Liturgy Collective Elliott Cherry | Sermon: Psalm 137
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Mar 19, 2024 
Elliott Cherry, pastor of Midtown Fellowship 12 South in Nashville, brings pastoral preaching rooted in congregational life. He frames Psalm 137 in exile, describes the emotional reality of captivity, and explains why Jerusalem embodied hope. He explores taunts, waiting, singing to remember Zion, the psalm’s harsh cries for justice, and how God’s remembrance is fulfilled in Christ.
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Exile Is An Existential Condition
- The psalm frames exile as an existential condition where promises tied to Zion feel impossible while living in Babylon.
- Elliot Cherry links Israel's captivity to our present reality of distance from home, making the psalm a mirror for contemporary grief and longing.
Concrete Tragedies Make Babylon Real
- Cherry names recent real tragedies near the conference to illustrate contemporary Babylonian sorrow, including a school shooting and assaults in Israel.
- These concrete examples make waiting in exile tangible and underscore why leaders must learn to weep and wait.
Hope Requires Waiting In Reality
- Hoping and waiting are the same word and practice in Hebrew; hope by definition requires waiting for what is not yet present.
- Cherry emphasizes that being a people of hope means learning to wait patiently in the discomfort of current reality.