December 1 / Psalm 125

Psalm 125

Back to Psalms, to close out our reading for the year. Continuing with the “Songs of Ascents” that began with Psalm 120 – psalms that the pilgrims sang or prayed as they journeyed to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. As we think back to these earlier psalms and even in these first two verses today, we get a feel for the depth of love that the Jewish people had for Jerusalem. This psalm may have been written before, during, or after the Exile and the Temple could have been in place or been destroyed in years past, but in whatever state Jerusalem or the Temple was in, the pilgrims loved the city. No doubt Jesus was among those who loved that city: Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings… (Matthew 23:37)

I can remember the first time that I saw the White House, the Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial – I was taken with pride!! Humbled at the sight of being so close to those places that I had only seen on television… I felt a sense of patriotism – joy at having been born in this great land! That hasn’t changed these 44+ years later. Whenever I go back to the DC area and have a chance to go downtown, I remain in awe at the beauty, the history, the messages that these structures send to my heart. That’s as close as I can come to the pilgrims on their journey, having arrived at Jerusalem and the Temple. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. (I Chronicles 29:11)