For almost a year, we have been apart from our place of worship, but we have not been apart from our God. I have been reflecting on the places where I have experienced God’s presence in my life in the past year: Southside Park, swimming in the river, my home in the Kansha, over Zoom, in meditation, in music, and so on. How lovely is God’s dwelling place! All around us, we delight in God’s presence in the everyday gifts of our lives. Where have you encountered the presence of the living God in the past year?

Psalm 84^[a]

For the director of music. According to gittith.^[b] Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm.

¹ How lovely is your dwelling place,
    Lord Almighty!
² My soul yearns, even faints,
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
    for the living God.
³ Even the sparrow has found a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may have her young—
a place near your altar,
    Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
⁴ Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
    they are ever praising you.^[c]

⁵ Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
    whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
⁶ As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
    they make it a place of springs;
    the autumn rains also cover it with pools.^[d]
7 They go from strength to strength,
    till each appears before God in Zion.

⁸ Hear my prayer, Lord God Almighty;
    listen to me, God of Jacob.
⁹ Look on our shield,^[e] O God;
    look with favor on your anointed one.

¹⁰ Better is one day in your courts
    than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold
    from those whose walk is blameless.

¹² Lord Almighty,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you.