Wailing Wall

Whole Being

Posted on by Betsy

I have been blessed to visit the Wailing Wall at the Temple in Jerusalem twice in my life. It is a holy and mysterious place. This is the last remaining structure of the Second Temple built by Herod in 20 BCE and is sacred to Jews and Christians alike. On both visits I noticed Orthodox Jews praying fervently at the wall, swaying and rocking back and forth. This tradition is known as “shuckling” and is thought to promote focus and concentration in the worshipper. Shuckling is a Yiddish word that means “to shake,” and is based on Proverbs 20:27 where the spirit of man is described as a flickering candle or lamp of the Lord. In any case, this practice involves the whole body in worship. What would it look like if we involved our whole beings in worship?

Today’s beautiful psalm makes the same suggestion. “Let my whole being bless the Lord!” says David. He repeats this idea three times in the first two verses to emphasize his point. Half-hearted, distracted worship is not enough. For David, it is all or nothing.

Psalm 103 (Common English Bible)

Let my whole being bless the Lord!
    Let everything inside me bless his holy name!
2 Let my whole being bless the Lord
    and never forget all his good deeds:

Scholars assume that this psalm was probably written in David’s later years. There is a maturity of thought in this writing, suggesting a man who had been through some trials and is able to reflect on God’s goodness throughout. This man knew what it was like to receive God’s pardon. By including his soul in blessing God, David suggests that we should thank God appropriately for giving us such a comprehensive “benefits package,” the likes of which cannot be given by mere mortals.

God’s benefits package includes forgiveness, healing, protection from destruction, lovingkindness, tender mercies, and a youth-like energy and strength. Indeed, every good thing comes from God, and it is incumbent on us to return those blessings in the form of wholly engaged worship.


3     how God forgives all your sins,
    heals all your sickness,
4     saves your life from the pit,
    crowns you with faithful love and compassion,
5     and satisfies you with plenty of good things
        so that your youth is made fresh like an eagle’s.

But do we do that? Do we engage our minds and souls every Sunday in church? Or do we present our distracted selves, coming automatically every week without engaging our hearts? More importantly, are you holding something back? We are invited to prepare for and engage thoughtfully in worship each week. Are you a candle burning or a spent wick?

David’s enthusiasm for God is contagious if we just let it in. Next time you are getting ready for worship, read these words again. And then bless the Lord with everything you’ve got.

The Temple by Kathy Schumacher

Becoming God’s Dwelling

Posted on by Betsy

Many years ago I went on a pilgrimage to Israel with a group of people who wanted to experience God’s presence first hand in the land where Jesus walked. The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem where we were able to place our hands on the remaining Western, or “Wailing” Wall to pray. The facade of the wall was filled with cracks and crevices between the large stones, and we were invited to stick rolled up pieces of paper with prayer requests there that we had carried with us from our families and our churches back home. There were people all around us praying out loud in their native languages: Hebrew, French, German, English …pilgrims from every corner of the globe had come to that sacred spot to pray. The minute my palms touched the ancient stones, something happened to me. Suddenly all the surrounding noise dulled in my ear and became a singular harmonic hum. I could feel a spiritual current of energy travel from my fingertips to my forehead and toes. The yip yip yips of the nearby women celebrating a teenager’s bat mitzvah faded into the background and all I could hear was a vibrating resonance that was other-worldly. There is an ethereal sense of God’s spirit in those stones, and I could envision the angels themselves descending to sing along with us. It was a moment of feeling connected to God that I will never forget. God dwelt among us that day.

We remember that God designed humanity with the purpose of dwelling with us in the perfection and sweetness of the Garden of Eden. But when sin happened, that fellowship was broken and God has been searching for a dwelling place ever since. In the book of Exodus we read that God instructed that a movable tabernacle be built in the wilderness of Moses’ time. Instructions were given to construct an Ark in which God would reside. When the people finally settled down in the Promised Land, the glorious temple was built in Jerusalem in Solomon’s time, and the Ark was moved there permanently. But then came the destruction of the Temple when the people rebelled and rejected God. Israel was sent into exile by the Babylonian king. Many years later, Cyrus of Persia allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and later still, King Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple in Jesus’ time, but the Ark was lost.

But by then, the Temple was unnecessary. Jesus was sent to be our temple, our priest, and our sacrifice. Jesus was God’s dwelling incarnate and became the new and forever temple. His sacrifice on the cross makes all the rituals of the former priesthood obsolete. As he told the woman at the well in John 4:23-24,

“Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in Spirit and in truth.” (New International Version)

Paul continues this teaching in Ephesians, proclaiming that all in whom Jesus dwells are now being built into a holy temple in the Lord. God dwells in us!

Ephesians 2:21-22 (New International Version)

21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

How is your temple doing? Are your walls strong and able to withstand invading conquerors or is your faith weak and in need of some mortar and stone to shore up your foundation? Do people see the light of Christ shining through the stained glass windows of your actions and words? Are you pursuing holiness this Lent with your spiritual disciplines? Would God want to dwell in your temple?

Lent is a reminder that our temples are fragile and require daily upkeep. May God bless our building and re-building efforts as we move along toward Easter.

The Wailing Wall by Faye Gardner