Читать книгу Reflections on the Psalms - Steven Croft - Страница 26

Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle?Who may rest upon your holy hill?

‘Whoever leads an uncorrupt life …’ (v.2)

But who is that? Which of us can guarantee our entitlement to a place atop this holy hill? Which of us can make our feet firm against the chaos not only of life but of the human heart, with all its distractions and mixed motives? We remember the sense of extraordinary unworthiness Simon Peter feels in Luke 5 as he is confronted, and his ship is destabilized, by the vast number of fish that suddenly fill his nets. He found his life secured for him, but knew he could not possibly have earned this new standing with his Lord in the face of the world’s threats.

The Christian belief, though, is that he did not need to earn it. That’s what the Book of Common Prayer means when in the baptismal service it asks God’s mercy to ‘grant to this child that thing which by nature she cannot have’. By grace we take our place on the hill of the Lord, which for Christians is to say that by grace we are ‘incorporated into Christ’, who alone is uncorrupt. Then, where Christ goes, we go, and where Christ enters in, we enter in.

The incorporation of Christians into Christ – our sharing with him in name, and in all the benefits of his death and resurrection – means that when the gates of the city on the hill are thrown open, and the King of glory comes in, we come in too. It is a triumphal entry made possible by the free and gracious work of God.

Reflection by Ben Quash

Refrain:

Through the greatness of your mercy,

I will come into your house.

Prayer:

Lord, lead us to our heavenly home

by single steps of self-restraint

and deeds of righteousness;

through the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.