Psalms of Ascent
"My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!"
Psalm 121:2
who made heaven and earth!"
Psalm 121:2
Songs for travelers on the Good Road.
The Psalms of Ascent (or "Songs for travelers on the Good Road" as the First Nations Version translates it), are 15 psalms which are ancient songs and poems that were traditionally sang or recited as people would journey to Jerusalem for festivals and/or worship. They are called psalms of "ascent" because (geographically) Jerusalem sits on a plateau, so it was an uphill journey. However, symbolically, for the traveler, this also represented a spiritual 'upward' journey of meeting with God.
Josh Moody explains the heart of the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120–34) in this way: “The Psalms of Ascent are actually traveling psalms in the sense that they take worshipers on a pilgrimage toward God, first used perhaps as the pilgrims went up to Jerusalem for one of the great festivals that you can read about in the Old Testament. Later perhaps they were adopted as the Jewish people returned from their exile to Babylon and sang these same psalms. It seems to me that they were designed by God to help us journey closer in our relationship to him and to avoid the many pitfalls and difficulties and diversions and distractions that can prevent us from continuing†(Josh Moody, Journey to Joy: The Psalms of Ascent [Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013], 30, Kindle).
This summer, as a community, let's walk the road together of the upward journey of the heart - making these ancient prayers, songs, and poems our own.
Josh Moody explains the heart of the Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120–34) in this way: “The Psalms of Ascent are actually traveling psalms in the sense that they take worshipers on a pilgrimage toward God, first used perhaps as the pilgrims went up to Jerusalem for one of the great festivals that you can read about in the Old Testament. Later perhaps they were adopted as the Jewish people returned from their exile to Babylon and sang these same psalms. It seems to me that they were designed by God to help us journey closer in our relationship to him and to avoid the many pitfalls and difficulties and diversions and distractions that can prevent us from continuing†(Josh Moody, Journey to Joy: The Psalms of Ascent [Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2013], 30, Kindle).
This summer, as a community, let's walk the road together of the upward journey of the heart - making these ancient prayers, songs, and poems our own.