How Can We Sing? Based on Lamentations 1:1-6, Psalm 137:1-6, Matthew 26:17-30 preached at York Pines United Church October 6, 2019 World Communion Sunday

Lamentations 1:1-6 How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave. Bitterly she weeps at night, tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies. After affliction and harsh labor, Judah has gone into exile. She dwells among the nations; she finds no resting place. All who pursue her have overtaken her in the midst of her distress. The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to her appointed festivals. All her gateways are desolate, her priests groan, her young women grieve, and she is in bitter anguish. Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. God has brought her grief because of her many sins. Her children have gone into exile, captive before the foe. All the splendor has departed from Daughter Zion. Her princes are like deer that find no pasture; in weakness they have fled before the pursuer.

Psalm 137 By the rivers of Babylon - there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.  On the willows there we hung up our harps. For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither! 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.

Matthew 26:17-30 On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.' " So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve; and while they were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, "Surely not I, Lord?"  He answered, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born." Judas, who betrayed him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" He replied, "You have said so." While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

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Through the last few weeks we have followed Jeremiah as he has tried to call the Hebrew people to account – he has told them they will be defeated, and enslaved by King Nebuchadnezzar, in Babylon. They haven’t paid attention, they’ve gone ahead with a useless war – and what’s happened – they lose everything, and are taken into exile.

Everything Jeremiah said would happen if they followed their poor course of action, did happen. They were taken into captivity, Jerusalem and the temple destroyed, and they were provoked and tormented by their captors,  to sing songs of Zion. And Jeremiah writes of the lament of the people; and the psalmist sings the lament – “by Babylon’s rivers we sat down and wept, when we remembered our beloved Jerusalem, when we remembered Zion.”

But God made a covenant with the people, not to desert them. In the Hebrew Scriptures God became angry and in a fit of temper said “I will never forgive them! They will have the punishment they deserve for breaking the covenant between us!” And the people lament, crying “How can we sing God’s song in a strange land?” Yet when God hears the lament of the people, God has compassion – and rescues them.

Why did I put these readings together with the reading about Jesus last meal with his community of friends?  The laments are the readings from the lectionary – but the Matthew isn’t.Well, this may be a stretch, so here we go.

Yesterday, I was in Brantford for part of the Five Oaks walkathon. We were invited to visit the Mohawk Chapel, where the legacy of colonials in subjugating First Nations is clear – from the stained glass windows showing the Queen, to the English rulers and clergy converting people by force, to the residential schools, and the creation of the reservations. Then we visited the Islamic Society of Brantford open house, where the Imam urged everyone to exercise the right to vote, noting that most people sitting in the room came to Canada from places where they did not have a right to vote. Canada, he said, has rescued us and allowed us to live and grow here, and even with the rising racism – this is our home and we are privileged to be able to exercise a vote in a democratic society. And with the open house was a table load of food – all of us elbowing in and sharing around the table of sustenance.

The First Nations people in our country met the new incomers with generosity and kindness - yet they were forced into captivity – from the beginnings of the Indian Act to modern times where whole populations are forced to move from one place to another, so we the colonials can build a dam. Yet here are children of God, who sing the songs taught to them by the Creator – and who have struggled to find a way to continue to sing those songs in a land which once was theirs, and which was taken from them one way or another. By the rivers and lakes in Canada, they hung up their instruments, and sat down and wept when they remembered the life they once had – taken from them by immigrants. For that is what happened. How do they continue to sing God’s song in this strange new place, from which there is no return. How do we help our brothers and sisters to sing?

The welcome at the mosque made an impression. The table at the mosque groaned under the weight of the food – and we were encouraged to take it away with us, as there was so much. The exhortation to vote, to exercise the right to do so, struck me. How do you sing God’s song in a strange land? This was a land sort of by choice – most of the members are refugees. Persecuted for their faith – and finding they are persecuted here too – and yet celebrating the freedoms they have here which they did not have before. And taking the time to help us hear the song of God which they sing in this land.

Jews. Christians and Muslims are known as the “Abrahamic faiths” -  Jews and Muslims descended from Abraham – Christians by adoption we say. We are known as “People of the Book” because we share so many common scriptures. The great prophets of both Judaism and Christianity are recognised by Islam.

How, together, in this land – do we sing God’s song – all of us people of God?

God speaks often in the scriptures about covenant – but we have always leaned towards the covenant being with us, but not with others. And yet God simply says that the covenant is with the people – all the people, whoever the people are.  However they express their beliefs, they are all singing God’s song.

Jesus, millennia later, sits at a table in the restored Jerusalem and reminds the followers about singing God’s song even while they lament.  He leads them in the Passover meal – the words of God’s song – ”Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has given us the fruit of the land   …  the fruit of the vine.” Before anything else, God is blessed and thanked. This is God’s song. And the rest of that meal is a remembrance of captivity, of exile, of lament. But it opens with a blessing of God, and of the food and drink.

I want to read you a true story – this came from Surrey in British Columbia.

“I was checking into my hotel this evening and I asked the man at the desk if there was a restaurant in the hotel. He said there wasn't but there were lots up on 152^nd Street. I said I didn't really feel like driving out to look for a place to eat but I guess I'd have to. We finished the check in procedure; when he gave me my key card he said his wife was bringing some food for dinner and she could bring some extra if I wanted to join them. I was taken off guard completely. When was the last time a hotel worker offered to feed you? I stammered a bit and said I didn't want to impose. He assured me there would be plenty of food; I should come to the breakfast room at about 6:30. I went to my room and got settled, and then went to the breakfast room. The first thing that hit me was the delicious smell. Mohammed introduced me to his wife Aseel and we all sat down to eat. OH. MY. GOD! Falafel, kebabs, fattoush, shawarma and other amazing foods. I was treated and fed like a King. They explained that they had fled Syria, and came to Canada with the other 60,000 refugees last year. They spoke very little about how bad things were in Syria but they couldn't wait to tell me how happy they were to be in Canada. Mohammed is a pharmacist, upgrading at University; Aseel is a lawyer who has to pass the bar in Canada so she can work. They were so enthusiastic to be here. At the end of the meal Aseel wrapped some food in tinfoil for my lunch the next day. Mohammed said one last thing to me. "Don't take your country for granted" I got a lump in my throat and gave them a hug and thanked them profusely.

As I went up to my room I realised that a Syrian Refugee family came all the way to Canada and fed ME! I got off the elevator and walked a little further and corrected myself. A CANADIAN family fed me."

  

How can we sing God’s song? By recognising that we are one. By recognising that God is a God of differences, but that we are one body. That the bread and wine on the table are the samosas and jellabies, fattoush and shawarma – they are the covenant God made with all people right at the beginning.  That whoever we are, wherever we are, the song we sing is God’s song. When I stand at the table and bless the elements, we are singing God’s song. And God’s table is unrestricted – open to everyone, every part of Creation is welcome at the table – wherever that table is. It is God’s table, God’s song we sing. May it be so.