I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2
Nnaayimusa amaaso gange eri ensozi;
Okubeerwa kwange kuliva wa?
Okubeerwa kwange kuva eri Mukama,
Eyakola eggulu n'ensi.
Zabbuli 121:1-2 (Luganda language)
Every time we gather online in Morning Prayer, and these Psalms appointed for today come round in the Daily Office, Fr. BJ says with evident pleasure “Today we read the Psalms of Ascent!”
These Psalms, beginning at Psalm 120, occupy a much-loved place in Holy Scripture. They were prayed or sung by Israelites on their pilgrimages to Jerusalem as they “ascended” to the plateau where Jerusalem sits, in order to worship at the Temple. Through the first destruction of the Temple and time of exile, through their return and life as a captive nation – under the Persians, Seleucid kings, and Romans – through a second destruction of the Temple and centuries of exile since, these Psalms of Ascent have brought comfort and strength to a wandering people.
Christians adopted these Psalms and the metaphor of journey that they describe. After all, the Gospel has been carried across the world by wandering people. The stories of Bishop Alfred Tucker, who brought the Gospel here to Uganda, and of Apolo Kivebulaya, whom Bishop Tucker commissioned to carry the Gospel from Uganda to the Congo, teach this. Our own lives, which often involve separation, journey, and relocation, teach this.
From whence does our help for our journey come? Our help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth – wherever we may find ourselves, and however far from what we call home. Our hearts are constantly called to long for the presence of God. When these Psalms were composed, that presence was believed to rest in the Temple in Jerusalem. But after generations of exile and journey, those who pray these Psalms understand that the pursuit of a dwelling with God is a journey to a heavenly city that does not now exist, but is to come. These Psalms also assure us that as we make that journey, our God is with us.
He made heaven and earth. The campus where we live and work sits on the side of a hill. If you climb that hill, looking to the south from its summit, you can see Lake Victoria, and the forming clouds that bring us our rain. On practically any map of Africa at any scale, you can find Lake Victoria, which means that at practically any scale, the Rangers’ home is just the poke of a pin’s distance to the north. God knows exactly where we are; he can find us. Wherever we are, he sees us; he is with us. That is the awesome assurance provided by the Psalms of Ascent as we make our journeys in this life, until we come before his presence.
“The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.”
God bless you!
Richard and Catherine
