On most Sunday mornings, I usually go for a walk through the hallways of the church right after I arrive. Part of the reason for taking time to go through the church is a practical one: to make sure that lights are on and doors are unlocked where they should be. (I also take time to ensure that the communion table is lined up properly in front of the chancel steps, a task reflective of my OCD tendencies.) The larger aspect of that time of walking through the church is my profound sense of joy in being able to worship God in our church and in the delight of the call God has placed on my life to be here.
Two years ago, many of us took for granted the idea that we could choose to go to church on any given Sunday. The weekly rhythms of our lives were such that we could attend any of several worship services, a choice which may have been influenced by our sleep schedules or our children’s activities. The ability to go to church was something that we could do whenever we chose. But since Covid-19, I have learned that I cannot simply presume that the Sanctuary doors will always be open, even though I want each Sunday to be a day when I can rejoice in the knowledge that ours is the opportunity to join together and worship God.
This Psalm is one that is generally attributed to King David, with some scholars believing he wrote these words soon after he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, where his son, Solomon, would later build the first temple. Earlier when the center of Israel’s worship was supposed to be in Shiloh, many of the Israelites built their own shrines to the Lord in what the Bible calls “high places,” where the worship of God often intermingled with the worship of the gods of the surrounding nations. David’s joy is reflected in his words, “Let us go to the house of the Lord” as he prays that his people would abandon those “high places” for the true worship of God.
May we never take for granted the opportunity that is ours to worship God at Peachtree on any given Sunday morning.