I was glad when they said to me
Psalm 122
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
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 judgement 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.
Two tangent pieces to begin. This psalm feels like it was to be sung at the end of the pilgrimage when the pilgrims had arrived in Jerusalem (see vs. 2), so it feels a bit odd that it is the third of the 15 psalms of ascent. Which is a further indication that the psalms are not ordered in the order they would have been sung by the pilgrims as they travelled.
Second, a paraphrase of this psalm was traditionally sung at the end of The Presbyterian Church in Canada’s General Assembly each year. To, at the end of meetings that were challenging and even contentious, sing that peace be upon all those who had gathered, including those had held views in opposition to what I thought was a powerfully humbling experience.
The invitation to go to God’s house is received with joy – the paraphrase hymn starts “I joyed when “To the house of God go up,” they said to me.” To be invited to join others, to join our siblings in Christ, in worship, in community, together this is a joy, a blessing. Even across division, even across times when we are not sure we agree with the other person, what we do share is that they are our siblings – our relatives – our friends – made so by our common connection and commitment to Jesus Christ.
The heart of the psalm asks, “Can I pray for peace upon those Christians that I disagree with? Can I pray for the good of other followers of Jesus who are difficult to get along with? Can I genuinely pray that they would be blessed by God, simply because they are fellow followers of Jesus?”
PRAYER:
O Lord, sometimes it is hard to get along with the other people who worship you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are not sure we want their best; we wish they would go away. Teach us the path of praying for good for our enemies, for desiring the best for our opponents. In Jesus’ name. Amen.