November 27th - Reflection

Psalm 122 (NRSV)
Gladness in God's house

I was glad when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the Lord!"
Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem built as a city
that is bound firmly together.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the Lord.
For there the thrones for judgment were set up,
the thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
"May they prosper who love you.
Peace be within your walls,
and security within your towers."
For the sake of my relatives and friends
I will say, "Peace be within you."
For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,

I will seek your good.

Reflection
As you look out into the distance and on the horizon to the destination you are walking towards, sometimes you can see your goal. And then in that moment, after all of the hard work of the journey; the moment you arrive, it is hard to contain your joy. I think the Psalmist here is experiencing that joy. The joy of arrival.

Each week we gather together at the joy of arrival. Some of us gather in churches, others in prayer, and others in assembly. We gather together with one thing in common. We are saved children of God. We gather together in the name of Christ. It happens all over this world. We may gather at different times of the day, but we still indeed gather together in common. We gather in the great and awesome joy of Jesus our Savior. We gather in the hope of things unseen. We gather in the witness of things seen. We gather in faith given that connects us through space and time. We gather in joy and become that one catholic church. We gather and become that one apostolic church. We gather and become that one church of Christ.

And as we gather we find the unity of God's people in prayer, love and peace, through the peace of atonement through the sacrifice of Jesus for our sin. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Each moment of the day that I gather with you or your children, I can't help but think of all who are gathered with me throughout space and time. I give you thanks! --- Amen