"I Will Sing..." Psalm 57-6-7

Psalm 57: 1-11

[6] They set a net for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path,
but they have fallen into it themselves.
Selah
[7] My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.

What is happening in this scripture? – Yesterday, our church, Philadelphia Presbyterian, celebrated the rededication of one of its earliest cemeteries. PPC is a very old church, one of the oldest in Mecklenburg County, NC. It dates back before the Revolutionary War, and the church has moved three times. So you can imagine that there are some very old cemeteries belonging to this church. The ceremony took place on a breezy afternoon underneath trees that of course weren’t there when the original graves were dug. The cemetery was surrounded by an old stone wall and, and one of those walls separates the graves of the landowners from the slaves. An African American Gospel choir from Henderson Grove Presbyterian were our guests. They had used our chapel after their church had burned down, and they sang several old spirituals, accompanied only by the wind and the rustling of the leaves. As the group arrived, “somewhere around 1 PM” a bit late for people who watch the clock closely, the wind picked up, as if the spirits lying there suddenly became aware. As the haunting sound of their music floated up into the trees, we stood there, listening and clapping in time.

How is this happening in the world today? This is a very old type of music that I don’t hear very much, and it fit the setting. Part of me was ashamed of the wall separating our ancestors, and part of me was glad it was there, as a reminder. I was aware of the invisible walls that still separate us in our churches and in the world. Someone once said that Sunday morning, from 11:00 to 12:00 is the most segregated hour of the week for us.
After the service was over, several of us could not wait to embrace our guests and express our thanks. I saw a few tear-filled eye, and was aware of my own. There we all were, under God’s canopy, honoring those who came before us, aware of our common destiny, aware of our past transgressions, and knowing that we too would someday be joining our forbearers under small monuments with those whose markers said only, “Known to None, Save God”. It seems that the wind knew, and somehow we knew them too, the slaves and the landowners, for we all inherit their legacy, of pain, of conflict, of injustice, of courage, of faith, and of God’s saving grace for us all.
We human beings are not good at many things, but one thing we are very good at is separating ourselves from others. In my bible study class we have been focusing upon The Tower of Babel, and the Pentecost in Luke, as examples of how God brings order from chaos; how we bring chaos into order, and how God’s steadfastness restores order again, even blessing our different tongues with the good news of his love and justice. We keep building walls and Jesus keeps knocking them down. Different faiths, different races, different political beliefs, different customs, different ways of seeing the world. And all claiming God, and Abraham, as their forefather, clutching them to our breast like a selfish child does a favored toy, afraid someone will take him from us.

How is this story my story? – Someday Lord, we will sing together. Someday we will live the words we sing. Until that day Lord,

[7] My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.

May it be so.

RSP