Psalm Meditation 811
Second Sunday After Christmas
January 3, 2016

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)

It seems a good way to end and begin a new year; to, ‘go to the house of the LORD.’ While it is good to spend time in a place of worship, it is made better when it is populated with others who share an interest in being in the presence of God. The invitation received by the psalmist, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” becomes more than going to the sanctuary of God, it includes being part of a community at worship. Introverts and extroverts alike find a place in a worship gathering.

When any community gathers there will be those with whom we look forward to spending time as well as those whose presence will begin as a burden. Given time, some of those we anticipate as burdensome will be counted among those we look forward to spending time in worship. We will find those with whom we agree as well as those with whom we disagree, and we will find ourselves forming important links with some of each group of people. Genuine community is about being together in our differentness more than agreeing on everything.

As we gather from our various geographies and places on political and theological spectra we can find common ground in our prayers for peace. Our ideas of how that looks may be as different as our heart and mindsets, however our prayers continue to be for peace; in our hearts, our community, our nation and world. God hears our prayers and moves us in the ways that lead to God’s peace in and among us.

December 28, 2015
LCM