When I hiked on the Appalachian Trail, I met fellow hikers who thought of themselves as pilgrims on a spiritual journey. For some it was a form of escape from a difficult past, or a therapeutic retreat, or a way to reconnect with nature. For many, the experience was almost mystical.
I myself found it easy to express myself in praise to God when I was on the Trail. The immensity and beauty of His creation prompted worship, involving mind, body, and spirit. The wilderness was a giant cathedral.
Pilgrimage is common to many world religions. Millions of Hindus make pilgrimages to wash in the waters of the Ganges River. Muslims endeavor to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca at least once. Lourdes, France, attracts over five million visitors a year who make the pilgrimage to pray for healing. The Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City is a destination for millions of Catholic pilgrims.
The ancient Hebrew people were given three annual festivals to commemorate God’s deliverance and preservation. Entire families made pilgrimages to Jerusalem for the celebrations of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.
Embedded in the psalms we find a series of songs written especially for these pilgrims. They are the “Songs of Ascents,” Psalms 120-134. They imply pilgrimage, progress, climbing higher toward a destination. If you study these psalms together you sense a gradation, an ascending scale of truth, with important themes building on each other.
It has been said that there is in these psalms a movement away from the world and all that is alien to God’s will (Psalm 120), to the mountains of Judah (Psalm 121), and to Jerusalem itself, and to the Temple (Psalm 122); then from the Temple to God himself (Psalm 123), then to fellowship with the people of God (Psalms 124ff.).
Sometimes on a long hike on the Appalachian Trail it felt less like a pilgrimage than a slog, a march, just putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes our lives are like that too. Not always exhilarating; sometimes just exhausting. Maybe some of the Jewish pilgrims who made their way to Jerusalem for the three festivals got tired along the way, too.
Maybe some of them wondered if it was worthwhile to keep going. Maybe that’s why they were taught to sing those psalms as they made the journey. Maybe singing the Psalms of Ascents helped them remember why the pilgrimage was important.
The New Testament pictures the Christian life as a pilgrimage. Believers are told to follow in the steps of Christ and walk to please God. That is because we are headed somewhere. There is a destination at the end of the journey and He is there to welcome us.
Keep going, pilgrim!
Pastor Randy Faulkner