The Psalms of Ascent

My wife and I continue to be awed by the degree of enrichment we experience each week as we worship in our Lutheran venue. Yesterday was another wonderful case in point.

Our Pastor, Don Jukam, had the privilege, more than a decade ago, of living and studying in the Holy Land for a year or two. While there, he soaked in as much of the historical and geographical aspects of Jewish religious culture as he could. The blessing for our congregation, now, is that we become privy to these wonderful, often little known, insights.

Yesterday’s sermon revealed one such elucidation. One of the lectionary readings for the day was Psalm 100, which includes these familiar phrases:

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing…. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise.”

Pastor Don pointed out that the Israelites often came from various distances, some as far as 90 miles, to visit the Temple (where God was thought to dwell) for feasts and worship. The approach was an uphill walk to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. As they approached the city, after sighting the Temple in the distance, they would break into song for the remaining steps in the journey - complying with the above Psalm.

What did they sing? If you look at the Psalms, beginning at the 120th and continuing through the 134th, you’ll notice a small sub-title that says A Song of Ascents. It was the prayers and praises in these Psalm songs – mostly dealing with the anxieties and exultations of life itself – that the Hebrew people sang as they drew near to the sacred site.

Here are smatterings of what they sang (most of them very recognizable to us even now):

“In my distress I cry to the Lord, that he may answer me… I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?... My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth… I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord’… Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you’… Unless the Lord builds (our) house, those who build it labor in vain.”

What an incredible experience that must have been for this ancient civilization. I wonder if it’s still practiced today? Our Pastor intimated that, on a given Sunday morning, he’d be willing to lead a song-filled march up the hill from downtown Poulsbo to worship services in our church. What an impression that would make!

Thanks be to God.