Rivers of Faith

Continuing my theme of music on Fridays, I couldn’t get a song out of my head when I was thinking about this blog post. “Rivers of Babylon” is a song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of The Melodians in 1972, and popularized mainly by Boney M.’s cover version in 1978.  Boney M.’s version is the most popular because of its Caribbean sound.  Check out the totally 70’s music video complete with 1970’s camera work.  The Boney M. version is even sung in churches.

The group, Barefoot Truth has a great version of it as well:

The lyrics are important. The lyrics are:

By the rivers of Babylon
Where we sat down
There we wept
When we remembered Zion

For the wicked
Carried us away captivity
Requiring from us a song
How can we sing a song of joy in a
strange land

So let the
Words of our mouths
and the meditations of our hearts
be acceptable in Thy sight
here tonight

By the rivers of Babylon
Where we sat down
There we wept
When we remembered Zion

The song is based on the Psalm 137, a hymn expressing the laments of the Jews in exile following the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

The reason I’m thinking about rivers today is because our scripture for Sunday involves people gathering around a river to hear about God.  In scripture, God’s people have a strong connection to rivers.  In Genesis, it was a river that watered the garden that flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters.  God used the river Nile to display his power in Egypt. It was by the rivers of Babylon where the psalmist sang about the lament of God’s people missing their land.  John the Baptist baptized in the River Jordan.

In our New Testament lesson, Paul is led by a vision to a river to share about God. Paul has a vision of a man calling for the Gospel to be shared in his city. Paul travels and instead finds a woman, Lydia. On the sabbath day Paul went outside the gate by the river, because it was  was a place of prayer. Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening because “the Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.” After hearing and believing, she and her household were baptized.

For the psalmist who sat by a river in Babylon it was not a pleasant experience.  However, for Lydia it was a transformational experience.  We do not really know what was so attractive about this river for Lydia, other it being a place of prayer.

What is it about a river that is so appealing?  Rushing, moving, fresh water.  Certainly, there are theological connections to rivers.  Like the Holy Spirit, rivers are in action, source of life, and are sustaining. Like the need for water for us to survive, God provides spiritual rivers of life for us.

How thirsty are you for the river of life that God gives? A little or a lot?  Are you spiritually dehydrated? Then maybe it is time for you sit by God’s river and drink.

This Sunday, we are going to uncover how we can spiritually hydrate ourselves during times of extreme spiritual thirst. In you are in Ballston Spa this Sunday, I invite you to come and worship with us at First Baptist Church.

May you drink from the river of life that God provides.

Easter 6C