"I rejoiced with those who said to me,
'Let us go to the house of YAHWEH!'
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem!
Jerusalem, just like a city,
where everything falls into place!
There, the tribes go up,
the tribes of YAHWEH, the assembly of Israel,
to give thanks to YAHWEH's name.
There stand the courts of justice,
the offices of the house of David."
- Psalm 122:1-2. 3-4. 4.5
(Joy of the pilgrim who reaches his goal at last--Jerusalem, elected home of GOD, venerable in the tradition of Israel. Here is a deep sense of homecoming and of pride in that home. We of the world-wide 'Israel of GOD' have no city to house us all; we are 'of the household of the faith' [Galatians 6:10]. But we have the brothers and sisters whom JESUS promised to those in HIS company [Mark 9:30]; we have a home which we call 'the Church.' It stands scarred with years of siege but, by GOD's grace, compact and dignified by the marks of resistance. We may take pride in it because the strength of its walls is from GOD. It will never have peace from without; let us pray and work for its peace within, which is 'the love of brethren.')
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