Today's Meditation
Read Psalm 122
1I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
2Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together.
4To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
5For there the thrones for judgment were set up, the thrones of the house of David.
6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May they prosper who love you.
7Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers.”
8For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you.”
9For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.
If you remember yesterday's meditation, I said, "I always have a plan." Well on June 11, our sessions met to determine a way back to face-to-face corporate worship. We decided that if there weren't any significant increases in cases we'd begin corporate worship at our Bethesda sanctuary on July 5. On July 2, it was reported that our area had the greatest spike in percentage of cases returning as positive for the virus at 18%. Even during April and May that percentage was much lower. So, we made the difficult decision to not return to corporate worship yet.
As I was preparing these daily meditations and came to the first Song of Ascent in the Psalms over a week ago, I did some research about this group of 15 Psalms. Then I made a plan to use them as we led up to tomorrow's gathered worship back in one of our sanctuaries. The plan included which of the 15 Song of Ascent Psalms I'd use culminating in today's psalm that opens with the wonderful announcement - "I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord!'" I had even thought of the message I'd offer...it would have been perfect! So much for plans!
At this point none of us know when we'll get back to corporate worship. It might be next week, it might not be until next month or even later. We will allow the numbers (and quite honestly, people's behavior) to dictate when we return. Be safe, friends. Two weeks ago I buried a woman I'd known from a previous congregation who'd been on a ventilator for a long time. You really don't want that to happen to you or any of your loved ones.
But, oh how joyful I will be, when we will be able to say, "Let us go to the house of the Lord!"
For today I will just say this, "Peace be in your house. Peace be within you. Peace be what you share with others." May God continue to bless us and the world around us.
I'm offering my favorite hymn for July 4th here:
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