Daily Worship

Making room in the house of the Lord

Jock Stein December 01, 2025 0 0
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Psalm 122 (NIVUK)

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me,
    ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’
2 Our feet are standing
    in your gates, Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built like a city
    that is closely compacted together.
4 That is where the tribes go up –
    the tribes of the Lord –
to praise the name of the Lord
    according to the statute given to Israel.
5 There stand the thrones for judgment,
    the thrones of the house of David.

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

The house of the Lord . . . in city and countryside, in heart and in heaven. We dare to say that God inhabits these places, and makes room for us and for others. Icons ‘reverse perspective’, so that when we look into the presence of God what is distant is drawn further apart instead of narrowing to a far point as would normally be the case in a painting.

We can think of all special places, not least Jerusalem, in this open way. If God dwells in them, then they become places of unusual hospitality, places of true peace for all people.

 

Pray:

 

God of space and time, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We long to see acceptance instead of conflict, understanding instead of bad belief, love instead of hate. We remember Jesus weeping over the city, longing for its people to know the things that make for peace. Place his passion in our hearts; show us what he saw then, and what he sees now; and sharpen our desire to seek what is good and what is right, in our own circle and in all the world, Amen.