Focus

Pay attention to the tension in your body. Let go of it and any expectations to do anything other than God’s will today. Prepare yourself to hear God’s word.

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Read

Psalm 84:1-7 (NRSV)

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house,
ever singing your praise. Selah

Happy are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the valley of Baca
they make it a place of springs;
the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength;
the God of gods will be seen in Zion.

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Reflect

One commentary says, “Two issues dominate this psalm: (1) worshipers on a pilgrimage to Zion and (2) the joys of worship at the temple in Jerusalem.” The psalm was probably composed as a hymn for pilgrims to sing as they made their way to the holy city. The tradition of sacred pilgrimage is deeply embedded in our Christian tradition (as well as in some other religions). Making a literal pilgrimage to a holy place symbolized that all of life is to be understood as a pilgrimage in and toward life with God.

The psalm also extols the joys of worship. At the Program of Alternate Studies, worship was central to those who gathered at Bethel University. In a sense, those who gathered there were “pilgrims” who came from many presbyteries and different parts of the country and world. They came to engage in further formation for the church’s ministry of Word and Sacrament. The hours of study were long and demanding: there were three-hour classes offered three times each day! But once a day, at eleven o’clock, all the pilgrims stopped to rest. The entire community gathered in the chapel for worship. There God was praised; weary hearts and minds were refreshed and renewed.

Cumberland Presbyterians are taught to live life as pilgrims rather than tourists. Pilgrims are motivated by the call and vision of God. Tourists ordinarily are motivated by the desire to enjoy a good vacation. Pilgrims are drawn forward by a yearning for that which is holy; tourists ordinarily yearn only to see the sites. Each Sunday, Cumberland Presbyterians across the world pilgrimage to a meeting place to gather with others to worship God. There God is worshiped and often weary hearts and minds are refreshed and renewed.

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Pray

Wondrous God, guide us who are pilgrims seeking to follow Jesus on the journey to you. Thank you for worship in and through which we are renewed, again and again, by your grace and love. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

Go with God.