what has been lost. And that is perfectly okay, in fact its entirely appropriate. Its okay to not be okay. It’s okay to be disappointed and upset, its okay to emotional and exhausted, its okay to feel like you have nothing left, its okay to get to the end of yourself. Because very often its in travelling to these places that we get to confront our greatest fears, and in confronting them, with God see them get driven from our lives.
When the safety net has split, when the resources are gone, when the way ahead is not clear, the sudden exposure can be both frightening and revealing. We spend so much of our time protecting ourselves from this exposure that a weird kind of relief can result when we fail. To lie flat on the ground with the breath knocked out of you is to find a solid resting place. This is as low as you can go. You told yourself you would die if it ever came to this, but here you are. You cannot help yourself and yet you live. Barbara Brown Taylor
The Jews taken into exile will have been stripped of everything. Exile for them meant to be stripped of the benefits of the covenant relationship with God – land, progeny and even the presence of God in the temple. They would have been completely humiliated and on their entry into the city of Babylon they would have been made to crawl on their hands and knees through the city gates in front of the baying crowds in total subjugation.
There on the banks of the River they weep and reflect. And everything is not ok.
So the first thing I want to observe is that when the bottom seems to drop out of our world and everything seems to crash around us and the crisis we spend our time and energy trying to avoid actually happens it is okay to not be okay.
Just because we believe in God it doesn’t mean that we can’t feel upset, disappointed, let down, angry. These emotions exist in us and we shouldn’t be afraid to express them. In fact I think it’s very important for our mental health that we do.
Thats why the psalms are so helpful. Especially the laments, they give voice to the reality of pain experienced, grieving, mourning, sorrow, heart break, sadness, anger, disappointment and rejection.
When we express our pain then we are living in reality and truth. We are not hiding anything or trying to hide anywhere. We’re in the open, transparent and vulnerable. We are also aware of our situations and our needs.
As the quote I read earlier suggests as painful as the process of hitting rock bottom can be, sometimes when we hit there, there is a strange sense of peace. When we’ve come to the end of ourselves then we actually stop striving and for many of us we recognise that we need help and we start to look for it.
I don’t know how you’re feeling or how you’ve felt through this time. For me the longer it has gone on the harder it has felt and rather than trying to be strong for everyone else I have had to recognise I’m not okay and give voice to my pain, exhaustion or sadness.
I’ve been able to do it to God and the Lord has also provided people around me who have listened, cried with me and ministered and prayed for me. First of all, being able to let go was really helpful, then secondly getting help and support has been comforting and helped me gain perspective.
And that has been really important because the right perspective helps to restore Hope.
So I want to encourage you, particularly if you’re trying to hold things together, trying to stop the inevitable from happening, exhausting yourself trying to control the situation, the people and the world around you to conform. I want to let you know that even if it all comes undone, its going be okay.
I say this only because the truth is that wherever we are we are still within the realms of Gods creation, where He remains sovereign and in control.
We exist because he has chosen that we should, we belong to Him and his eye is upon us. Even when we have chose the path that causes the destruction around us to happen He is with us, for us and able to redeem and save us and turn our situations around and maintain the right perspective.
One of the joys of this lock down period has been sharing the word of God with people every day first thing in the morning. This has enabled me and I know them also maintain the right perspective through these times. Even though we have felt exiled and cut off. Morning after morning we have shared and discussed Gods word and prayed it has helped us maintain a Gods eye view of what is going on.
And when we look at this Psalm we see signs of Hope.. rather being completely crushed there appears to be some signs that they believe that the situation could change.
In v2 it says “On the willows there we hung up our lyres.” and at first this might sound like outright defeat – like the footballer who hangs up his boots or the boxer who hangs up his gloves. But if they never intended to play them again surely it would have been more appropriate to destroy them completely rather than hang them up.
Maybe this was just an opportunity or a time to lay everything down but rather than give up, to use the time to re-group, re- focus and re-connect with God to listen to what He had to say.
And this leads me on to the second and last thing I want to look at today and its this:
Exile Re-fines Vision
One of the things we have heard repeatedly through this time of lockdown is how it has given space for people to reflect, reprioritise and reset the direction for their lives.
When liberties, privileges and choices are taken away from us it does tend to re-focus the mind on actually what is of fundamental importance.
This is implicit in the question that the Psalmist captures…
When we remember Zion and all that once was, how can we sing the lord’s song? how on earth are we able to continue to worship God. It seems like we’ve lost everything, how is it going to be possible.
We have to wear masks, we’re not allowed to sing, we can’t lay hands, we have limited capacity, we have to remain distant from each other, the preacher can’t shout!! How on earth are we going to continue to worship God…
The stripping away helps to create the question?
And maybe thats a good thing because maybe we would never have seriously asked the question or forced ourselves to move away from what we were doing long enough to explore other opportunities.
But also if we are still within the will of God having had all this happen to us what might God be saying to us in the situation we now face..
Well for the Jews we know what God said …..its been recorded by Jeremiah and Ezekiel for starters.
In Jeremiah this is what the Lord said:
“Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”
10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this
place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart
The message from Jeremiah is quite clear. You may be here for a while, get used to it, I am still with you, even though the circumstances and the context have changed and you are in captivity, I am with you.
Therefore, begin to build your lives around this, settle down, establish new businesses, relationships. Pray to me and I will help you. Keep living life, keep loving God, keep praying, keep on keeping on.
We wont get into Ezekiel but what is clear is that the Lord had not left them at all. In fact the word came strongly to the people through the prophets through this time. Ezekiel and Jeremiah both feature the restoration of Israel but they also deal with he renewal and reformation of Israel.
What I take away from this is that the vision that we have had as worshipping communities – Be disciples who make disciples – still fits. Increase in number: Do not decrease. God is still with us, the vision he gave us has not been overtaken by the circumstances, I believe he says to us…continue with the mission it hasn’t changed, but use the circumstances you are in as new opportunities to flourish.
The truth is we have seen more people come to faith for the first time through the ministry of Eden Church during this lockdown period than we have seen in the past 15 years. The vision is still the same because the mission is still the same.
But maybe we’ve been reminded of what really is on Gods heart. Reaching the lost, the least and the broken.
I’ve been encouraged by the feedback that I’ve been hearing from the groups. And without going into too much detail it feels to me that the majority of people are up for journeying into new opportunities that God might be presenting through these times.
And that gives me hope, because in order for us to flourish we will need to adapt, but I also feel that there are aspects of renewal and reformation that need to take place.
Our verse for year at Eden Church encourages us to count the cost of our discipleship:
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
I think a healthy purposeful response to this opportunity is for us all to renew our commitment to being disciples who make disciples, every one of us, across the churches of Penarth.
I think we need to reform how we do this given the opportunities that now present themselves and I hope to touch on this next time when we look at how Exile repurposes creativity and restores unity…
I believe if we do we will flourish however long lock these current restrictions are upon us.
Lets allow this exile refine our vision and be encouraged that the plans He has for us are to prosper us and not harm us and to give us hope and a future!