Then, Now, When

Bonus Reflection on today's Psalm!

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Psalm 126

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy. 

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Then it was said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us, and we rejoiced. 

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the desert of the Negev. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. 

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

Those who go out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, carrying their sheaves. 

R. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.

He’s standing in a valley.


In his land valleys are dry, harsh places.  In the hills on either side there is relief from the heat, space to breathe.  But he is in the valley of Now, between the mountains of Then and When.


The first two verses of his travelling song are stories of remembered joy, all statements of past moments.  The final verse sings of a joy to come in the future.  The verse that joins them is a plea for joy to be known in the time in between —- like water in a dry land, joy in a hard place.


So in the valley of Now, I choose to  join him in the refrain, in the present tense, in words sung in faith rather than sight, ‘We are filled with joy.’  Called onward to climb the next rise in the land by the phrase, ‘Shall come home…’
Home.


This is only possible because of one thing.  Nope.  One person.  One Person.
Jesus.  Who was, and is and is to come.


This is one of the Songs of Ascent, 15 songs grouped together like an album in the middle of the Book of Psalms.  They all have a sense of gradual upward movement. Of coming home, but different homecomings.  Travelling out of exile in Babylon.  Travelling from the countryside to Jerusalem for an annual feast.
Travelling up the 15 steps to the temple to meet with God.
Home.


I choose to walk these steps in joy with the psalmist.  These steps in the valley of Now.  These steps closer to God’s presence.  These steps home.  Steps made possible for me because of the steps of the Son in a song of descent.  Descending by the Spirit into the womb of Mary.  Walking the dust of the middle east through 33 short years, only to ascend a different hill carrying His cross, carrying us all.  Rising, He calls us to His joy, to make our joy complete.  To make my joy complete, so I can invite you in too.


For all this I cannot help but sing.


Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.




Noreen Smith