Psalm Meditation 541
Twenty third Sunday of Ordinary Time
October 31, 2010

Psalm 122
1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"
2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem--built as a city that is bound firmly together.
4 To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
5 For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.
7 Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers."
8 For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, "Peace be within you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your good.
(NRSV)

This psalm celebrates the arrival in Jerusalem of a band of pilgrims. There was an expectation that as many as were able would go to Jerusalem for this annual feast. Jerusalem is the home of the Temple and the center of the faith. In one sense it is a homecoming even for those who attend for the first time.

Each of us has a space, a place that feels like home for us. It may be our actual residence, the house in which we grew up, the place where a parent or parents live or a place that feels comfortable each time we go. There may be a family connection or it may be a feeling of comfort and wholeness that gives a sense of peace as we arrive or even as we bring the place to mind. My sense is that in some form or another God is in these places for us.

In one sense this home remains unchanged even though things are different each time we go. At its core the home-ness of it remains even though the physical characteristics change. Much like the essential God-ness of God is a constant even as God continually changes methods and forms of relating to us.

© October 25, 2010