Psalms for Turbulent Times - Psalm 48: In the city of our God

The skylines of Birmingham and Jerusalem

Psalm 48[1]

¹   Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.
    His holy mountain, ² beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth,
    Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King.
³   Within its citadels God has shown himself a sure defence.
⁴  Then the kings assembled, they came on together.
⁵   As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
    they were in panic, they took to flight;
⁶   trembling took hold of them there, pains as of a woman in labour,
⁷   as when an east wind shatters the ships of Tarshish.
⁸    As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts,
    in the  city of our God, which God establishes for ever.                Selah
⁹    We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple.
¹⁰  Your name, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth.
     Your right hand is filled with victory.
¹¹  Let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns^[a] of Judah rejoice
      because of your judgements.
¹²   Walk about Zion, go all around it, count its towers,
¹³    consider well its ramparts; go through its citadels,
       that you may tell the next generation
¹⁴   that this is God, our God for ever and ever. He will be our guide for ever.

This psalm is thought to have been one of the songs sung by pilgrims as they approached Jerusalem, the Holy City, Mount Zion, for one of the great Jewish festivals. It begins with a sense of rejoicing as the city is first glimpsed from a distance (vs1-3). Then it becomes a story – imagined or real, we don’t know – of how kings from other nations were overwhelmed by the sight of it (as if seeing God for the first time? vs4-7). Next, the pilgrims themselves now see what once they’d only heard about: there’s a sense of gathering rejoicing (vs8-11). For this is ‘a city of God established for ever’ (vs8). And these songs of praises are now broadcast to the ends of the earth (vs10). Finally, the pilgrims are close up and in touching distance. They are urged to pay attention to all the concrete details of the city, her walls and ramparts, citadels and towers. Why? Because this very physical reality is a representation of the eternal reign – kingdom – of God.

Ellie Wiesel, in his novel A Beggar in Jerusalem [2], described the city this way:

‘JERUSALEM: the face visible yet hidden, the sap and blood of all that makes us live or renounce life. The spark flashing in the darkness, the murmur rustling through shouts of happiness and joy. A name, a secret. For the exiled, a prayer. For all others, a promise. Jerusalem: 17 times destroyed yet never erased. The symbol of survival. Jerusalem: the city which miraculously transforms man (sic.) into pilgrim; no one can go into it and go away unchanged.’

We are now seven weeks into a new way of life. We know that none of us who have gone into this can come away unchanged. We perhaps have felt we are exiled from what we used to know and take for granted. We perhaps have turned more to prayer with the promise of hope, something that just won’t die in us – a crazy hope, a deep longing for something better. We might have begun to notice details about our neighbourhood – the streets and buildings, the parks and open spaces, the factories and canals, the shops and offices – which we had not seen before. We perhaps have a sense that God is very much with us and lives in our praises and our thanksgivings for small wonders and great sacrifices. We all understand we have not chosen this current way of life. What we don’t know is how long this pilgrimage is going to last.

But the one lesson I pull from it today is to do with noticing details of our common life. The new watchword from our Government is ‘stay alert’. Perhaps as you walk your streets, your neighbourhood, with a little bit more freedom (no restrictions now on exercise, as long as we remain continue the 2m social distancing between one another), you will start to praise God for those things you notice which you previously took for granted. And may God be our guide, now and forever.

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[1] Footnotes:
Psalm 48:11 Heb daughters
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised (NRSVA)
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

[2] A Beggar in Jerusalem (New York: Pocket Books) p19