By Sister Jan Beville
“I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord.
I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord!”
I’m pretty sure that was the second song that I learned when I was a child, the first being “Jesus Loves Me.” Every Sunday morning, at the beginning of Sunday School at the First Methodist Church in Winnfield, Louisiana, Mrs. Margaret Harrel would enter our Nursery Classroom and sit at the piano. She taught those of us who were already talking a few basic children’s songs about Jesus. (I was middle-aged and teaching a children’s Sunday School class when Mrs. Harrel finally retired from that practice! She was a saint!) It was many years later that I learned that the words to that little song were actually the first verse of a psalm, specifically Psalm 122!
If I had to name a verse that became my life’s theme verse, I would name Psalm 122:1.
I have loved going to church all my life, and I consider that trait one of the greatest blessings that I inherited from my mother. My family, both parents and my sister, were at our church every time the doors were open, as the old saying goes—and I was always glad to be there.
There are other psalms that speak of being in the house of the Lord. We recited Psalm 26:8 this morning during the Call to Worship at my church. “I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells. Another wonderful passage is found in Psalm 84:1-2: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord…” Further in Psalm 84 we read, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”
We don’t have to wonder what Jesus thought about going to the House of the Lord. Luke 4:16 states that, “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.”
Why do I love going to church? Why didn’t my parents have to make me attend worship services, as is so common when children are growing up? Perhaps it is what can be found in a house of the Lord. Verses 7-8 of Psalm 122 speak of peace being found within the walls of Jerusalem and security within its citadels. I know that there have been many times during my life when I have found peace and security—and joy—just sitting in a pew in a church, particularly my home church. Of course, I know that God lives in my heart, in the presence of the Holy Spirit. But I also know that I feel the presence of the Lord especially when I’m sitting in a sanctuary—praying, reciting a creed, singing hymns and songs of praise, partaking of the Lord’s Supper, listening to a sermon. These are the things that bring me joy, peace, and security—the things that are spoken of in Jerusalem (and thus the temple, which is what I consider my present-day church building). Various translations of Psalm 122 state that the tribes go up to Jerusalem to praise the name of the Lord and to give thanks—the very things that take place in a worship service.
I have instructed my family to inscribe my tombstone or grave marker with the words of Psalm 122:1:
“I was glad when they said unto me,
Let us go into the house of the Lord!”
