Come Meet Me By the Riverside ~ Preaching Moment ~ Soweto, South Africa

On Sunday, November 17th I had the awesome opportunity to share the preached moment with the people of Mokone Memorial AME Church in Soweto, South Africa.  

I am truly a manuscript preacher but on this day, the Lord did not allow that to happen! I preached from an outline.  I pray I was able to capture the preached moment as it was delivered.  

To G-d be the glory for this life-changing opportunity! Thank you Rev. Dr. Timothy Tyler for the awesome opportunity to serve! 

Honoring the presence of the Lord in this place

To the Ancestors upon whose shoulders I stand

To Presiding Elder and Pastor of the church and community

To Rev. Dr. Timothy E. Tyler

To Senator Peter Groff and Rev. Dr. Regina Groff

To Connectional Lay Secretary Ada Groff

To Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright

To all officers, members, and friends ~ I greet you today with the Joy of Jesus

Let us pray

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. 

Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites
   the day of Jerusalem’s fall,
how they said, ‘Tear it down! Tear it down!
   Down to its foundations!’
O daughter Babylon, you devastator!
   Happy shall they be who pay you back
   what you have done to us!
Happy shall they be who take your little ones
   and dash them against the rock!

Thus ends the reading of the 137^th Psalm

I invite you to journey with me during this preaching moment focusing on the invitation “Come meet me by the riverside”

Introduction

I am very clear that this is or can be a very challenging psalm.  I am also very clear that I cannot tell it all in this preaching moment.  We have experienced a lot over the last few days ~ some good, some heart wrenching, some exciting, and some convicting. Through all of my many experiences the one thing that remained consistent was the fact that some things are universal.  

Move I ~ Contextual/Contemporary

Asphalt is used to pave roads

Concrete is used for roads, walls, barriers

Irons and Ironing boards look alike

Bacon and eggs are offered everywhere I go

Public transportation in one way, shape, or form including taxis, buses and/or trains

Advertising is big business

Money talks

Affordable housing is no so affordable

And

Extreme poverty (from Shanty Town in Soweto to the old streets of Harlem to the mission in Denver at lunch time to the empty lot up the block from Gladys and Ron’s Chicken and Waffles in Atlanta GA) ~ visible by those who dare to look ~ visible by those who dare to drive, walk, skip, run, through those neighborhoods ~ Extreme poverty!

Universal/parallel/comparable things that cross space and time. For instance, I was born and raised in Harlem, NY.  125^th was (and I hope it still is) the mecca of Harlem World.  I would take a walk across 125^th street; I lived on 124^th and 2^nd avenue in Wagner Projects and would walk about 10 city blocks west to shop, eat, pay a bill, etc.  As I would walk across 125^th St, the mecca of Harlem, these red double decker buses would ride slowly across 125^th while tourist would listen to the tour guide and the tourist would take pictures.  That made me angry.  I would question, why are they doing this? I am not on display! This is my home!

And here I find myself riding on a bus, through the streets of Soweto feeling like the oppressed has just become the oppressor. As my spirit is grieving, the sacred text John 3:16 comes to mind: So G-d so loved the world (that includes the woman washing clothes from a tub and an outdoor faucet next to aluminum siding called home ~ including the little boys; one without shoes who kept following us on the low and finally Rosemarie gave them some money and they walked away arm over shoulder ~ the cutest sight to behold and we will never know what happened to them once they turned that corner) that G-d gave G-d’s only begotten Son and whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but they shall have everlasting life.

My sisters and my brothers will not perish yet all around I see death, destruction, poverty, marginalization, racism, sexism, exploitation, dehumanization, deculturalization ~ and I can’t help but turn to 137^th Psalm of lament lifting up one verse: By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.

Move II ~ The Text ~ Psalm 13:1

Here is the 137^th Psalm we find a lament over the destruction of Jerusalem.  Israel is now in captivity by the Babylonians; Foreign occupation and destruction, names changed (as Dr. Wright stated in his amazing lecture,) and territories realigned. This song, this lament was written during a time of death and destruction. The captives hung their harps for how could they sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land. The captives were tormented; reminded every day of their bondage.

Glad to be away from the noisy streets, the captives sought the river side, where the flow of the waters seemed to be in sympathy with their tears. It was some slight comfort to be out of the crowd, and to have a little breathing room, and therefore they sat down, as if to rest a while and solace themselves in their sorrow. In little groups they sat down and made common lamentation, mingling their memories and their tears. (http://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/treasury-of-david/psalms-137-1.html)

Move III ~

They gathered by the river to achieve some semblance of peace ~ they gathered on the streets of Soweto to entertain to achieve some semblance of peace ~ they gathered in Harlem in Mount Morris park on Sunday mornings for a drum circle to achieve some semblance of peace ~ they gathered at church on Sunday morning to achieve some semblance of peace.  Remember as you are in Babylon you can create a space of peace and serenity in the midst of the storm ~ They went by the rivers of Babylon…

They sat ~ The word sat means to occupy, to be present, to encamp ~ there we sat ~ we came together, we shared stories, listened to one another, exchanged ideas and ways to foster hope ~ we sat!  My sisters and my brothers, in order to create change, to make a difference, to change the world one hungry, one naked person at a time, it will take building relationships.  Being present in the moment; good, bad, or indifferent ~ we must be present in the lives of those who are being labeled, ostracized, and marginalized ~ oh if only one person takes the hand of another who is struggling, living under impoverished conditions, and takes their hand just to sit and be present with her/him. Imagine impacting one life at a time to collectively destroy structures and systems that were not build for us anyway.

The contextual use of the word sat in this scripture is a mark of misery or captivity:

a.      The beggar sat by the temple gate called Beautiful

b.      The lame man sat by the river to be healed

c.       The blind beggar who was blind since birth calling out Jesus’ s name sat and waited on Him

Sometimes we just have to sit and wait on the Lord and be of good courage ~ sit with all of our stuff as we humble ourselves and pour out to G-d ~ sitting does not mean sitting still without being intentional ~ it means actively seeking G-d while putting oneself aside to find G-d and to hear the answer…

… and there we wept ~ sometimes we move too quickly to the resurrection and we don’t stay on Good Friday to hear what G-d is saying in the midst of despair, fear, murder, destruction, hurt and pain.  They not only sat but they wept.  They wept when they recalled the days of the temple, Jerusalem at is finest ~ they wept and they wept there ~ sometimes you just gotta sit still right in the midst of, acknowledge your emotions, and reflect/share on the times G-d has brought you through before and G-d will do it again. A lament is crying out to G-d expecting something to happen ~ expecting G-d to move as only G-d can ~ expecting to be saved, delivered, transformed, and healed ~ Sometimes we must weep over Mother Africa remembering the days of past and present where we were and still are kings and queens; where we overcame slavery and apartheid; where we thought there was no way out and the Lord made a way out of no way ~

Conclusion ~

Come meet me by the riverside ~ we will gather… we will sit… and we will weep only to rise again! To rise and reclaim what was taken! To rise and be the women and me of G-d we were destined to be! Come meet me by the riverside; there we will sit and weep together as we remember Jerusalem, Mother Africa! See you by the riverside!