Are You Glad?

By Joe Slater   “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go unto the house of the Lord’” (Psalm 122:1).     David wrote this psalm before the Jerusalem Temple existed. He only recently had brought the Ark of the Covenant into the city, placing it into the Tabernacle (tent) he had prepared for it (either the Tabernacle that had been made after the Exodus or one David made of that design), 2 Samuel 6:17. Referring to the Tabernacle as the “house of the Lord” was entirely appropriate; it was the designated place where God’s people came to worship, and Jerusalem was the recognized city where the they observed the three major annual feasts.     Question: Are you glad when it’s time to assemble for worship? We understand that it’s not the meeting house but the Christians meeting in it that are the “house of God.” But Christians do, indeed, meet! The very word “church” means “assembly.” So, my question remains: “Are you glad when it’s time to assemble for worship?”     Psalm 122 (quoted above) is a “song of ascents,” one of the songs the Israelites sang as they ascended to Zion (Jerusalem) for one of the feast days. For Christians, the first day of each week is a feast day. But the focus of our feast isn’t satisfying our stomachs with food and drink; it’s remembering the body and blood of our Savior by eating unleavened bread and drinking the fruit of the vine in memory of Him. We also celebrate our oneness in Christ as we observe this spiritual feast together.     I was greatly edified a short time back when one of our young men, while leading a prayer, mentioned that “we are happy to be here.” That certainly was David’s attitude as he penned the psalm, and it ought to be ours as well.

- Joe Slater serves as minister of the Church of Christ in Justin, TX. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://justinchurchofchrist.com