Greg’s Sermon on Psalm 137
Greg Brown is a congregant at St. Lydia’s, and a Master of Divinity candidate at General Theological Seminary in New York City. He is in the process of ordination in the Episcopal Church. Greg shared this sermon on Psalm 137 with us on Sunday, August 14.
I have to start this with a confession: I had no complex process in choosing this Psalm. When Emily asked me to preach, and to choose a Psalm, this one jumped into my head immediately. Now we read or sing the Psalms a few of times a day at seminary, so I’ve heard them all. I didn’t want to choose 119 – absolutely huge. 117 (the shortest at two verses) doesn’t have a ton to go on… but 137, 137 is one of the few that stands out to me. I’ll be honest: it’s nothing high-minded; but this Psalm jumped into my head because it was my introduction to reggae in high school. But… when we crack it open, it’s an interesting, interesting story, something that I think might speak to us now.
One day my sophomore year, I was rooting around in my dad’s record collection, and among the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix I found this crazy-looking album – island designs all over the jacket, men with huge, long hair smoking these funny big cigars and dancing. It was the soundtrack to the Jamaican movie The Harder They Come, probably the first reggae record in the world. I put it on my record player and was amazed, taken to another, beautiful place. On one track, the Melodians take Psalm 137 and…well, they put it to churchy-soulful music with intricate, tight harmonies. It’s weird, though – the music was beautiful, but in the words I could hear their sadness at being separated from a place they longed for; they were missing a much-loved place. “By the rivers of Babylon / there we sat down / and there we wept / when we remembered Zion…” So this Psalm is the only one that jumps out at me, time after time, and it’s good, useful for today.
Read the rest of Greg’s sermon here.
Listen to the Melodians’ version of Psalm 137 here.
Listen to a feistier gospel version of Psalm 137 by the Gospel Clefs here.