This Wednesday’s topic draws from what are known as the Ascent Psalms or Pilgrim Psalms, Psalms 120-134. As we approach Easter, we’ll hear from these Psalms that were sung by Passover pilgrims, likely including Jesus and the disciples, as they traveled on the dusty roads from every corner of the Empire on their way to share Passover in the City of David.
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Asheville, Wednesday meeting, March 23, 2016
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Asheville, Wednesday meeting, March 23, 2016
- KJV Ps 120:1-2
- 1 In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. 2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
- KJV Ps 121:1-3, 5, 7-8
- 1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
- KJV Ps 122:1-2, 6-9
- 1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. 2 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. 7 Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. 8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. 9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.
- KJV Ps 123:1-2
- 1 Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the LORD our God, until that he have mercy upon us.
- KJV Ps 124:1-8
- 1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say; 2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: 3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: 5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. 6 Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
- KJV Ps 125:1-5
- 1 They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. 2 As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. 3 For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 4 Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. 5 As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel.
- KJV Ps 126:1-6
- 1 When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. 2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD hath done great things for them. 3 The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad. 4 Turn again our captivity, O LORD, as the streams in the south. 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
- KJV Ps 127:1-2
- 1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
- KJV Ps 128:1-2
- 1 Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
- KJV Ps 129:1-6
- 1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. 4 The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. 5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. 6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
- KJV Ps 130:1-8
- 1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. 2 Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. 3 If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. 5 I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. 6 My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. 7 Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. 8 And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
- KJV Ps 131:1-3
- 1 Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me. 2 Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child. 3 Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.
- KJV Ps 132:1-5, 8-10
- 1 Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions: 2 How he sware unto the LORD, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; 3 Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, 5 Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. 8 Arise, O LORD, into thy rest; thou, and the ark of thy strength. 9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness; and let thy saints shout for joy. 10 For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.
- KJV Ps 133:1-3
- 1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! 2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 3 As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.
- KJV Ps 134:1-3
- 1 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. 3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
- KJV Ps 134:1-3
- 1 Behold, bless ye the LORD, all ye servants of the LORD, which by night stand in the house of the LORD. 2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. 3 The LORD that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.
- KJV 254:24-32
- If you venture upon the quiet surface of error and are
in sympathy with error, what is there to disturb the waters?
What is there to strip off error’s disguise?
If you launch your bark upon the ever-agitated but
healthful waters of truth, you will encounter storms.
Your good will be evil spoken of. This is the
cross. Take it up and bear it, for through it
you win and wear the crown. Pilgrim on earth, thy home
is heaven; stranger, thou art the guest of God.
- KJV 323:6-16
- Through the wholesome chastisements of Love, we
are helped onward in the march towards righteousness,
peace, and purity, which are the landmarks
of Science. Beholding the infinite tasks of
truth, we pause, – wait on God. Then we push onward,
until boundless thought walks enraptured, and concep-
tion unconfined is winged to reach the divine glory.
In order to apprehend more, we must put into prac-
tice what we already know. We must recollect that
Truth is demonstrable when understood, and
that good is not understood until demonstrated.
- KJV 15:28-30
- Practice not profession, understanding not
belief, gain the ear and right hand of omnipotence and
they assuredly call down infinite blessings.
- KJV 25:13-19
- Jesus taught the way of Life by demonstration, that
we may understand how this divine Principle heals
the sick, casts out error, and triumphs over
death. Jesus presented the ideal of God better
than could any man whose origin was less spiritual. By
his obedience to God, he demonstrated more spiritu-
ally than all others the Principle of being.
- KJV 37:16-25
- When will Jesus’ professed followers learn to emulate
him in all his ways and to imitate his mighty works?
Those who procured the martyrdom of that
righteous man would gladly have turned his
sacred career into a mutilated doctrinal platform. May
the Christians of to-day take up the more practical im-
port of that career! It is possible, – yea, it is the duty
and privilege of every child, man, and woman, – to follow
in some degree the example of the Master by the demon-
stration of Truth and Life, of health and holiness.
- KJV 42:10-18
- Though entitled to the homage of the world
and endorsed pre-eminently by the approval
of God, his brief triumphal entry into Jerusa-
lem was followed by the desertion of all save a few friends,
who sadly followed him to the foot of the cross.
The resurrection of the great demonstrator of God’s
power was the proof of his final triumph over body
and matter, and gave full evidence of divine
Science, – evidence so important to mortals.
- KJV 39:15-25
- He was “the way.” To him, therefore, death was not
the threshold over which he must pass into living
glory.
“Now,” cried the apostle, “is the accepted time; be-
hold, now is the day of salvation,” – meaning, not that
now men must prepare for a future-world salva-
tion, or safety, but that now is the time in which
to experience that salvation in spirit and in life. Now is
the time for so-called material pains and material pleas-
ures to pass away, for both are unreal, because impossible
in Science.
- KJV 150:4-17
- To-day the healing power of Truth is widely demon-
strated as an immanent, eternal Science, instead of a
phenomenal exhibition. Its appearing is the
coming anew of the gospel of “on earth peace,
good-will toward men.” This coming, as was promised
by the Master, is for its establishment as a permanent
dispensation among men; but the mission of Christian
Science now, as in the time of its earlier demonstration,
is not primarily one of physical healing. Now, as then,
signs and wonders are wrought in the metaphysical heal-
ing of physical disease; but these signs are only to demon-
strate its divine origin, – to attest the reality of the higher
mission of the Christ-power to take away the sins of the
world.
- KJV 17:8-11
- And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from
evil;
_And God leadeth us not into temptation, but delivereth
us from sin, disease, and death.
- KJV 22:20
- Love is not hasty to deliver us from
temptation, for Love means that we shall be tried and
purified.
- KJV 266:18
- Universal Love
is the divine way in Christian Science.
- KJV 574:25-30
- Think of this, dear reader, for it will lift the sack-
cloth from your eyes, and you will behold the soft-
winged dove descending upon you. The very
circumstance, which your suffering sense
deems wrathful and afflictive, Love can make an angel
entertained unawares.
- KJV 174:9
- The footsteps of thought, rising above material stand-
points, are slow, and portend a long night to the traveller;
but the angels of His presence – the spiritual
intuitions that tell us when “the night is far
spent, the day is at hand” – are our guardians in the
gloom. Whoever opens the way in Christian Science is
a pilgrim and stranger, marking out the path for gen-
erations yet unborn.
- KJV 326:20-21
- Working and praying with true motives,
your Father will open the way.
- KJV 242:9
- There is but one way to heaven, harmony, and Christ
in divine Science shows us this way. It is to know no
other reality – to have no other conscious-
ness of life – than good, God and His reflec-
tion, and to rise superior to the so-called pain and pleasure
of the senses.
- KJV 227:23-26
- Jesus marked out the
way. Citizens of the world, accept the “glori-
ous liberty of the children of God,” and be free! This
is your divine right.
Ps 120:1-2
Ps 121:1-3, 5, 7-8
Ps 122:1-2, 6-9
Ps 123:1-2
Ps 124:1-8
Ps 125:1-5
Ps 126:1-6
Ps 127:1-2
Ps 128:1-2
Ps 129:1-6
Ps 130:1-8
Ps 131:1-3
Ps 132:1-5, 8-10
Ps 133:1-3
Ps 134:1-3254:24-32
323:6-16
15:28-30
25:13-19
37:16-25
42:10-18
39:15-25
150:4-17
17:8-11
22:20
266:18
574:25-30
174:9
326:20-21
242:9
227:23-26
Ps 121:1-3, 5, 7-8
Ps 122:1-2, 6-9
Ps 123:1-2
Ps 124:1-8
Ps 125:1-5
Ps 126:1-6
Ps 127:1-2
Ps 128:1-2
Ps 129:1-6
Ps 130:1-8
Ps 131:1-3
Ps 132:1-5, 8-10
Ps 133:1-3
Ps 134:1-3254:24-32
323:6-16
15:28-30
25:13-19
37:16-25
42:10-18
39:15-25
150:4-17
17:8-11
22:20
266:18
574:25-30
174:9
326:20-21
242:9
227:23-26
278…Pilgrim on earth, home and heaven are within thee
425…O weary pilgrim, lift your head, for joy come the in the morning
415…I’m a pilgrim, and I’m a stranger
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