Preacher: Jenn Hosler

Scripture: Psalm 121

Date: March 5, 2023

A Song of Ascents.

Yesterday, we had a beautiful late winter/early spring hike along the Potomac River. The Virginia Bluebells are emerging, and it was glorious to catch glimpses of purple flower buds amidst the green foliage carpeting the sides of the trail. Occasionally, I needed to remind myself to look up. When both trail running and hiking, I try to take regular intervals and remind myself to remember to look up and around me: look up the hill, look at the trees, look at the river. I can become too focused on my footing and, at least for a few minutes, I forget to take in the trees or the Potomac River or the way the sun is streaming in. In a desire for self-preservation (it is nice not to trip), I can forget to focus on the nourishing beauty that restores my soul. 

Looking up. Being mindful. Mindfulness – about myself, about what I am feeling, and about the world around me – is a key tool for mental health. Mindfulness involved self-reflection on how we are feeling in order to understand how our emotions influence our behavior When we recognize difficult emotions and distress, we can use mindfulness to focus on something outside of ourselves and our problems, to focus on beauty and help our bodies to reset. One way I have been doing this is by observing plants and trees when I am in a state of distress. Someone recently compared mindfulness to plants like a Georgia O’Keefe painting of a flower, memorizing the flower, seeing the miniscule parts and shapes that make it up, zooming in close, and observing with your eye – instead of just the lens of a phone camera. So I have been honing in on magnolia flowers and the frilly petals of a daffodil. This lifting up my eyes provides a way to cope and bring calm in a state of distress. 

Our psalm has a subtitle, “A song of ascents” – this could mean “a going up psalm” – a psalm for people headed to the temple; or a psalm about heading to worship. There are a few other meanings, including potential tune or scale implications. This categorization was given to fifteen of the Psalms, 120–134.

Psalm 121 starts with the author saying, “I lift my eyes up to the mountains.” There is a common exhortation throughout scripture to lift up one’s eyes. What, exactly, was the psalmist lifting up their eyes towards? The mountains may have been the focus of a journey and it may have been a way to describe orienting oneself towards Jerusalem, to the dwelling place of Yahweh in the temple. 

This statement about lifting up eyes is followed by a question, seemingly rhetorical and poetic. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD (all caps). From Yahweh, the God who self-revealed to Israel. The psalmist starts with a question and responds with a confession: it is the Creator I look toward for help. 

Questions: 

• When we think and talk about mindfulness, stress, and spiritual centeredness – like what I shared and like the first two verses of the Psalm – what comes to mind? 
• Have you ever struggled to remember where your help comes from? 
• Are there ways that you remember to center yourself spiritually, throughout your day or week?

Commentator Rolf Jacobson notes how the pronouns in the first two verses are first-person (I, my), while the rest of the Psalm uses second person (you/your) pronouns. The rest of the psalm is a blessing, perhaps by a priestly figure. It is a bit like a benediction. 

Verse 2 states that my help comes from the Lord. The rest of the verses detail the character and nature of the Creator, Yahweh. 

3 God will not let your foot be moved;

    God who keeps you will not slumber.

4 God who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

This God is steadfast. This God is alert, not dozing off or getting distracted. This God does not look away. As an aside, I am reminded of a recent time on a playground when I was coaching a certain semi-stuck child where to put their foot. They did it successfully and were moving closer to the ground. It was safe. I looked away for literally one second and – thud – the kid fell to the ground. On the mulch. It was fine. But this passage reminds me of the focus of the Creator that is, inevitably, better than mine. Yahweh does not glance away. 

The rest of the Psalm has an emphasis on Yahweh, the LORD God, as our keeper. 

5 The Lord is your keeper;

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day

    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;

    God will keep your life.

8 The Lord will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time on and forevermore.

Question: What does it mean for God to keep us?

“What does God promise to do? God promises to keep you. God will guard you as you go on your journey of life, and as you return home. As you go out and come in. As you face the dangers of the day and of the night. The list of promises here is not meant to suggest that those who walk in the shelter of God will face no harm or that nothing ill will befall them. The Psalter knows all too well that the wicked are everywhere and that they thrive unjustly.

These promises, however, are meant as characteristic promises — these are the sort of things that the Lord does for those who rely on him. And the words of blessing and promise evoke God’s protection and our awareness of it. For this reason, it is common for Jewish families to post Psalm 121 in the delivery room, or in baby carriages, or in a child’s room” (Jacobson, 2020). 

Questions: 

• Have you ever prayed this psalm or recited it? 
• Talk about circumstances that you think praying this psalm might be helpful.
• What other Psalms or prayers that are meaningful to you, remind you of God’s presence, or center you?

Commentator Rolf Jacobson writes, “the genre of blessing is under-utilized in today’s world. But I believe that every child of God should give and receive a blessing every day. In our home, we make the sign of the cross on each other’s forehead and bless each other every night before bed with words borrowed from the baptismal service. A friend of mine and his wife bless their kids every morning as they leave for school, likewise making the sign of the cross on each other and using baptismal words and images.” (Jacobson, 2020)

Questions: 

• As we journey through Lent and toward Holy Week, we can still add practices that nurture and cultivate our inner lives, our spiritual growth. Would you be interested in praying this psalm during Lent – as a blessing to yourself? 
• What other practices are you using that remind you of where your help comes from?

Benediction: 

The LORD God, Creator God, Yahweh, will bless your going out and your coming in, now and for eternity. AMEN. 

References

Jacobson, R. (2020). Commentary on Psalm 121. Retrieved from https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/second-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-psalm-121-8

Silberberg, N. What is a “Song of Ascents”? Retrieved from https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/655450/jewish/What-is-a-Song-of-Ascents.htm