Rage and repentance in the interpreter's booth

with Gideon Strauss

Complex truth, fragile reconciliation: Learning wonder, heartbreak and hope

in South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Phenomenological.

Anecdotal.

Melodramatic.

Warning:

The Interpreter (Nicole Kidman)

Athlone

Nelspruit

Ω

Matisyahu, “Jerusalem”[Chorus]Jerusalem, if I forget you,fire not gonna come from me tongue.Jerusalem, if I forget you,let my right hand forget what it’s supposed to do.

In the ancient days, we will return with no delayPicking up the bounty and the spoils on our wayWe’ve been traveling from state to stateAnd them don’t understand what they say3,000 years with no place to beAnd they want me to give up my milk and honeyDon’t you see, it’s not about the land or the seaNot the country but the dwelling of his majesty

[chorus]

Rebuild the temple and the crown of gloryYears gone by, about sixtyBurned in the oven in this centuryAnd the gas tried to choke, but it couldn’t choke meI will not lie down, I will not fall asleepand im come overseas, yes they’re trying to be free

Erase the demons out of our memoryChange your name and your identityAfraid of the truth and our dark historyWhy is everybody always chasing weCut off the roots of your family treeDon't you know that's not the way to be

[chorus]

Caught up in these ways, and the worlds gone crazeDon’t you know it’s just a phaseCase of the Simon saysIf I forget the truth then my words won’t penetrateBabylon burning in the place, can’t see through the hazeChop down all of them dirty ways,That’s the price that you pay for selling lies to the youthNo way, not ok, oh no way, not ok, eyAint no one gonna break my strideAint no one gonna pull me downOh no, I got to keep on movingStay alive

[chorus]

Psalm 137liturgy by Roy Berkenbosch (red: all)

Hear the sorrowful word of the Lord …How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange LandBy the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the weeping willows we hung our instruments of joy How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange Land?Our captors asked us to sing songs of home, How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange Land? Our oppressors demanded songs of joy; How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange Land?

They said "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!" But How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange Land?If I forget you, O Jerusalem, May my right hand forget its skill. If I lose hope and make peace with exile May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth.

If I forget the Holy Center of Wonder and Heartbreak and HopeThere will be no song to sing in a strange land Remember, O LORD, what happened the day Jerusalem fell.

"Tear it down," our enemies cried, tear it down to its foundations!" O Daughter of Babylon, all Enemies of Shalom are doomed to destruction, a reward awaits the one who overturns your evil, who exacts justice for your cruelty,who denies a future to your cause.How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange Land?

Psalm 137:9

A reward awaits the one who … denies a future to your cause.

Blessed shall he be who takes your little onesand dashes them against the rock!

“We are a naïve and sentimental people if we equate love with mere social grace and think that niceness will successfully confront the massive and intransigent evils of our day, individual and corporate. Redemption—personal, social, and cosmic—comes only through suffering. The paradox is that while we should not wish pain on anyone, it seems to be a perfectly loving and realistic act to pray for it.”

Mark Galli

Psalm 88 (The Message) Ω

1-9 God, you’re my last chance of the day. I spend the night on my knees before you.

Put me on your salvation agenda; take notes on the trouble I’m in. I’ve had my fill of trouble; I’m camped on the edge of hell. I’m written off as a lost cause, one more statistic, a hopeless case. Abandoned as already dead, one more body in a stack of corpses, And not so much as a gravestone— I’m a black hole in oblivion. You’ve dropped me into a bottomless pit, sunk me in a pitch-black abyss. I’m battered senseless by your rage, relentlessly pounded by your waves of anger. You turned my friends against me, made me horrible to them. I’m caught in a maze and can’t find my way out, blinded by tears of pain and frustration.

9-12 I call to you, GOD; all day I call. I wring my hands, I plead for help. Are the dead a live audience for your miracles? Do ghosts ever join the choirs that praise you? Does your love make any difference in a graveyard? Is your faithful presence noticed in the corridors of

hell? Are your marvelous wonders ever seen in the dark, your righteous ways noticed in the Land of No

Memory?

13-18 I’m standing my ground, GOD, shouting for help,

at my prayers every morning, on my knees each daybreak.

Why, GOD, do you turn a deaf ear? Why do you make yourself scarce? For as long as I remember I’ve been hurting; I’ve taken the worst you can hand out, and I’ve had

it. Your wildfire anger has blazed through my life; I’m bleeding, black-and-blue. You’ve attacked me fiercely from every side, raining down blows till I’m nearly dead. You made lover and neighbor alike dump me; the only friend I have left is Darkness.

Psalm 51 (ESV)A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,and renew a right  spirit within me.11 Cast me not away from your presence,and take not your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,and uphold me with a willing spirit.13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,and sinners will return to you.14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,O God of my salvation,and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.15 O Lord, open my lips,and my mouth will declare your praise.16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.