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NEW KILPATRICK PARISH CHURCH
open hearts, open minds, open faith
Gathering
My friends
let us bring here
all we are
our real selves
broken at times
hurt at others
bruised by word
scarred by deed
anxious because of the world
This self
we bring
and let me assure
and let me promise
and let me attest
the love of this place
loves you back
as you are
and does not judge
and there are no caveats
the love of this place
is not ours
but made by the one who is made of love
May you find this place
a holy
healing
loving
place
Suffering
Psalm 139
Contemporary Reading
There are two opposite psalms almost next door to each other: Psalm 137 by the Babylonian rivers, made famous by Boney M and 139 which we read this morning. One is a lament questioning where God could be in the midst of suffering, the other the trust that there is nowhere God cannot be found and as such they speak into each other. Here’s a dialogue between paraphrases (helped by The Message) of the two psalms.
Voice 1:
Along Babylon’s riverbanks
we sat and wept, face to the waters, we cried:
“O Zion, O Zion and the good old days!”
Voice 2:
I am an open book to you;
you know my mind: closed or open
my presence: my leaving, my arrival.
Nowhere I find myself is beyond you finding me.
Voice 1:
Among the aspens
we piled our silent harps
that had forgotten how to play.
Yet that’s where our captors,
with their sarcasm, mocked us:
“Sing us a happy Zion song!”
Voice 2:
Before I take breath,
you know what I am going to say;
before I feel it,
you know my pain;
before I start the first sentence,
you know how it will end.
Voice 1:
How can we ever hear God’s song again
in this bad-land of our captivity?
Voice 2:
Behind me, I see you there,
ahead of me, I sense your waiting presence.
No matter the road,
be it the path through trial or a journey of hurt
in my travelling you share your companionship.
Voice 1:
Yet, if my voice ever forgets Jerusalem’s words,
may my fingers wither and my tongue swell
O Jerusalem, the greatest!
Voice 2:
Is there a place, anywhere,
far enough to be unknown,
dark enough to be lost,
that I can go to break free of you?
What if I grow wings and fly?
No, you are the eagle beside me
What if I burrow underground?
No you are the earth around me.
What if I soar towards the dawn?
No, you are the sun, rising to greet me.
There is no place, anywhere
that is far enough away
to be lost to you.
Voice 1:
You, Babylonians!
May there be a special reward
to whoever gets back at you
for all you’ve done to us;
clutching your baby infants
and shatters their heads on Babylon’s river-rocks!
Voice 2:
So it is true,
there is no shadow long enough
to hide your presence,
no hurt or thought too dark
that your light cannot reveal your presence.
Light and dark mean little to you.
Voice 1:
By the Babylonian rivers
we sat down and cried and wept
Zion, O Zion, what has become of you?
Voice 2:
I look to my back and you’re there,
up ahead there you are too—
your presence, dispelling my fear.
Nowhere I find myself is beyond you finding me.