Tag: ascent

Now all the world belongs to Christ

Today’s hymn from Sing Praise is ‘Now all the world belongs to Christ our Lord’ by Michael Perry.  Thus the title: the first line of the refrain is ‘Fling wide the gates’ which gives a better clue to the content.  The phrase is taken presumably from Stainer’s oratorio ‘The Crucifixion’, but is based on ‘lift up your heads, O ye gates’, a verse of Psalm 24 on which the whole hymn is based.  It is a paraphrase or adaptation of the psalm, rather than a literal rendering. 

The original is a ‘song of ascents’ to be sung as pilgrims climb the hill into Jerusalem and enter the Temple with its massive doors.  In Christian use it is associated, as John reminded us this morning, with Holy Week and in particular Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey.  The tune suggested is also associated with Holy Week, through the hymn ‘Lift high the Cross’.

So what’s it doing in the Advent section of the book?  It makes sense if you look from the other side of the door, so to speak.  In the Psalm and on Palm Sunday we are with a crowd outside the city, outside the Temple (symbolic of heaven), longing to go in.  Whereas in Advent we are trapped in this increasingly Godless world and longing for Jesus to fling open the gates from heaven and break into our world in triumphant return. 

So, whereas in the Psalm, those who have ‘clean hands and pure hearts’ are counted worthy to stand on the holy hill, i.e. in the Temple, in the hymn such people win the right to worship Christ.  The ‘vindication from the God of their salvation’ that the psalmist promises becomes ‘He will declare them free from guilt and shame’. Of course we know that our sins can already be forgiven even in this life, but Christ’s return will be for his true followers a complete vindication in him.

The Bible in a Year – 22 July

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this, and the introduction to the Psalms for this book of the Bible in particular.

22 July. Psalms 120-132

The fifteen psalms numbers 120 to 134 are known as the “songs of ascent”. They are presumed to have been said or sung by pilgrims travelling up to Jerusalem (famously a city on a large hill).

Even today many popular pilgrimages involve difficult walking, whether to a mountain shrine such as Sinai or Montserrat, or across hills such as St Cuthbert’s Way in northern England.  The physical challenge is intended to aid spiritual reflection, to “lift up” the pilgrim’s mind and heart to God.

These psalms use Jerusalem as a symbol of peace and security, and also of God’s presence. Ps. 121 in particular urges us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, a prayer that is still much needed for a divided and disputed holy place. Ps. 120 complains of the problems of being a peace-living person among those who prefer conflict.

In order to ascend, you need to start off from a lower place. Physically, anyone starting their pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Jericho would be below sea level – truly “from the depths” (130:1). But the psalm more likely refers to the depths of depression, guilt or pain. Sometimes it is necessary to sink below what one might term psychological sea level in order to recognise that one is in need of help.  The psalmist here calls on God for forgiveness (130:3-4); in other psalms in the set he calls for mercy (123:2-3),or for joy to replace tears (126:5-6).

 

A couple of these psalms are particularly associated in Christian tradition with prayer at night. Psalm 121 tells of God who “never slumbers or sleeps” and who will protect us so that “the sun shall not harm you by day, nor the moon by night”.  Clearly sunburn or sunstroke is a risk in a hot country, but I have yet to work out what danger is posed by the moon – unless it is the association in some cultures between the full moon and madness.  But the point is, that God will protect us even when we are not awake to ask for his protection or sense it.  Ps. 132:3-5 is a vow not to go to sleep “until I find a place for the Lord”. Many people find it helpful to pray before going to bed, to release to God any bad experiences, guilt or frustrations of the day past, and to commit any worries about the following day to his care.