Introduction
The summer of 2024 will be a unique one for Christ City Church. We will be dislocated from our normal place of worship and in the absence of a more consistent place in which to regularly worship over the summer, we are embarking on a spiritual experiment; one in which we are invited to live into our anchoring spiritual practices of worship, community, and mission with a different rhythm.
As we move through this summer of disruption, one of the things we want to use to hold us together is a series of guiding scriptures from the Psalms. Psalms 120-134 are Psalms of Ascent, songs sung by the people of God as they ascended the hills in Jerusalem that led to the temple for worship. We want to use these same ancient songs to guide us over the summer as we engage in our own pilgrimage of dislocation and anticipate our return to weekly worship together.
How to use the guide
This weekly devotional guide will be released on Monday each week through the summer is intended to be a shared practice for us as we gather differently this summer, yet continue to embody our shared practices of worship, community, and mission. Each week we will hear from different voices within the Christ City Church community as they reflect on one of the Psalms of Ascent.
Some weeks will include a video-recorded devotional thought, a musical worship piece, articles, poetry, all focused on the week’s theme. The weekly reflections will include Lauds and Vespers. Traditionally, Lauds were prayers prayed just after sunrise and served as a way to center the Believer on God’s steadfast presence and guidance through the day. Vespers were prayers at sunset and invited the Believer to reflect on the ways that God had guided them through the day, displaying His loving kindness in ways both surprising and mundane.
We invite you to use the guide’s articles, vidoes and songs in whatever way is usefu for you. One approach could be to read the passage each day of the week, and use the articles, and videos on alternating days.
Our prayer is that this guide is one of the tools and one of the shared rhythms that the Spirit uses to draw us closer to the Lord and to one another this summer.
