Staying In Tune

Fergus Buchanan November 01, 2025 1 1

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Psalm 84 (NIVUK)

1 How lovely is your dwelling-place,
    Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young –
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

8 Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
    listen to me, God of Jacob.
9 Look on our shield, O God;
    look with favour on your anointed one.

10 Better is one day in your courts
    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favour and honour;
no good thing does he withhold
    from those whose way of life is blameless.

12 Lord Almighty,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you.

The word ‘pilgrimage’ is often used these days to describe any kind of journey that is meaningful at a personal level. It may be a journey to the place of your birth, or to where your ancestors lived, or where something significant happened that shaped your nation’s destiny. For the Hebrew people, however, a pilgrimage was something specific. It was a journey to God, to the Temple, the place that symbolised His presence in the midst of His people, where  sacrifices were made for forgiveness, where His Word was taught. A pilgrimage was made with hearts ‘set’ on experiencing the God who was at the centre of Israel’s life as a nation. It was a way into the story of God where He became a reality. 

We don’t have a Temple. But the apostles speak of the Church as a living Temple wherever she was in the world. The place where praise was offered to God for all that He had done for the world in Christ, where the story of Jesus was read and preached, where Jesus is celebrated in the Lord’s Supper. It is these things that keep us on track in our earthly pilgrimage, where we are kept in tune to what really matters in life.  

Like many people there were periods in my life when I thought I could do without the Church. As long as I had the scriptures and did my best I would be fine. So I thought. But Jesus’ promise is that where two or three are gathered there He will be among them.  Jesus saw His Church as the transmitter that sustained the faith of His followers and enabled them to take His story to the world.  

Prayer:

Father,

We remember with thanksgiving those who told us the story of Jesus: Sunday School teachers in our early days, preachers whose passion for the Word inspired us, for individual men and women whose faith stories encouraged us. It all comes down to those who were touched by the story and were compelled to share it. Keep us in this stream of witness that more and more people will be caught up in the unfailing love you have shown us in Jesus. Amen.