Sermon (June 26) - "Expressions of the Heart: Psalms of Ascent"

    Have you ever had a song that you’d sing as you went somewhere?

     Penny remembers all kinds of songs that she would sing either with Girl Scouts or marching band as they would hike or travel to various places.

     One of those songs was “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.”

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,
His name is my name too.

Whenever we go out,
The people always shout,
There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah

    Now here’s what I want us to do.  Pretend that we’re on a six-hour bus ride to a Penn State football game.  And we’re kind of bored and so our organist Virginia Rosberg yells out for us to sing this song.  And we can’t say no to Virginia, right?  So let’s sing “John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt” together.

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,
His name is my name too.

Whenever we go out,
The people always shout,
There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

Dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah.

     A little quieter this time and then let’s get really loud at the end:

John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt,
His name is my name too.

Whenever we go out,
The people always shout,
There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt.

(Louder!) Dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah!!!

     And guess what?  That song is going to stay in your head all day long.  You can thank me later!

     From the movie, Planes, Trains, & Automobiles starring Steve Martin and John Candy, there’s a funny scene where people start singing during their long ride.  Let’s watch:

(Movie Clip)

     We know what it’s like to be with other people on a long journey.  Singing is often part of the trip.  You’re tired.  You’re defenses are down.  You want to have some fun on the trip.

     I think we’re starting to get a feel for our topic for today – psalms of ascent.

     They are called Psalms of Ascent because they were the traveling songs of the people of Israel. The ancient Israelites sang these songs as they approached the Holy City of Jerusalem when they traveled there three times a year for the festival celebrations at the Temple.

     A footnote in my Wesley Study Bible says, “These songs were likely sung by pilgrims on their way up to the temple on Mount Zion for feast celebrations.”

     Psalms 120 – 134 collectively are known as the Psalms of Ascent.

     Psalm 120 is a poem whose setting takes place outside of Jerusalem; in fact it takes place outside of Israel.  The poet cries out in distress to God, and laments that he lives among an alien people.  He lives among deceitful people with lying tongues; he lives among a warlike people, and he prays for peace.

    Listen to Psalm 120.  (Read)

     Next, in Psalm 121, the psalmist seems to be on the way to Jerusalem—perhaps from one of the countries to which the Jews have been dispersed—the foreign countries mentioned in Psalm 120.

     On his journey, the psalmist lifts up his eyes and is reminded of God.  The city of Jerusalem sits on a hill, and Mount Zion with the temple of God is the pinnacle of the city.  People have to travel up to Jerusalem, because they must go up in elevation to get there.

     In Psalm 121 the psalmist places his trust in God for a safe journey.  The roads to Jerusalem were not always safe roads to travel.  The rocks and valleys gave bandits lots of good hiding places. 

     Remember the story of the Good Samaritan?  “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into some bandits who robbed him, and beat him, and left him for dead.”

     This Psalm of Ascent looks to God for protection.

     Listen to Psalm 121.  (Read)

     This leads us to this morning’s psalm:  122.  This psalm of ascent begins with these words, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’”

     I hope you were glad this morning when you knew you would be coming to church.

     At a church I was serving, I got to know one of our newer members.  His name was Dave.  He was in his late 20s, not married, and lived in the neighborhood near the church.

     He came every Sunday to worship and always had a smile on his face.  You would also see him working around the church during the week to fix or repair things or to make the church look better.

     I appreciated his joy-filled faith and all that he was doing for our church.  And so I asked him one day, what it was that first brought him to our church.

     And he said that his parents had taken him to church when he was young, but over time he had drifted away from the church.  And then he said something really interesting to me.

     He said, “When I bought a house to live in this neighborhood, my Sunday morning routine was to sit in my sun room and read the Sunday paper.

     “And every Sunday morning, I would hear the church bell ring.  And during one of those Sunday mornings, I heard it ring and it was like it was ringing just for me.  So, I put down the paper, got ready, and came to church.  And I’ve been here ever since and I love it.”

     Instead of Psalms of Ascent, for Dave it was Bells of Ascent that called out to him to make his pilgrimage to Zion United Methodist Church one Sunday morning.

     Did you know that John Wesley used to start getting ready for Sunday worship on Thursday?  He’d start confessing his sins to God on Thursday, so that by Sunday he’d be ready to receive Holy Communion with a clean conscience.

     On Friday he’d fast as part of his preparation to be ready for Sunday worship.

     By Sunday, he was ready to worship!  He spent about half of each week getting himself ready to worship on Sunday morning!  We could probably all learn something helpful for ourselves by taking to heart even just a little of Wesley’s preparation.

     The psalmist was glad to go to the house of the Lord.  He was glad when his feet were standing in the gates of Jerusalem.

     In verse 4 we learn that all the tribes of Israel went up to Jerusalem.  God commanded for them to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year to worship God at the festival celebrations.

   This was one of God’s decrees for the Israelites—they were to go “to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”

     That’s why we go to all the trouble to come together for worship… “to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”

     This psalm ends with a prayer for the peace of Jerusalem. 

     One of the poetic devices of Hebrew poetry is repetition.  Lines and phrases are repeated using slight variations which emphasize what is being said.

     Listen to verses 6 – 9 of Psalm 122 – “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May those who love you be secure.  May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels.’  For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’  For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your prosperity.”

     In the original language, the word for “peace” or a slight variation of it is repeated multiple times.  We can see in English that the word “peace” is repeated three times in three verses.

    In Hebrew, the word for peace is “shalom.”

     The very name Jerusalem is a derivative of this word.  In Hebrew it is “Yerushalayim,” (you can hear the sound similar to “shalom” more clearly) and it means “abode of peace.”

     Also, the word for “security” used in verse 7 is from the root word “shalom” in Hebrew.

     The psalmist is really driving home the image of peace in these closing verses.

     There are two levels of meaning here.

     First, the psalmist is literally praying for the city of Jerusalem and its inhabitants to be at peace in which Israel and her neighbors live in safety and security.

     But secondly, the psalmist is also looking toward the day when God’s reign of peace will come in its fullness; when Isaiah’s vision of swords being made into plowshares, and the lion lying down with the lamb is fulfilled.

     These two ways of thinking about the closing four verses of the psalm can also teach us something about Psalms of Ascent and our prayer life:

     First of all, we are to pray for peace in the world.  We pray for countries that are experiencing war, including our own country.

     And we also pray for and work for the day when the reign of God’s peace will fill this earth.

     As followers of the Prince of Peace, the Church is to be God’s agent of peace in the world, working to bring peace to the world.

     Verses 6, 7, and 8 all show the psalmist praying for peace, or speaking words of peace.  As United Methodists we might call this our inner spirituality, or our vital piety. 

     But in the final verse, the psalmist says, “For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”

     I will seek your good.

     I will work for peace.

     We might call this our outer spirituality, or our social holiness.

     So, here is my challenge for each of us this week:  pray for peace, and work for peace.

     Pray for peace in our world, and in the Church.

     And think of one action you can take this week, or one action you can refrain from, in order to promote peace, and then do it.

     Simple things to do, yet they will have a profound impact.

     Psalms of Ascent are the traveling songs of the church to help us be the people of God as we journey together as the people of God.  They remind us of who we are and to whom we belong.

     For the past twenty-five years, we have been blessed and even spoiled to have Virginia Rosberg as our organist.  Many of us only know the back of Virginia’s head since she is always facing the choir when she plays on Sunday mornings.  But she also has a beautiful face as well.

     But let me tell you something about Virginia.  She has always put a lot of time in getting ready for each Sunday morning.  Her prelude music has always been carefully chosen to tie in with our worship theme.  And week after week, she practices and practices in preparation for Sunday’s services.

     John Wesley would begin preparing for Sunday worship on Thursday.  Virginia prepares weeks ahead on our behalf. 

     And this is the whole point of the Psalms of Ascent, isn’t it?  They help us to sing our faith and to be God’s people of peace long before we find our seat in the pew on Sunday morning.

     One of the things I really appreciate about living in downtown Lancaster is that I get to hear church chimes throughout the day.  They play the great hymns of faith reminding us that as we journey through our week, God goes with us.

     During my first year here, I remember one day in particular, when I was anxious about some things.  My heart was unsettled and I was troubled in spirit.  And as I made my way to the church, I could hear a psalm of ascent playing from our church tower.  And I know that it was playing just for me in the middle of that week.

   “He leadeth me.  He leadeth me.  By his own hand he leadeth me; his faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.”

     I couldn’t get that song out of my head for the rest of the day.  As I hummed that song over and over again, it made all the difference in the world.  I now had the peace of Christ.  That’s why the Psalms of Ascent are important for each one of us.

     Shalom.

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