Psalm 126



1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,
then were we like those who dream.

2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
and our tongue with shouts of joy.

3 Then they said among the nations,
"The Lord has done great things for them."

4 The Lord has done great things for us,
and we are glad indeed.

5 Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
like the watercourses of the Negev.

6 Those who sowed with tears
will reap with songs of joy.

7 Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed,
will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

This year, Monday Matters will focus on wisdom conveyed in the treasures of the book of Psalms. We'll look at the psalms read in church before Monday Matters comes to your screen.

I can dream, can't I?

In the psalm we heard yesterday in church, reprinted above there’s a reference to the Negev, an area in the Holy Land between the more fertile northern region of Israel and the barren desert to the south. Maybe you know that kind of place. I suspect we all have lived in that in-between space at one time or another.

The Negev is dry for most of the year. But for a short time, there’s enough rainfall up north so that water runs down into the Negev (hence the reference to watercourses). For ten or more months, with little rainfall, the land is dry. So dry, in fact, that when the water comes from the north, it can just run over the hard-packed earth. Unless of course, a farmer has anticipated water’s arrival and broken up hard terrain, maybe even planted some seeds. In other words, growth will happen if the farmer has hope that the water will come, and if the farmer believes in that hope so much that he prepares for it.

This is a psalm about hope. Maybe even more to the point, it is about dreams, as we can see in the first verse. It’s about imagining a better time, believing so much in the future realization of that dream that actions in present time are shaped by it. Which brings me to last Friday, the anniversary of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s death. 57 years ago. Hard to believe. Of course, any remembrance of Dr. King reminds us of his speech in 1963 when he spoke about a dream. He never realized the dream. On some days, I feel like it is further off than when he spoke. But that one image animated a movement that changed our nation, turning hardened hearts into fertile ground for greater justice.

When I started in ministry, an older priest told me that at least once a year, every rector should give an “I have a dream” speech. Each clergy person should let folks know what it is they hope will happen in days ahead. It’s good advice for clergy, for leadership of all kinds. And it can be a good exercise for anyone. What would be included in your “I have a dream” speech? What would you dream? What can you imagine this morning that is not yet a reality, something you really hope will come to pass?

Your church, your life, your job, your relationships may feel like the Negev, pretty unfruitful most of the time. But the psalm invites us to think of other possibilities Again, it has to do with hope, an essential Christian virtue. Jurgen Moltmann, great theologian who passed away this past year, focused his voluminous theological writings on hope, asking “Where would we stand if we did not take our stand on hope?” Jim Wallis described hope this way: “Hope is believing in spite of the evidence and watching the evidence change.” Tony Campolo spoke of hope with an eye on Holy Week. His vision was suggested in the title of his book: “It’s Friday but Sunday is coming.”

We come to end of the season of Lent, compared to a desert, to wilderness, a hard place, reflective of all the challenges we all know in life. (One priest I know regularly reminded his congregation that suffering is the promise life always keeps.) But Lent is also a season of preparation, as we get ready for the watercourses, the new life that comes with the one who said: I am the living water. In these final days of Lent, prepare the ground for the new thing God wants to do in the hardened soil of your life. What if anything are you expecting to happen in your life? Do you have an “I have a dream” speech? What seeds can you have ready? For those of us who sow with tears, hearts breaking with the brokenness of our world, may we anticipate the promises made in the psalm du jour. We may well go out weeping, carrying the seed, and we may well come again with joy, shouldering our sheaves.

- Jay Sidebotham

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