Psalm 134: Final Destination
WORSHIP
LAUDS
Written by Kelsey Marden
Read Psalm 134
We are at the final Psalm of Ascent. Which means we have arrived! The road may have had some bumps, twists, and turns. But we made it.
For you, maybe your journey was securing a job, planting roots in a new community, overcoming an illness, or rebuilding your life.
Whatever the final destination, the arrival is its own unique experience.
Sometimes, we arrive and we think, what now? We’ve worked so hard to get here, what’s next? For me, it was learning to live in health after living more than 10 years with a chronic illness. I no longer had to think about the boundaries and restrictions of my own body. So, what’s next?
Bless.
“Come, bless God, all you servants of God! You priests of God, posted to the nightwatch in God’s shrine, lift your praising hands to the Holy Place, and bless God. In turn, may God of Zion bless you — God who made heaven and earth!”
Maybe some of us have arrived to be somewhat disappointed. Does it feel like a chapter is closing? The happy ending has come? There is a reason why so many fairy tales end with a “happily ever after.” No one wants to read about Cinderella’s first fight with the Prince or Hansel and Gretel growing up to discover life isn’t what they dreamed it would be.
Maybe some of us experience a sense of “foreboding joy,” the sense that something bad must be about to happen if we feel an ounce of happiness.
Maybe some of us feel guilty about feeling joy in our blessings while others suffer, struggle, or die. How can I find joy in my blessings when war and climate change and injustice and violence and greed seem so much bigger?
We can confront these dueling thoughts with one simple practice: thank and bless. God has chosen to bless you for good reason. A way that you can experience joy is to thank God. Then, bless God by blessing others.
Bless.
Take what you have been blessed with and bless those God has given you eyes to see. Maybe in sharing blessing, you are also sharing joy.
Reflection: Take a few minutes to reflect on what your journey has been in life. What were some of the bumps in the road? What did you feel when you finally arrived at your destination? Then, identify the following:
What has God blessed me with?
How do I feel about these blessings now?
How can I use them to bless others?
Prayer (take a minute to thank God for his blessings and ask him for His eyes to see how he wants you, in turn, to bless others.)
God,
Give me your eyes to see your blessings, to see your hand in my life. What have you blessed me with? Show me. Then show me how you want me to use these blessings to bless others. Give me eyes to see the people around me, near or far. And help me to bless as you have blessed me.
Amen.
VESPERS
The Summer Day
By Mary Oliver
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
