A Psalm for Going Out
Reading for Wednesday 4.5–Friday 4.7
The presence and blessing of God is not meant to be hoarded within the community. The most sacred spaces on earth are meant to serve as connection points so that God’s peace can begin to overrun the earth with blessing. We worship to both find wholeness and to make whole, to be healed and to be healers.
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Psalm 134 (NET)
A Song of Blessing
1 Listen! Praise the LORD,
all you servants of the LORD,
who serve in the LORD’s temple during the night.
2 Lift your hands toward the sanctuary
and praise the LORD!
3 May the LORD, the Creator of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion!
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A Psalm for Going Out
This tiny psalm packs quite a punch. Serving as a benediction for pilgrims who've journeyed through the collection of Psalms of Ascent, Psalm 134 packs references and allusions to just less than half of the others in the collection (see psalms 121, 122, 124, 128, 132, & 133). As such, it concludes the collection by pronouncing a call to worship and a blessing upon the pilgrims as they return to their daily lives.
The function of the psalm in its simplicity might be easily overlooked. The profound reality for Israel was that Zion's flourishing was always intended to overflow into Israel, out into the farthest edges of the earth. Thus the collection's conclusion reminds us that the sanctuary's blessings do not stay in there. The benediction reminds the pilgrim that the presence and power of Yahweh will accompany them into every realm of their life.
The psalm begins with a call to bless Yahweh, a phrase that has the idea of kneeling before God to offer Him homage but concludes with a call for Yahweh to bless the people. This cyclical picture of blessing reminds us that worship is both a means to deep flourishing and a central component of profound flourishing. Having been cared for by the present, active God, we offer our praise up to Him.
As we head into the final few days of Holy Week into Easter weekend, we will importantly spend time in introspection and celebration. We will worship, pray and enter into the sanctuary of God's presence in the gathered community. But we are served well by Psalm 134 that speaks a blessing over us as we depart this forty-some-odd-day journey to go out and live lives imprinted with both the crucifixion and the resurrection. We go out into the world made more whole, making the world around us more whole as we go, carrying the presence of the risen Lord.
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Reflect with a friend
Reflect on your journey through these last several weeks of Lent. Share your reflections with your friend.
How does the idea that our experience in the sanctuary brings wholeness to our ongoing lives strike you? In what ways does this challenge you? In what ways does it encourage you?
Finish your time speaking the blessing of verse 3 over one another. Was this easy to receive? Was this easy to do?
