Today’s scripture: Psalm 134 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (John Seksay):
I read the first three verses and turn the page . . . . Wait a minute, where is the rest of the passage? Did I skip a page accidentally? Well, I guess not!
With our busy lives, we tend to go into delve mode when we tackle an item on our to-do list. What information do I need? What related material should I be researching? When I finish doing this, it’s going to be emphatically DONE THROUGH AND THROUGH! Everyone will be informed, notified, updated!
With Psalm 134, we are summoned to a different state. This is a simple call to prayer that concludes with a blessing for the listener. The purpose is not to generate more busy work, but rather call a pause to all that hectic activity in order to restore peace and quiet in the soul. If the footnotes are correct, the verses were used to formally summon the priests to ceremonially bless the people who were within the temple at the time.
In Christian traditions, evening services or prayers are associated with the term “vespers,” from the Latin for evening. Perhaps this had some root in an even older Jewish tradition of an evening time of prayer and blessing. Do we end each day’s activity with a conscious spiritual pause to flow into a peaceful night’s rest?
What better tradition to reintroduce into a lifestyle that tempts us to be on the go 24/7!
Thought for the day: We are regularly encouraged to start our day with a conscious process of spiritual awakening and focus. But how we end our day as we prepare to rest can be just as important!
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.