Thursday, March 10, 2016

Commemoration of Harriet Tubman, 1913, and Sojourner Truth, 1883

Reading: Psalm 126

Psalm 126:4 “Restore our fortunes, O God, like the watercourses of the Negeb.”

            Each of the fifteen psalms between Psalm 120 and Psalm 134 is titled “A Song of Ascents”. The prevalent thought is that these psalms were sung by pilgrims during the ascent to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is built on a tableland at one of the highest points of the central limestone ridge of Israel, 2400 feet above the level of the Mediterranean. In ancient Jerusalem, surrounded on three sides by ravines, the main approach was from the north, and pilgrims arriving for the three pilgrimage festivals – Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot – would make the gradual climb up to the City of Peace. Jesus went up to Jerusalem from Galilee for the festival of Passover, possibly singing psalms with the disciples, and as we draw nearer to Palm Sunday, we also begin our ascent out of the wilderness, singing psalms.

O God, our springtime, restore our fortunes, like the watercourses of the Negeb. Amen

• Memorize a psalm of ascent, one of psalms 120-134.