1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

The word of God for the people of God.  Thanks be to God.

My husband’s family is from Pittsburgh and every time I there, I wind up making a mad dash to the airport and then sitting at the gate for hours.  That’s because the plane coming in that will take us to Pittsburgh is ALWAYS ALWAYS late.  And, they have those “wonderful and comfortable” chairs to sit in!

Usually, I am always anxious to get to Pittsburgh, but about a year ago, I sat in the terminal and was GRATEFUL for the extra hours spent at the gate waiting.  Douglas and the rest of the family was already there – but I was flying in basically to say good bye to my mother in law who was dying from stage 4 metastasized cancer and to be there to grieve with my family through the ordeal.

Only mid-way through my 2nd year of seminary and a novice pastor, I knew that as a family member I was not expected to be the pastor, but I felt like family members would look to me to be the calm presence of Christ because of my vocation.  So, I got a crash course in pastoral care by virtue of a book written by a hospice nurse that lovingly explained what happens as someone nears the end of their life.  So, I took the extra hours waiting to board the Pittsburgh plane and furthered my pastoral education.

Clinically, I now had a better idea what to expect, but emotionally and mentally, I was in unfamiliar territory.  Frightening, terrifying, heartbreaking territory and I was frozen not knowing what to do.  I needed God’s steady hand underneath me to carry me – and my family – through to what we must endure.   I imagine the writer of this psalm must have experienced similar heart ache and fear.

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where will my help come from?

There are many hills in our lives.  Hills of fear, loss, sadness, dread or anxiety.  Some times those hills appear in an office building as you walk down that long hallway knowing what waits for you is a severance package or a bad performance review with your manager.  Some times those hills are in the hospital hallway as you wait for news from the doctor.  Or some times those hills appear on the long walk home with a bad report card for your parents to see.  We parents live in these hills every time our child faces danger, a scary experience or grows in their independence from us.   I gotta tell you, every time I hand my son Nic my car keys and he’s out by himself in my car - I am right back in the middle of these hills, with the enemies on all sides.  I imagine him fiddling with the radio, talking on the cell phone and surrounded by aggressive, speeding, careless drivers every time he’s on the road.  It’s tempting to let fear grip us; it’s HUMAN to LET fear grip US.  Fear is a dark and lonely place.  But I try to remember who’s in control.  Our loving parent: God.  That is where our help comes from. 

And help comes for the people writing this psalm.  The Israelites praying these words were traveling through enemy territory.  They knew that as they journeyed through the hills of their enemies that God’s protection surrounded them.   Why make this journey?  They put themselves in harm’s way because at the end of the journey was Jerusalem – the place where they would find fellowship, community and the chance to worship the God they adored who protected, loved and sustained them. 

I imagine Abraham and Sarah prayed words similar in Psalm 121 as they responded to God’s promise of blessing and left their home to make a new home in Canaan.  They traveled for thousands of miles, putting themselves in harm’s way.  But why make the journey? Because they were promised God’s protection and a new life at the end of the trip.  After Abraham and Sarah made their journey, their grandson Jacob faced his hills in the form of his brother Esau AND HIS ARMY OF 400 after many years of bad blood had passed between them.  If you remember, Jacob tricked Esau out of his birthright and Jacob had lived his life in fear because Esau threatened to kill him. And after many years of bad blood between the brothers, Jacob wanted to make amends with Esau.  But fearing Esau was still angry with him; Jacob sent ahead many gifts before the brothers actually met.  Why make the journey?  Because Jacob longed for reconciliation with his brother.  Jacob puts his trust in God and God reunited brothers who were distant.

Jacob and Esau had a happy ending to their story and their trust in God certainly was well placed.   Psalm 121 says that God is not slumbering and watching their every move in all times and places- their going out and coming in.  We see God at work in this story and see that their indeed feet don’t slip.  But as WE journey through the hills of fear, anxiety, grief and loss in our own lives, our feet do slip.  Sometimes they slip so badly that we stumble or get knocked to our knees or fall face down in the dirt while people continue to walk past us.  How did our foot slip?  Was God looking away?  I thought if I was faithful that bad things couldn’t happen to me.  Why did this happen to me?

I imagine these questions have popped up for each and every one of us at one time in our lives.  For a God who is supposed to protect us and get us to Jerusalem safely, it can feel at times that God is indeed slumbering and leaving us on our own.   God’s faithful people get sick, get chemo, get divorced, get fired, get left behind or get overlooked.  We lift our eyes to the hills….where will our help come from?  Maybe we are not asking the right questions.  There are just some questions we will never know the answer to – or have a solution for.  Perhaps instead of questioning God’s abandonment – we could ask instead - God, where are you?  Where are you in all this pain I’m experiencing?

Many of us have had these questions in our hearts for awhile now as we’ve watched members of our Holy Covenant community get sick and suffer and some ultimately go home to be with God.  I imagine for the Hamner and Damm families and other families facing the devastation of disease or other travesties, these hills loom pretty large over their lives – creating a journey of darkness, fear and uncertainty.   For those of you who may not know it, Tyra and Steve Damm have created a blog where any time any of us wants to see how they are navigating through their hills – we can go out and read Tyra’s posts.  She writes about the anguish, fear, ups and downs of fighting Steve’s brain cancer.  She also writes about the blessings and the countless selfless acts of kindness that has sustained them along their journey.  As I’ve read the blog, I’ve been amazed, as they have, by the outpouring of help and love and prayers that have come from not only this church, but from friends and family from all over.   Tyra shared with me that one of their friends has been touched by Steve’s courage and spirit while fighting his brain tumor that it’s caused her own spirituality to be reawakened.

Perhaps the God we cry out for in our pain and anxiety has not abandoned us.  Perhaps God is instead surrounding us, just as promised, by being present in the community that sees us lying face down in the dirt and picks us up – dusts us off – and carries us.  Perhaps the God we perceive as absent is actually present in the family and friends encouraging us, feeding us, picking up the kids from school for us and praying for us.  Where is God?  God is present in the community.  God is present among US.  
We don’t know the name of the person who wrote Psalm 121.  It’s not King David who wrote most of the psalms.  However, what we DO know is that this person is on a journey and he or she is not alone because the psalm starts out with this person  talking to themselves, but end up talking to someone else – telling them about the good and gracious God who surrounds them every moment of their lives.  Right before Psalm 121 is a psalm about deliverance from slanderers and the psalm right after this is one of praise and prayer for Jerusalem.  But this Psalm, Psalm 121 is about the “GETTING THERE” …getting there to Jerusalem – It’s about THE JOURNEY…getting there safely with the protection and guidance of God.    TOGETHER.  It’s about TRUST…the trust we place in God to keep us safe on our journey.   I see us together in worship every week and wonder if we know the person we’re sitting next to?  Our being community is so very important – it’s important that we’re here in worship together every Sunday; it’s important that we fellowship together and it’s important that we pray for one another because WE are the community that is journeying through this life together.  We are the ones walking through the hills together, reassuring one other that God is among us – and in looking in the eyes of the person traveling next to you – you are looking in the eyes of God.  Teresa of Avila, a Spanish nun who lived in the 16th century wrote in one of her many poetic meditations that “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours” and our church community is the body of Christ.

Have you ever had to do one of those “trust exercises” – the kind you’re MADE to do at camp when you’re a kid or as an adult when you’re sent off to do team building exercises?  The trust exercise when you have to stand up, close your eyes and fall back into the arms of your teammates or your friends and PRAY they will catch you?  Ever notice how they don’t just put one person behind you?  There’s a whole team of people there to catch you.

Where is God?  God is present in you.   Present in me.

And even though we’re looking up at hills while we’re walking the path of our journey or as Psalm 23 says, we’re walking through the valley of the shadow of death, we can be reassured of God’s presence with us.  The Holy Spirit is present and God uses our community to keep us safe.  No matter where we go, the Lord is with me and with you – with us.  The psalm says that the Lord is our keeper – keeping us or “watching over” us no matter what we do, where we go.  That doesn’t mean that bad things won’t happen to us – but it does mean that we never have to endure them alone.  God weeps with us as well as rejoices with us.  The God that keeps us will neither slumber nor sleep meaning that our loving parent God won’t ever leave us alone.

As a very new, young mother, I left my baby son Nic on the changing table while I ran – just for a second! – into the closet because I had no diaper at the table.  In the blink of an eye, he rolled off the changing table and onto the carpeted floor – and luckily was not hurt!  He cried.  I cried.  It was a horrible moment for both of us.  When I as a parent left my child alone – just for an instant- he got hurt.  I wish I could watch over him 24 x 7, but that’s just not possible.

Sometimes, my mother would wake up me and my sister in the middle of the night and she’d whisk us off to IHOP or some place for breakfast.  It was great fun and we knew IHOP was always open and waiting for us.

Sometimes, I’ve needed a pharmacy at 2 AM to get much-needed antibiotics for whatever infection was keeping Nic from sleeping.  I thank God for CVS and Walgreens that have locations that are open when we need them the most. 

Pancakes.      Penicillin.       911.

It seems to me that we derive great comfort from things open 24 x 7 like pharmacies and IHOP, and especially from people on duty who serve or protect us 24 x 7 like the police, fire fighters and paramedics.  Unlike me with my son Nic, God never steps away or averts his eyes from us – even for a second!  While God is able to be there 24 x 7, our being human provides us with bumps in the road as we journey together. 

And some times, we are forced to make a choice.  Choosing to hide a report card from our parents and hide it for as long as we can…inside our geography book…..in our book bag….underneath our bed…..praying that our parents won’t ask about it.    Or sometimes we don’t get a choice on whether we want to make the journey thru the hills at all.   We are forced to make that long walk through enemy territory….walking the corridor of an office building……sitting in the hospital waiting room……watching our children head out in the world……sitting at the deathbed of someone we love.   But as a community journeying together through the hills, we are never alone.  God keeps us/guards us on our journey now and forever more.  Where does our help come from?  It comes from our 24 x 7 God who we can always find present in each other.

Thanks be to God.