blessings

We've been working our way through the so-called 'Songs of Ascent' at our Wednesday lunch-time services.

So-called, it would seem, because these were the songs that pilgrims sang as they made their way up to Jerusalem for the annual festivals.

Which, if you were a man, were pretty much a three-line whip sort of thing. Obligatory.

They also afford a useful sort of insight into the life we seek to follow Jesus. What one of his early friends called 'the upward call of God'.

Following Jesus is an uphill struggle.

Today's psalm, though, reminded us that, uphill struggle or not, it's a life in which the blessing of God is known. We live our lives, as followers of Jesus, under his arms upraised in final blessing.

And it reminded us, too, that the blessing of God essentially makes us fruitful in our daily living. It empowers us to generate life in others.

The psalm itself is not that long: and it ends with a simple prayer.

May the Lord bless you from Zion, all the days of your life.

I figured that was a pretty good thing to be praying, for just about everyone I could think of!