Sunday Afternoon Reflections: Psalm 122 & Contagiously Joyful Worship

An expression of shared enjoyment is often very contagious.  Have you ever eavesdropped on a group of people having an animated conversation about something of intense interest and excited enjoyment?  You know the type of situation I’m talking about.  You’re out having a quick bite to eat over the lunch hour between appointments, and you find yourself sitting ten feet from a group a people who are genuinely engaged in conversation: they are sitting forward in their seats; they have a twinkle in their eyes as they maintain unbroken eye contact; they smile, nod, and gesticulate oh so easily.  Your interest perked, you turn your head so as to catch a bit of their wonderful conversation.  You hear something like this:

“. . . I know . . . you too?  The plot just gripped me; my mind was spinning trying to figure out . . . He is such a great actor, I think I’ve seen all his movies . . . The director’s last two movies were a bit weird, so I was kind’a leery about how this movie would come off, but . . . I have seen it twice, and my whole family loves it too . . . I was shocked by her performance; I wouldn’t have expected her to be in a movie with him, but the chemistry was . . . Beautiful cinematography . . . the soundtrack really was . . .” 

A few minutes into your eavesdropping and you have moved a foot or two closer to the group carefully trying to avoid being noticed.  You are desperate to catch the name of the movie (or at least some evidence that will help you deduce the movie’s title) so that you can check out the movie yourself.  An expression of shared enjoyment has become contagious. 

However, there are also times when an expression of shared enjoyment can cause alienation.  Maybe you have been a part of a conversation that took a turn into a subject you couldn’t relate to or didn’t understand.  You and your friends are having a conversation over dinner about family vacations.  Then, the conversation drifts into airfare and hotel reservation websites.  From there, the conversation inexplicably evolves into a technical discussion of internet search engines and computer language programming that sounds more like Charlie Brown’s trumpet-mute-mother than English.  All the while you smile and nod politely as your friends share their excitement over a common shared interest.  An expression of shared enjoyment has caused you to feel alienated. 

Psalm 122 is an expression of shared joy with then intention of encouraging others to join in joy. 

“I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the House of the LORD!”  Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem! [Implied: come on join us, won’t you?]”  (vv. 1—2)

We can almost hear a similar modern expression (all be it infinitely more trivial – infinite in the literal sense as opposed to the hyperbolic sense). 

“I’m was glad Jeff and Kelly suggested Friday night bowling, you should come with us, after all it’s Friday night!” 

“I’m so glad you invited us to the Indian Buffet we have been wanted to eat there for a while now; we should call the Ericksons they would love to join us.” 

“That movie was a great suggestion; I want to see it again with my folks.”

However, we Christians are less and less likely to make such expressions of shared enjoyment over worship.  And, when we Christians do express such a shared enjoyment of worship, it seems to fall on deaf ears.  It is as if Christian worship and the Christian faith have become so foreign, alien, and obscure that all people hear when we talk about Christianity is jargon, lingo, buzzwords, and catchphrases.  And, what should be an expression of shared enjoyment that is contagious, instead, becomes an expression of shared joy that causes alienated. 

So, learning from Psalm 122, what is it about gathering together for worship that would inspire us to share a more genuine and contagious expression of shared joy with others?  And, what should such an expression of shared joy communicate to others so as to motivate them to join us in worship?  In the new American multi-faith culture of ambiguous spirituality, regular worship provides a consistent setting in which the transcendent God of the universe is immanently present in community.  Psalm 122 is book ended by the phrase “the House of the LORD” (vv. 1 & 9).  This is notable given that King David is credited as the author of this Psalm.  David labored long and hard to establish the Kingdom of Israel, Jerusalem, and a permanent site for the Ark of the Covenant and Tabernacle, which would become the site of the Temple David longed to personally build.  From Exodus through Deuteronomy, God continued to promise Mosses that the Hebrew people would have a permanent home land, and in that Promised Land the Tabernacle would have a permanent fixed home.  No longer would the people of God wonder through the wilderness wondering when and where they would set up the Tabernacle in order to meet with God – there was to be a consistent place of worship around which the people of God could build a nation, society, and culture.  Reading through Joshua, Judges, I Samuel, and the beginning of II Samuel there is a palpable sense of frustrated urgency as the Hebrew people struggle to possess the Promised Land and erect the Tabernacle on its permanent site.  Then, after Saul’s failed monarchy, God establishes David as the king of Israel, and the promised place of worship starts to become a reality.  After the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, David jubilantly brings the Ark up to Jerusalem (II Samuel 6).  Following that promise fulfilling moment, God them establishes a covenant with David that guaranteed that one of David’s descendants would always sit on Israel’s throne (II Samuel 7).  Then, after a downward spiral of tragedies and moral failings (II Samuel 11 & 12), all seems to come undone as David’s son Absalom incites a civil war expelling David from Jerusalem (II Samuel 13—18).  I can’t help but believe that David composed this Psalm some time after David’s return to Jerusalem in II Samuel 19.  However, just as all seemed well and fulfilled, Israel is ripped apart into two kingdoms – celebrative joy is replaced by a “melancholy devastation” (John Calvin, Commentary on the Psalms vol. 5 pg 72).  To add insult to injury, threatening to completely reverse all God had promised, the ten tribes of Israel are eradicated and Judah is carried away into exile.  The former sense of God’s abiding permanence and stability in the Temple becomes a vague dream overshadowed by the nightmare of slavery in a foreign conquering empire.  Yet, the Bible is clear about God’s un-failing faithfulness to his promises – the Jewish people return from exile to Jerusalem.  Imagine the words of Psalm 122 being sung by pilgrims returning to Jerusalem and the Temple which was the epicenter of their culture.  With this extensive history in mind, imagine subsequent generations singing Psalm 122 with each and every passing Passover, Pentecost, and Feast of Tabernacles.  Despite Israel’s disobedience and half-hearted inconsistent piety, God continues to call his people back to a consistent, stable, permanent place of worship in which his transcendence is immanently present with his people.  In the context of vapid inconsistency God is faithfully consistent to his promises. 

What does this have to do with us in our present day context?  In the current American Postmodern setting, everyone seem to be on a quest for some modicum of reliable wisdom, understanding, and – dare I say – “truth” that transcends our culture of seemingly endless flux.  Everyone I know is looking for that anchor that will offer some sense of security and stability in the tempests of life.  People want something that will help them to make sense of their family relationships, friendships, politics, finances, career, vocation, purpose, aging, sickness, tragedy, suffering, loss, and death.  And, in a society with a been-there-done-that attitude toward Christianity, we are seeing a rise in new spiritualities and neo-paganism as people seek to make sense of life.  Now, more than ever, Christians need a credible and contagious expression of our shared joy.  And, this shared joy needs to flow from our worship of God in the paradox of his transcendence and immanence. 

This begs the question, is there anything that can cultivate a credible and contagious expression of our shared joy as people who worship God?  Psalm 122 shows us three things that contribute to our shared joy as we worship God together, and, in turn, these three things lend credibility to what we have to say to others about the joy of worshiping God:

1). The Church is to be a place of refuge (v. 3).

2). The Church is to be a place of thankfulness (v. 4).

3). The Church is to be a place of justice (v. 5).

“Jerusalem – built as a city that is bound firmly together,” (v. 3)

First, the Church is to be a place of refuge.  There are many people who may find the imagery of city bound tightly together very unattractive.  But, in the ancient near east a city bound firmly together was an image of refuge and protection.  Such a city provided tight walls that could not be breached.  Such a city offered all the amenities needed to sustain life.  Above all, such a city had to be ruled well so that the people inside could actually get along and live together in harmony for there to be any security.  In a world where interpersonal conflict runs rampant, Jesus not only teaches his followers to get along and live in harmony, through his atoning death and resurrection Jesus makes it possible for us to live in harmony.  Because Jesus has saved us by grace alone apart from works, we have no reason to put on a front.  We can be honest with one another about who we are as sinners freely offering grace to one another.

“To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.” (v. 4)

Second, the Church is to be a place of thankfulness.  When we gather together for worship we realize our identity as one of God’s people.  We are one of a grand multitude, yet we don’t loose our identity in some homogenous uniform mass (when the people of Israel went up to worship, they still went up as members of specific tribes).  What a picture: beautiful unique people together in unity (not uniformity).  Yet, on top of this astoundingly beautiful image, we don’t gather together simply to meet up with one another seeking mutual benefit.  We unite together to meet with the Lord and give him thanks.  In a society in which families can hardly agree on what to eat for dinner, such unity ought to amaze.

“There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David.” (v. 5)

Third, the Church is to be a place of justice.  OK, the thought of judgment thrones doesn’t seem to appealing in our day and age.  However, in ancient Israel, verse five would have been very comforting to pilgrims on their approach to worship in Jerusalem.  During the pilgrimage seasons of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, the pilgrims would have come to Jerusalem with disputes that the local courts could not settle, and thus, unresolved conflicts would have been settled by royal courts. In Christ, we have received ultimate justice; Jesus Christ the Son of David has granted us pardon by his blood and reconciled us unto God and thereby unto his people. 

All of this said, as Christians we are simultaneously justified and yet sinners.  And, we all know that as much as the Church is to be a place of refuge, brokenness, conflict, and disputes remain.  As much as the Church is to be a place of thanksgiving, discontent remains.  As much at the Church is to be a place of justice, wrong and injustice remain.  This explains the Psalmist’s plea for peace in verses six through nine.  David calls his hearers to pray for peace and to then actively seek that peace.  And, this peace is not to be sought around and about Jerusalem; this peace is to be sought within Jerusalem – in and among the people of God.  We are to be marked by peace, both in our prayer and in our actions. 

Yet, despite all the human effort we could ever possibly muster, we cannot achieve the peace this Psalm envisions.  We can’t make the Church a place of perfect refuge.  We can make the Church a place of perfect thanksgiving.  We can’t make the Church a place of perfect justice.  As was noted before, there is no hope in the Psalms apart from Christ.  Psalm 122 stands in stark contrast to Jesus weeping over Jerusalem as he approaches the city for the ultimate Passover.  What we can not do on our own, Christ does on our behalf so that we can live as Scripture call us to live.  In John 17 Jesus prays that those who believe in him would live in perfect unity.  And Jesus doesn’t just pray for the peace of his people, Jesus offers himself up as the once for all sacrifice providing ultimate peace between God and man.  And, where Jerusalem fell to the Roman empire in 70AD, God promises to remain faithful by bringing his people into the New Eternal Jerusalem (Revelation 21:1—ff).  This New Jerusalem will be perfectly bound together in unity; so much so that the cycle of sojourning and pilgrimage will come to an end.  The New Jerusalem will not be a place we long for; it will be an eternal reality of our daily existence.

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