Canon Rob's Reflections

Whenever I visit St Albans Abbey, I always walk into the churchyard, stand by the graves of two bishops who I knew well and say a prayer of thanks for the friendship we shared. One of them was Robert Runcie, who had been Bishop of St Albans and returned there in 1991 after he retired from being Archbishop of Canterbury. At the bottom of his grave stone is the Latin inscription, “Domini est terra,” which are the opening words of today’s psalm: “The earth is the Lord’s…” The world belongs to God because, as verse 2 says, “…he founded it upon the seas and set it firm upon the rivers of the deep.” At the time the psalm was written, there was no doubt that it was God, and God alone, who was the Creator. The creation story in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis tells us that the world, and everything in it, came into being because God commanded it to do so. “…God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’…. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that he gathered together he called Seas.” [Genesis 1.9 and 10 NRSV.]

St Justin, a 2nd Century philosopher, apologist for the Christian faith and a martyr, referred to God’s creation in his “First Apology.” He wrote, “We praise God…for the gift of life itself….expressing in psalms and hymns our gratitude to him for our creation, our health, for the sheer richness and diversity of life, for the changing seasons…” Centuries later, we do the same! Psalm 24 falls into three sections. The first, as we have seen, is about creation. The second lists those who are fit to worship in the Temple. (Psalm 15 gives a longer list of those who qualify.) This section begins with the question, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord…” [Verse 3.] The following verse gives the answer: “Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, who have not lifted up their soul to an idol, nor sworn an oath to a lie.” Whilst this list may seem short, it is reminiscent – in part at least – of the Ten Commandments which Moses received from God and which you will find in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 20, verses 1 – 17. As I reflect upon this verse, I am reminded of those people who have told me that they are “not good enough” to go to Church. Unlike the time when today’s psalm was written, the Christian God loves everyone and welcomes all who dare enter His presence. The parable of the Prodigal Son, in the Fifteenth Chapter of St. Luke’s Gospel, is a lesson in the unlimited Love of God. However, the first readers and hearers of Psalm 24 will have needed to “pass the test” before they were able to “receive a blessing from the Lord, a just reward from the God of their salvation.” [Verse 5.]

The third Section, gives the words used by worthy worshippers as they enter Jerusalem, or perhaps the Temple precincts themselves. They are repeated twice, emphasising the joy of this celebration. We sometimes sing hymns suggested for the beginning of our worship, known as Introit Hymns: like, “Come, let us join our cheerful songs with angels round the throne.” (Hymn 120 in “Complete Anglican Hymns Old & New.”) Today, as when Psalm 24 was written, we worship “the King of glory!” So, another hymn we sometimes sing is, “King of glory, King of peace, I will love thee.” (375 in the same book.) Ezekiel was the first of the prophets to use the word “glory” to describe the appearance, or presence, of God. (See, e.g., Ezekiel 1.28 and 3.23.) Ezekiel was among the Exiles in Babylon after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Whenever we read of God’s glory in the Old and New Testaments, it refers to God’s presence, and for Christians that presence is known supremely in and through Jesus who at his birth in Bethlehem was given the name Emmanuel, “God is with us.” In Jesus God’s glory is revealed completely.