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Blessed Shall He Be
May. 30th, 2025 08:34 am Psalm 137 is a bit strong. It's also heart wrenchingly beautiful.
It begins "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept* and ends "O daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery.... blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and throweth them against the stones."
There are many folk on both sides of the war in the middle east who are feeling- and acting in the spirit of- that last verse.
(Incidentally, the British Quakers, speaking through the mouthpiece of the Yearly Meeting, have become the first of our "churches" to call Netanyahu's war aims what they so obviously are- genocide.)
The question arose at my theological college in the mid seventies whether we, as good, milky Christians, should be chanting those final words in our worship, but my friend John Armson- who was then chaplain- said absolutely yes we should, because we all have the potential for pitiless fury in our hearts and should acknowlege it.....
Otherwise it has the potential to leap out suddenly, take us unawares and master us....
It begins "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept* and ends "O daughter of Babylon, wasted with misery.... blessed shall he be that taketh thy children and throweth them against the stones."
There are many folk on both sides of the war in the middle east who are feeling- and acting in the spirit of- that last verse.
(Incidentally, the British Quakers, speaking through the mouthpiece of the Yearly Meeting, have become the first of our "churches" to call Netanyahu's war aims what they so obviously are- genocide.)
The question arose at my theological college in the mid seventies whether we, as good, milky Christians, should be chanting those final words in our worship, but my friend John Armson- who was then chaplain- said absolutely yes we should, because we all have the potential for pitiless fury in our hearts and should acknowlege it.....
Otherwise it has the potential to leap out suddenly, take us unawares and master us....
