The Psalms of Ascent

Looking back from near the top of Kinder Scout

There is a group of fifteen Psalms (120-134) that all open with the heading: “A Song of Ascents.” The title hints at a journey, a climb, a movement upwards. 

That, in a nutshell, is what prompted me to say I would spend the first part of this sabbatical walking the Pennine Way and reflecting on these psalms.  I figured that walking uphill a lot might help me understand Psalms that were about "ascending"!

One flaw in my plan was that walking uphill a lot is a hard slog and I quickly discovered that the kind of walking you need to do to complete each day's schedule on the Pennine Way is not the same kind of walking where you have space, time or mental energy to daydreem or to think deep thoughts or stop to stare and contemplate.  I did this on day one, and learned the whole of Psalm 120 off by heart as I walked, and stopped to record me reciting it by a babbling stream...  that's why I didn't get to Crowden until twenty past seven!

Another flaw is that whilst some do talk about mountains and hills (notably Psalm 121) they are actually about other kinds of journey, and as I have been reflecting since my return home on Sunday, quite a few of these Psalms are about journeys unfinished...  Oddly, I might be in a much better place to reflect on them having a recent unfinished journey of my own to reflect on, and (of course) having the energy to do so!

I'm not going to try and contribute to a scholarly examination of them, plenty of other more qualified people have done that.  I have heard the Psalms referred to as as a place where spiritual therapy happens.  Real people from centuries past brought their unedited feelings to God, spoke them (or sang them) out loud - and often it isn't pretty.  They spoke honestly about their feelings - their fear, their anger, their bitterness, their desire for revenge and brought them into a space where God might hear - a lot of it is quite raw and not what we'd publish these days in a book of prayers.  It's almost as if we are eavesdropping on a therapy session.  

Over the years, scholars have offered different theories about what kind of "ascents" these are.  

Some have suggested that these fifteen psalms were linked to the steps of the Temple itself. Later traditions speak of fifteen steps leading into the inner courts, and some believe that the Levites would sing one psalm on each step as they ascended—marking their progress toward the holy place.

There’s also a theory that sees the “ascents” in the very structure of the songs themselves. Some psalms have a step-like pattern of thought, building verse by verse like a staircase of prayer and praise.

Most popular, though, is the idea that these were (or became) pilgrimage songs, sung by people making their way up to Jerusalem for the great festivals. Since Jerusalem sits high in the hills, every road to the city involved a literal climb—a journey both physical and spiritual.

That's what I'm settling on - piligrimage songs where people were walking and fretting over the issues they had in the world - heading for an encounter with God where they might have it out with God!  Fifteen spiritual therapy journeys, many of them, like my journey, unfinished.