Repentance and Ascension

Psalms 120-134 are known as the “Songs of Ascents.” They were sung by the Israelites as they made their pilgrimages up to Jerusalem for the three great feasts of their year. As those who are likewise making our ascent to feast in God’s house, these psalms teach us much about we are to make this ascent. The first of these psalms is a plea for deliverance from a lying and warmongering people. And the psalmist’s righteous dissatisfaction with the culture around him is a prerequisite for biblical worship. When God calls his people to worship him, he calls them to break with ungodly thoughts, words, and deeds of the culture around them. Thus the psalmist leaves behind the lies and hostility of his culture to seek out the truth of God’s Law and the peace of his presence. And we likewise dwell in a culture that is steeped in lies and full of hostility. But do you share the psalmist’s distress with our culture? Or have you become accommodated to the lies and numb to conflict around you? The lies told about God, mankind, and the world are so pervasive that it is hard to escape them. The violence and conflict that mark our relationships are so “normal,” that peace is increasingly hard to find. In the midst of a culture like this we must learn to confess with Isaiah, that we not only live among a people of unclean lips, but also that “I” am a man of unclean lips. For you have no doubt bought into some of the lies of the world, whether regarding success, or beauty, or relationships. And you have no doubt learned to respond to people and circumstances with hostility rather than peace. In heeding the call to worship you must turn from these lies and hostilities to be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Transformed into a people ready to think and speak and live out truth towards your neighbor. Transformed into a people who seek peace and pursue it with God and your neighbor. Come, let us ascend by confessing our sins.