Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. – Psalm 65:4

Today's Scripture Reading (August 29, 2025): Psalm 65

Several years ago, I attended a service at a local synagogue. It was a thought-provoking experience. The service itself was over three hours long, which was much longer than the hour to hour and half service to which I am accustomed. Of course, before I could enter the sanctuary, I had to stop at a box in the foyer of the synagogue that was filled with kippahs, often referred to as yarmulkes. The kippahs in the box were of varying designs. Some were quite plain, while others displayed intricate designs. Some were made of a dark fabric, while others were constructed out of a bright fabric. I actually own a kippah; it has no design on it and is made out of a light blue fabric, but on this day, I wanted to wear one that I had borrowed. Once I had placed the kippah on my head, we were invited into the next step of our visit. We entered the synagogue's sanctuary. As we entered the large room filled with pews, I was reminded that while I was invited to sit anywhere, every pew in the synagogue was owned by a family of the synagogue. Not all of them would attend on any one Sabbath, but if they did, they would likely want to sit in their pew, and my wife and I would be asked to move.

We sat down in a pew located near the back, and then began to participate in the service. When the scrolls were taken from their cupboard at the front and paraded around the room, I did reach out with my prayer book to touch the scroll, as many of the worshippers did who were in reach of the scroll. But there were several moments when it was pretty clear that we were visitors; we did not belong in this place.

David writes that those whom God brings near are blessed. Some experts have thought that David was speaking of the priests who came and ministered at the Tabernacle on a regular rotation. They might not be at the Tabernacle every week of the year, but this was a place that they came to regularly, and they were welcome at the Tabernacle, unlike the average person.

This interpretation of the passage might be accurate, but it is interesting that David uses the word "courts." The outermost court of the Tabernacle and Temple was called the court of the Gentiles. It is the one place where anyone could come, regardless of race, to worship God. I may not have belonged in the local synagogue, but there was a place at the Temple where even I could say that I belonged.

As Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn between the court of the priests and the holy of holies. The image was of a place where no one was welcome except for the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, where now everyone was welcome. But there has always been, within the Tabernacle and Temple, a place where we all could go. The only thing that holds us back is us. You are invited to come close, and as James reminds us, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you" (James 4:7-8a). 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Psalm 68