September 11, 2023 — Psalm 133

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.”

There are few things as precious in this world as believers who worship together, who pray together, and who choose to live together in unity. And one of the marks of a great church is the sense of fellowship and unity we experience in the body of Christ. Have you ever gone on a road trip with your family? My family did so one year — and by my family I am speaking of my siblings, all of our collective children, plus my Aunt and my parents. It was a long, trying week. But this is how road trips are — they can be really, really good; or they can be really, really bad. Now imagine instead of just your family if you packed in all your relatives and all of your neighbors as well. I am not so sure anyone would want to sign up for that trip today. But that is what was happening with the annual feasts in Jerusalem. The people would travel to Jerusalem for the feasts along with their neighbors, family and relatives. And as they drew closer to Jerusalem more and more people would come together, people from different regions and different tribes, but all coming together for one common purpose – to worship the Lord at Jerusalem.

Psalm 133 celebrates the goodness of the life with which the Lord blesses those who are assembled together. Augustine claimed that the psalm gave birth to the monasteries; at the least, it was an important text for these brotherhoods assembled by the vocation of G-d. In services of Christian unity, the psalm is a witness that G-d is at work building a family – a family that survive and thrive in spite of the barriers that separate and diminish life.

Let us Pray:

Gracious God, you have poured into our hearts the precious oil of your Spirit. Make of us one heart and one will, that as members of the body of Christ, we may be united in the bonds of love; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Pastor Dave