December 1, 2013 (Advent 1) – Psalm 122
Psalm 122
I Was Glad
First Sunday of Advent – December 1, 2013
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Many of you are familiar with the note cards that have been in use for
many many years at First Lutheran Church.
Many of you have received them for one thing or another,
often for visiting us in worship at First Lutheran.
The drawing of our building on it is by one of our members, August Blondel,
who was gone long before I got here! I’m not that old – yet!
I do like the drawing as it kind of captures the essence of our historic building.
But I also like what it says underneath the drawing:
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.”
That is, of course, a quotation from today’s Psalm, Psalm 122.
How appropriate to have this Psalm on a day when we are celebrating that
people have worshipped in this building for exactly 100 years this weekend.
People have been glad to come to this house of the Lord for 100 years:
on November 30th, 1913 the first services were held, well, right where we are now.
And they’ve been coming ever since.
The building, though, was not built by First Lutheran Church.
It was built by the Tabernacle Congregation, led by Rev. J. T. Bergman,
which was kind of a breakaway group from First Lutheran Church.
It was the Tabernacle that had the first services here in 1913,
and they owned the property till 1921;
Rev. Bergman died in 1918, and without him the congregation foundered.
So in 1921 there was a big Lutheran turf war – think tommy guns and Molotov cocktails – and
it got pretty ugly and we ended up occupying the building.
Kidding: we bought it for a fair price in 1921, and have been here ever since.
I kind of like that this building has belonged to more than one congregation.
It reminds me that it is not really our house; we are just borrowing the space for a while.
Ultimately, it is God’s house, it is Jesus’ house, not ours.
The Psalmist doesn’t say, after all, that I was glad I went to my house, or our house,
or your house: he says, I was glad when they said to me,
Let us go to the house of the Lord: this is the House of the Lord.
This is Jesus’ House.
This song or Psalm is a song that pilgrims going to Jerusalem to worship at
the Temple would have sung along the way.
But why is he so glad?
One reason the singer is glad is because – to state the most obvious thing – he’s not going alone!
“Let us go,” he sings.
This is not about some individual going to have a personal individual religious experience.
This is about a person going to be with others, to celebrate with others,
to give thanks with others, to be at peace with others in a world where
peace with others seems so elusive.
This is about gathering together around the source of life,
and being transformed as a community by that experience.
I feel that very strongly here at First Lutheran Church:
what we do is not really about the building, as I said a couple of weeks ago:
it’s not the building that is healing, it’s the people.
It’s about being transformed into a more and more merciful community by
gathering ourselves around the source of all mercy:
and I’m really really grateful today that we have this beautiful old gorgeous space to do that in.
I was glad when they said, “Let us go and give thanks to God for the
thrones of judgement that God set up there.”
Another reason he’s glad is because you could come to Jerusalem and give thanks that
there was someplace you could come to for justice, for fairness, for equity,
because we know justice is close to God’s heart.
It’s appropriate to come to worship to thank God that God has established
places where justice is a priority and to thank God that there are people among us
in our government who are dedicated to all people getting a fair shake.
It’s a good thing to be able to thank God that somewhere justice is a priority.
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go – and pray for the peace of the city.”
We pray a lot at First Lutheran Church, and they prayed a lot at the Temple in Jerusalem.
They prayed especially for peace, for Shalom, for the well-being and health and safety of
every person in the city – and so do we.
I was glad to pray for peace, the Psalmist is saying.
And notice: he prays not really for the sake of the city, but for the sake of the people in the city.
He prays not really for the sake of the city, but for the House of the Lord that is in the city.
I was glad: Glad to gather as a community around the source of life, the God of all mercy,
who will transform us by that experience more and more into a community of mercy.
I was glad: Glad to give thanks that fairness and equity are of tremendous concern to God.
I was glad: Glad to pray for peace – glad to give thanks that unity, shalom, reconciliation,
the gathering together and re-uniting of all things in love is
God’s number one priority in this world. I was glad.
The people of Judah had the Temple in Jerusalem to gather in – and they were glad to do it.
We have a much more modest building to gather in that is beautiful in its own way –
and I’m very glad to do that.
I am so glad to gather with you around the source of all mercy and life.
So glad to give thanks together that fairness and equity and justice are close to God’s heart.
So glad to pray for peace together.
The Psalmist rightly infers that right worship is
the beginning of God’s movement to change the world.
Worshipping the right thing, the right God – the God of mercy,
of justice-doing and manna-sharing, the God of peace-sharing and peace-making, the
God made fully known in Jesus – the worship of this God will change the world.
And it’s lovely to have a place like this to do that.
A place that is anchored in a neighbourhood that is full of joys and full of sorrows.
A place that is anchored in a neighbourhood that is a perfect place to
share the mercy and fairness and peace that we gather around here.
I’m so glad about that, and I love that about this place.
And I’m really glad to do this, to gather in order to do this, with you –
and with all those who have gone before us and sat in these pews and
worshipped this God in this place.
Like the Psalmist’s feet, our feet are firmly planted in this place and its location.
Our feet are planted firmly in the heritage of people who have worshipped right in this place
the very same God of manna-sharing and mercy-giving and
justice-doing and peace-making.
The feet of countless others who had these as their priorities have worshipped right here.
Their songs longing for the redemption Advent invites us to hope for are soaked into these walls.
Their prayers for mercy for all and justice for all and peace for all are saturated into this place.
I was glad. And I am really glad today to be here with you: This is a holy place.
The thing is: it’s human beings by what they do that makes things holy.
God invites us into holy living and into holy places.
The thing is: you are making this place holy by accepting God’s invitation to holy just living.
This morning we give thanks that God has issued to us this invitation –
and I am so grateful that as a community we are accepting it.
I am glad that you are making 580 Victor a holy place by how you welcome visitors so
very beautifully.
I am glad that you are making 580 Victor a holy place by how you feed the hungry here.
I am glad that you are making 580 Victor a holy place by making it into
a safe public place for the children of this neighbourhood in the summer.
I am glad that our children love coming here.
I am glad that our youth are forming friendships here.
I am glad that great good news is announced here every Sunday.
I am glad this is a place of hope.
I am glad when I see how you care for each other when you gather here.
I am glad when we cry together and when we laugh together.
I am glad – so very very glad – to gather together here – and see that we are being transformed
into the community God intends us to be by our holy communion with Jesus every week.
Gladness is an emotion that I associate very strongly with this building.
It is a special place for a very, very special people.
So: I’ll tell you:
when I think of this building, I think most often of the laughter we have shared here.
And I am glad when I think of this.
Ten years ago or so when we were digging up stuff for our 125th Anniversary,
I came into the building one morning.
And everything was quiet.
I was sitting in my office and all of a sudden I heard
gales of laughter coming up from the basement.
Pearl and Gail had been sorting through old pictures –
And had found Larry Sigurdson’s confirmation picture! I smiled and was glad.
And I always think: there is a deep gladness and joy that is at the heart of this place and
what we are doing in this place together.
A place for mercy, a place for justice, a place for peace.
580 Victor is place for these holy things:
that’s what happens when you dedicate a building to the one we worship here:
the God revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.
So let us be glad. And let us give thanks for the gift of this place.
And together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
