Psalm 87

Jill lives in a memory care community, and often attends our services.  She sits in a wheelchair, and her eyes remain closed most of the time. Yet, when I greet her by name, she will look up with gentle brown eyes. She will usually smile, and sometimes even speak. The experience is rather like standing at a beautiful pond, and suddenly seeing a rare creature surface just for a moment.  You long for her to stay, but she returns to the depths and journeys on. Nonetheless, you feel enriched and even encouraged by the sighting.  You begin to make plans to return.   

  

The image in Psalm 87 of God walking the walls and gates of the city is a haunting one. As we humans bustle and worry through our lives, we forget that God is so near. It behooves us to pause, look around, and call out to God by a name that has meaning. In these moments of connection our souls can rise in beauty once more.       

   

There is a holy mountain and upon it is a city which God built, 

and more than any other place in all of Israel, 

God loves and walks her walls, her gates. 

And in that city that belongs to God, 

it is said that beauty reigns, and splendor. 

And peoples everywhere, 

from North and South, from East and West, 

And across the seas, 

go to find a home there, a place in which to dwell. 

They say, "It is as though in Zion I was born." 

You see, it is a homeland, a sacred birthing place, 

for many people across the earth, 

For there God's presence dwells, and draws them in, 

and makes everyone her own. 

And each soul leaves that place a singer and dancer, saying 

"All my fresh, creative springs flow out of you, my Mother."    

   

Psalm 87 

Ancient Songs Sung Anew 

Lynn C. Bauman