Showing posts with label Psalm 122. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Psalm 122. Show all posts
Monday, April 15, 2024
Psalm Meditation 1244
¶Fourth Sunday of Easter
¶April 21, 2024
¶Psalm 122
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=psalm+122&version=NRSVUE
(NRSVUE)
¶I hope you have a place that feels like home for you. It may be the place where you currently live, a place that you visit with some regularity, a place that you hold in your heart, real or imagined, or some combination of these choices. It is a place of firmly packed memories in which all the experiences of that place burst out each time the place comes to mind. At best, I hope that the place reminds you of the presence of God, in that place, and in every instance of calling that place to mind.
¶For the psalmist that place is Jerusalem. There is nothing better than to go there along with all the other people who hold that place dear. It is a place that feels like home, a place that brings a sense of peace even when there appears to be a lack of peace everywhere, including Jerusalem. Even the presence of ‘the thrones of judgment’ make the psalmist feel loved, cared for, and cared about. If there is peace in Jerusalem, the psalmist can find God’s peace in every place and time.
¶Whether your home is Jerusalem, Disneyworld, your actual residence, or some longed for place held in heart and memory may it be a place of peace and security for you and those you love. May the presence of God fill you as you enter each place you call home so that you may be at peace while there and each time you leave. “Peace be within your walls and security within your towers.” For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
¶April 15, 2024
¶LCM
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
Psalm Meditation 1110
Proper 21
September 26, 2021
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)
¶A place is made sacred by the ones who have an experience of God at that place. One of my favorite holy places is a room made of hand stacked stones housing an altar and a simple bench. Another is not a building but a place with woods, lakeshore, marsh, and developed housing among other things. For some people the room is a small, dark, claustrophobic place housing a meaningless stone box surrounded by symbols that mean nothing to them. The outdoor space is a place of swarms of mosquitos, sweaty teenagers, and noise. The places they hold sacred may, in turn, mean very little to me.
¶Because we find holiness in different places, due to differing needs and experiences, it is a good idea to treat every space as sacred. The psalmist reminds pilgrims to pray for the peace of Jerusalem as they enter the city. The hope and prayer is that each person will feel some sense of the presence of God within its walls. As we experience God, we feel God’s peace rest within and among us. To be at peace in the presence of God makes the space in which we find ourselves sacred space. It may last for the moment, and it may be a feeling we carry in our hearts for the rest of our lives.
¶We may have experienced the annoyance of someone treating our sacred space as if it is simply space. We may have experienced the annoyance of someone having a holy experience in a way that does not seem holy to us. Which one of us is wrong? Of course it is the ‘other.’ In reality, it is the expectation that everyone’s experience is a perfect match to my own. If I enter a space expecting quiet reverence, and you are active and noisy, I know that you are ruining my experience. If I enter with expressive exuberance and you expect me to be quiet, you have sucked the joy out of the space for me. When we treat each place as if it were sacred to someone, when we recognize that we experience God with different expressions, we will find we can share space in our differences. “For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”
¶September 21, 2021
LCM lcrsmanifold@att.net
http://psalmmeditations.blogspot.com/
Monday, August 14, 2017
Psalm Meditation 896
Proper 15
August 20, 2017
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)
With a central place for worship, everyone was expected to make the trip to Jerusalem at least once a year. So it was a great occasion when so many people gathered into one place for the common purpose of worship. There were smaller weekly gatherings in peoples’ homes, the big deal was the annual gathering. It was exciting, it was something anticipated from the time one returned home one year until time to go again the next.
Certainly there were some for whom the annual trip was a burden and a bore, looked forward to as if it were an onerous task. I can imagine that there were some glares and stares exchanged between people of the two groups as they passed each other on the roads and in the streets. No matter the event or occasion there will be those who long for and those who dread it. Worship, birthdays, dental work just to name a few.
There are events that I dread that turn out to be redemptive experiences. There are events to which I look forward that turn out to be everything I had hoped they would be. Of course a few that are disappointing for a variety of reasons. Know this, boring or blessing, cathartic or catatonic, healing or hellish, God is in the midst of us in every event. Sometimes close, sometimes distant; God is in the midst of us.
August 14, 2017
LCM
Proper 15
August 20, 2017
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)
With a central place for worship, everyone was expected to make the trip to Jerusalem at least once a year. So it was a great occasion when so many people gathered into one place for the common purpose of worship. There were smaller weekly gatherings in peoples’ homes, the big deal was the annual gathering. It was exciting, it was something anticipated from the time one returned home one year until time to go again the next.
Certainly there were some for whom the annual trip was a burden and a bore, looked forward to as if it were an onerous task. I can imagine that there were some glares and stares exchanged between people of the two groups as they passed each other on the roads and in the streets. No matter the event or occasion there will be those who long for and those who dread it. Worship, birthdays, dental work just to name a few.
There are events that I dread that turn out to be redemptive experiences. There are events to which I look forward that turn out to be everything I had hoped they would be. Of course a few that are disappointing for a variety of reasons. Know this, boring or blessing, cathartic or catatonic, healing or hellish, God is in the midst of us in every event. Sometimes close, sometimes distant; God is in the midst of us.
August 14, 2017
LCM
Monday, December 28, 2015
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
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
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