Today’s reading is Psalm 122.
“Going to Church”
I appreciate as much as the next Christian that we’re supposed to be the church. But please allow me to point out we are also supposed to go to church. “Church” is an English word we use to translate the Greek word ekklesia. We can get into all kinds of arguments about how people use the term incorrectly at times (and they often do). But like it or not, in Hebrews 12:22-23, the writer says we have “come to” translating a word that can also be translated “gone to” a series of things. One of those is ekklesia–assembly or church. Church is something we can go to or come to.
It may help you to read the etymonline.com entry for “church” here. You may have heard the English “church” comes from the German “kirche.” Have you also heard where the Germans got their word? It apparently came from the Greek word kyriakon meaning “of the Lord.” Specifically as used in a phrase meaning “house of the Lord.”
Which takes us right back to our psalm of the week.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”
Psalm 122:1 (ESV)
No doubt, in his original context, the psalmist was glad he had been encouraged to go to the temple in Jerusalem. He was glad someone prodded him to travel to present himself before the Lord during one of the three feasts (recall Deuteronomy 16:16-17). In other words, he was glad when someone said, “Let’s go worship the Lord at His house!”
For the Jews, especially for those farther and farther from Jerusalem (especially those traveling from “Meshech” and “Kedar”), going to the house of the Lord was a trek. Indeed, as we’ve styled it in these posts about the Songs of Ascents, it was a pilgrimage. They not only had to prepare to travel, but they had all the worries about leaving their home behind. They weren’t working their fields. They weren’t protecting their property. The trip could be days, perhaps weeks. But our psalmist doesn’t begrudge those encouraging him, he is glad about it.
This is how we Christians feel about worshiping the Lord as well. When someone says it is time for us to go to the house of the Lord and worship Him, we don’t begrudge it. We aren’t annoyed by it. We aren’t put out by it. We are glad. Of course, the house of the Lord, the church, is the assembly of people, not the building in which they assemble. But we are glad when folks say, “It’s time to gather and worship together; it’s time to go to church.”
In a day when folks seem to be trying to figure out how to gather and worship as little as we can be convinced God absolutely requires, we should probably spend some time in Psalm 122. I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to church. Let’s go to the house of the Lord. Let’s get together and worship.”
Praise the Lord!
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Psalm 122 admonish you?
Read the Bible 