Summer Preaching Series
All of us are currently located somewhere.
On the map, we have a geography: we live in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky, or Indiana.
But we also have a spiritual location.
My guess is all of us experience some sort of dissatisfaction with both our current geographic and spiritual locations. Not that we hate Cincinnati, but we’re painfully aware that this world is NOT how its supposed to be. We live in a 24/7 news cycle of discouraging politics, experience a constant barrage of advertisements, fake news, and scammers trying to steal our attention or our money. Our stress has put us on a hamster wheel of bad habits and addictive behaviors that are draining our life and our joy. Our lives have us constantly busy. We’d love to be contemplatives but we can’t stop being consumers. We’d love to worship God but everything in our lives pushes us to worship self. We want to love but we’re so afraid, angry, or resentful. And if we stop to think about it, it might make us scream the words of the Psalmist from Psalm 42, “where can I go to meet with God?”
If you relate to any of the above, then I have good news for you. As the late Christian pastor and author Eugene Peterson writes, “there is an old dog-eared songbook,” in the Bible for people fed up with their current geographical and spiritual location who want to press into a genuine and lifelong journey of pursuing Jesus. Peterson says “I have used this songbook to provide continuity in guiding others in the Christian way and directing people of faith in the conscious and continuous effort that develops into maturity in Christ.”
What is this old dog-eared songbook? It is the Psalms of Ascent.
The Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) are 15 psalms that were likely sung, possibly in sequence by Jewish pilgrims as they went up to Jerusalem to the great festivals. “This picture,” Peterson writes, “of the Hebrews singing these 15 psalms as pilgrims up to Jerusalem is our best background for understanding life as a faith-journey….singing the 15 psalms is a way both to express the amazing grace and to quiet the anxious fears.”
This summer, from June 15th through the end of August, we will preach through the Psalms of Ascent, using Eugene Peterson’s book “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction,” to help us consider themes of discipleship encountered in the life-long Christian journey. These themes include repentance, worship, service, security, joy, work, perseverance, hope, humility, community and more.
We hope you’ll join us this summer and we hope that as we sing, pray, and study these psalms together, you will find God’s encouragement for your own spiritual journey and encounter Him with you leading you forward wherever you find yourself presently located.
Series Companion Book & Book Study
This summer, we will be using Eugene Peterson’s book “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society” to help guide our journey through the Psalms of Ascent. You can order your own copy of the book and read along as go. Want to study or discuss the book with others? Use the link below to sign up for the “Long Obedience” book study Jamie Noyd will be leading this summer!
