In a strange land

In 1978 Boney M released By the Rivers of Babylon based on psalms 19 and 137; it became one of only 7 songs that have sold more than 2 million copies. One line especially has resonated with me in the weeks since lockdown.

How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

It feels very much as if we’re all living in a strange land at present, a land where the rules have changed. Where is God in this strange land? How can we sing his song? We sing his song trusting that he hasn’t changed and that his promises are still true. Christ has risen. Death has been defeated. We sing his song by zoom, on the telephone , at the sewing machine as we make scrubs and gowns and masks.

The song goes on, the song of John3.16.

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.

Keep on singing.