“¿Cómo cantar las canciones del Señor en una tierra extraña?” (Salmo 137:4a)
“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4a)
The season de la Navidad y del Año Nuevo is a time for coming together as family, for celebrating with the preparation of la masa to make an abundance of tamales or empanadas while chatting in the kitchen. It is a time for visiting with friends and family into the wee hours of the morning; a time for prayer and worship together en la Iglesia, and then celebrating with fireworks and laughter as a community con puertas abiertas (with open doors). Except, as immigrants and their families know too well, the Christmas season can be a painful reminder of everything left behind. It can point to the reality of not quite fitting into a new culture where the focus of the holidays and the manner of celebration looks different and foreign. It can bring el anhelo (longing) for the Christmases and holidays past, for the family and friends left behind, for a beloved culture that does not have the same value in a new land.
“¿Cómo cantar las canciones del Señor en una tierra extraña?” (“How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” Salmo/Psalm 137:4a). These were the words of God’s people, who found themselves in exile in Babylon, away from their homeland, away from their culture, away from everything that felt familiar and comforting. They are words of deep sorrow and lament as these exiles tried to reconcile what it meant to live as outsiders in a foreign land, and to trust the Lord’s purposes for their lives. Indeed, although exile came as a fulfillment of God’s judgement for His people for continually forsaking Him, the Lord's purpose in this time was not a purpose for evil or harm. Rather, as the prophet Jeremiah had promised, His was a plan “to give you a future and a hope,” a plan to help His people once again long after Him, and trust Him alone as their Savior (see Jeremiah 29:11, & context).
Certainly, the circumstances may be different, but as inmigrantes y extranjeros trying to make a new life and new home for yourself, your family, or your congregation, you may well understand the feelings of sorrow and lamentation on the lips of the Jewish exiles in this Psalm. How can you celebrate and sing for joy and peace this Christmas season, as you make a new life, uprooted from friends, family, language, and the culture you know and love so well? How can you care for a congregation and a community experiencing the heartache of not only missing family and home, but feeling excluded and desilusionados at trying to make a new life in a foreign land?
“Junto a los ríos de Babilonia nos sentábamos y llorábamos al acordarnos de Sión,” (“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion”) the exiles recount in their lamentation (Salmo/Psalm 137:1). Zion: it was their homeland and their place of belonging! As God’s people sat down--as they settled into a foreign land, full of strange customs, a new language--and as they found themselves as social outcasts, they could only weep at remembering their homeland. Seeing the rivers flowing in Babylon, they were painfully reminded of the good land, flowing with milk and honey, which they had been forced to leave. Many things can remind us of family and home faraway, but particularly times of celebration deeply rooted in cultural and family traditions. If Christmas and the holiday season are a time of missing home as an immigrant or refugee; of feeling alone as a foreigner in a new land, or even como un Soltero, recent widow(er), or misfit of any other sort, you are not alone. Psalm 137 is but a part of a larger story.
So “how shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” How can we celebrate Christmas, or help others to celebrate the season, when home feels so far away, or when sorrows run so deep? While it seems despairing at first glance, Psalm 137 is couched in the hope of Christmas for the immigrant, for the outcast, for those longing for greater comfort, and even for those who (like God’s people) are suffering the consequences of poor decisions. While Psalm 137 is a song of lamentation, the structure of the psalter is purposeful, surrounding it with songs of praise, thanksgiving, and hope in the Lord’s steadfast love and faithfulness. Psalm 136 ends, “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” And as the exiles in Psalm 137 weep over their exile and exclusion in Babylon, Psalm 138 breaks in with David’s exultant praise, “I will give thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart…” for “on the day I called, you answered me…” (Psalm 138:1, 3). Both Psalm 136 and Psalm 138 recount the story of God’s faithfulness in caring for His people through countless circumstances, of listening to their cries, of intervening on their behalf.
Indeed, the story of the Psalms – and of the Old Testament – tells a greater story for the exiles. Yes, Babylon was a place of feeling pain, feeling suffering, experiencing their great need; but it was also a place of the Lord’s intervening and redemptive purposes for His people, of His keeping covenant faithfulness and steadfast love to a people who had constantly forgotten and forsaken Him. It was a place where God was at work, changing hearts, showing forth His mercy, and using even those in exile (like Daniel) to share His goodness with those around them. Far from forsaking His people, the Lord was using this time of sorrow to allow His people to hunger for Him above all else, to yearn for His goodness beyond any human joy. And in Babylon, the Lord promised that “I will turn their mourning into joy; I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow…and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness” (Jeremiah 31:13-14). In Babylon--in exile and lamentation--the Lord promised that “there is hope for your future” (31:17, emphasis added).
Yet the hope of which the Lord was speaking was far greater than the promise of physical restoration to the land of Canaan (though certainly this was a part of the promise). The greatest hope for the exiles then (and for all of you who feel alone, in deep despair, or as foreigners and exiles) was for a Deliverer whom the Lord would send. The greatest hope was for the Messiah who would come to rescue His people not simply from exile, but from the depths of sadness, despair, sin, and loneliness.
This Messiah was coming, and His name would be Emmanuel: God with us! God’s chosen and anointed Savior--the Christ--was coming so that, even in the midst of a foreign land, even in the midst of longing, weeping, tears, and remembering, God’s people would never be alone. The Messiah was coming to be with and comfort His children, and to give them a hope for their future. The Messiah was coming to restore the song of gladness and thanksgiving to the lips of His broken, hurting people. He was coming to be with them, and to redeem them, so that, even in the midst of a foreign land, they might indeed sing the Lord’s song – a song of His faithfulness, His presence, His joy, and His hope!
This is the song that Mary, the mother of Jesus takes on her lips, as she recognizes the wonder of the Messiah coming for her and for her people. “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant…” (Luke 1:46-47). This is the story of Christmas! The Messiah – God’s chosen servant, His very Son – has seen the lowly estate of His people. He has seen those who, like the exiles in Babylon, “sit in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79). He has seen those who are foreigners, excluded, alone, and struggling to sing His song. And He has entered in, not only to be “God with Us,” but to bring life and joy and hope to even the loneliest souls, so that they too, might sing His song of redemption, in a foreign land, and amidst all the trials of life. He has come “to give light to those who sit in darkness…to guide our feet into the way of peace” (1:79).
Emmanuel’s coming does not mean that you will not experience earthly longing and loneliness; it does not mean you will not feel like a foreigner or exile, or that you will not miss los abrazos de familia and plates heaped with steaming manjares this Christmas. Jesus’ birth does not mean you will not struggle to fit in to a new language and culture, or to care for a congregation and context that is struggling to find work, security, and hope. But the Messiah’s coming does mean that God is present, with you, in the midst of trial, constantly pointing your face upward, and pointing your hope heavenward. His coming means that there is indeed a hope for your future, and a purpose in your work now. His coming means que puedes “cantar las canciones del Señor en una tierra extraña” because He is with you, caring for you through His steadfast love. He is carrying you through to the day you will one day be with Him for eternity, as an heir of His eternal Kingdom. This is the hope we can share, celebrate, and sing with our communities of fellow exiles, foreigners, and mourners this Christmas, as together we remember that Jesus has come, and that He is coming again.
“¿Cómo cantar las canciones del Señor en una tierra extraña?” Sing this Christmas and New Year because the Lord has looked on your humble estate; He has come to bring His joy and satisfaction to your longing heart. He alone is the answer to the longing hearts of those whom you are serving. He has come to be with His people, to turn sadness into joy, and tears to laughter. Emmanuel has not forgotten you; He is with you; He is with His people. He alone can put a new song in your mouth, that you might say with Mary, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
So whether you pronounce it Emmanuel or Emanuel, dilo con gozo… (say it with joy...)
¡A Dios sea la gloria!
JOIN US IN PRAYER:
Join us in prayer for all those serving the Hispanic-American context this season: pray for encouragement and for an abundant sense of the Lord's provision, even and especially through the trials.
Pray for our churches and leaders to find overflowing of joy in the presence of the Messiah, that the Lord would indeed change songs of lament into songs of joy and laughter for what He has done and what He will yet accomplish.
Pray for majority-culture churches to come alongside our Hispanic brothers and sisters as fellow exiles longing for the Promised Land, encouraging one another in the hope of Jesus' coming, and His return. Pray for growth of understanding and encouragement within the Body of Christ.
Please pray for the many outreach events that are taking place to reach and serve the Hispanic-American community this holiday season. Pray that the Lord would be glorified in these events, and that many would come to find their hope in Emmanuel!
Please consider giving to HLI, that the Lord may continue multiplying the resources for the training, encouragement, renewal, and multiplication of new leaders in and for the Hispanic-American context, and even beyond.
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