What is true community? Behind the Psalmists evocative imagery of the anointing of Aaron and the dew of Mount Hermon is the three generational relational matrix of an Ancient Israel village and family. Today, in the West, no one lives in villages filled with extended family. How do we experience community? And what challenges oppose the deep and wide friendship and community that the Psalmist talks about?

For the Israelites and David–the Ark of the Covenant–the physical embodiment of God’s presence was a source of blessing and joy. In Psalm 132, the Psalmist recounts the desire of David and Israel to have the Ark (and the LORD) with them. Do we desire the Presence of God? What difference does God’s presence make? And as those in-dwelt by the Spirit of God, how are we called to manifest God’s presence in the world.

In an anxious, stressed-out, performance driven culture–how do we experience the peace that God offers? David, the Psalmist, points to intimacy with the Lord: like a mother with a child, we can know the loving nurture of God, when we look to Him as our hope.

{The recording of this sermon is defective and includes ambient noise. The recording was begun late and did not run through the microphone/sound-system.}

What is the Christian hope, how do we attain it and how can we know if we have this hope? The Psalmist has hope because he openly cries out–appealing to God’s mercy–and because he trusts in the Lord–knowing God’s character.

The Psalmist has been greatly afflicted by the wicked–but the Lord in his righteous loyalty has delivered him. The Psalmist recalls his past suffering, God’s deliverance and prays for justice to be brought on the afflicted. When we have endured evil at the hands of others, how do we find healing and hope? The Psalmist turns to God: laying his pain openly before the Lord, entrusting his vindication to the Lord, and seeing the evil done against him as an affront to God himself–in this he finds healing and hope.

The Psalmist describes the blessings of life that accompany the fear of the Lord. What does the Fear of the Lord mean? How do we allow the rightful fear and reverence of God to change who we are and how we live?

Israel placed all their hopes in the City and the Temple. In Psalm 127, Solomon reminds them that it is the Lord who protects the city and builds the house. And the greater gift of God is in children–that people matter more than buildings. In this Wisdom Psalm, Solomon reminds  all of us that true wisdom is more than knowledge and experience, it is found in the Lord and his perspective on life.

Restore our Fortunes, the Psalmist cries, that we may shout for Joy once again. What keeps us from joy, how do we seek joy in ways that will not fulfill and how do we tap into the joy that God offers us through the restoration that is in Jesus Christ?

In a dangerous and insecure world, where can we turn for certainty? The Psalmist assures us that the Lord surrounds and protects his people–that their allotment and portion are secure. We wrestle with worry, guilt, doubt and even self-sufficiency, but if our trust and hope is in the Lord, He guarantees for us what matters most.

In Psalm 124, the Psalmist invites Israel to join with him in giving thanks to the Lord for his deliverance of them. How to we live a life of thanksgiving to God and how to we confront the pride, control and fear that keep us from thanking and trusting God?

The Psalmist complains to the Lord of dealing with the contempt and scorn of the proud. But he does not just turn against his enemies, nor does he turn inward, but he looks to the Lord. He desires the Face of the Lord and seeks the Mercy of the Lord, knowing that if he has intimacy with God, he will have enough.

In Psalm 122, the Psalmist rejoices to go to Jerusalem–he has a childlike earnestness and delight in going to worship the Lord. How do we worship God with such authenticity and how does God come to us and offer us peace and his presence, so we don’t have to go in search of Him?

Matt Hemsley looks at the difficulty and calling of Psalm 121–the Psalmist looks to the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth–the one who in the Psalm promises to provide for us and keep us from all harm. And yet harm comes to us, how can this be? The Psalms hold in tension the goodness of God and the suffering of this life, the Presence of God and the evil we experience–and invites us to sing and pray these same Psalms so we are shaped, transformed into people who can live with a firm faith in the midst of struggle and challenge too.

Johnny Kurcina kicks off Summer in the Psalms II: Songs of Ascent by looking at Psalm 120–the first of the Pilgrim songs. The Psalmist is in distress and despair but he brings his complaint to God, entrusting himself to the Lord.