Sun. May 6 (Aaron Roberts)

Aaron Roberts spoke from Psalm 137 to give us perspective on this rich passage full of imagery, but with an evil twist at the end. The history of the Babylonian conquest was briefly recounted, with Aaron noting that the deportation of the Jews from Israel & Judah included the artisans, administrators, religious leaders and anybody with an institutional memory of the life of the people, leaving only the farmers and peasants, who had no way other than with an oral history, to pass their traditions and culture along. Aaron noted that without leadership, these people did their best to keep traditions alive, but imperfectly, later becoming the Samaritans, and setting the stage for the separation of the returned Jews from the Samaritans. Meanwhile, the Jews resisted comfort in exile, hanging up their harps in a visible protest, rather than play them, and recalling the words of the Edomites who took joy in the destruction of Jerusalem. The last two violent passages Aaron stated were not there to give glory to violence, but to illustrate that God is prepared to hear all our thoughts, regardless of origin, to recognize that his sovereign word stands, regardless of our feelings and thoughts. Aaron said it was better to let those thoughts out in prayer and Psalms, than try to hide them behind a facade of God’s goodness and mercy. In the question period that followed, the congregation largely agreed. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday May 6th using your browser's preferred media player.