Songs for the Journey: Lift Up Your Eyes to the Hills (Psalm 121)

Sermon by Rev. Deborah Hannay Sunoo

Posted on the bulletin board just above my office desk is a small copy of a Norman Rockwell painting from 1957 entitled “Lift Up Thine Eyes.”  The painting shows the beautiful stone work around the magnificent entrance of St. Thomas’ church in New York City, and someone putting these very words up on the church sign above the doors (“Lift up thine eyes”).  Meanwhile, people rush by on the sidewalk in front of the church, all of them looking quite harried and hurried.  All of them looking down at the ground.

I keep that postcard on my bulletin board because – perhaps like some of you – there are any number of things that can have me looking down over the course of a given day, both physically at my desk and computer, but also metaphorically.  None of us are immune to the stresses of everyday life.  That picture – and the psalm it refers to, the one we just read this morning - remind me to pause for a minute, and reorient myself.  Of course it doesn’t hurt a bit that when I stand up and walk just outside my office here at church, particularly on a clear summer day, I can see out the window of the very next room a spectacular view of the Olympic Mountains.  “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)  A powerful reminder that God’s got this, whatever “this” happens to be weighing me down that particular day.

I also love the way Psalm 121 offers us this very visual reminder to practice a posture of faith.  Think about your body language when you’re stressed, or overwhelmed.  Is your head drooping?  Are your shoulders sagging?  Think about your mental or spiritual posture too.  Is it worried or wary?  Hassled or exhausted?  How helpful to pause, every now and then, even in the craziness of the busiest day, and simply look up.  Look to the Creator of the heavens and the earth.  Look to the hills, majestic reminders of our Creator’s goodness, and the scale and scope of God’s power.   Other psalms offer similar reminders.  Psalm 19, for instance, on which our call to worship was based, begins “the heavens declare the glory of God.”  Another wonderful reminder to lift our eyes.  And where else is creation singing God’s praise?  Where else can we see reminders of God’s goodness, or hear the clouds singing Hallelujah (as we heard in the children’s message today)?  Sometimes just panning back and looking around can be so helpful in regaining perspective.

Granted, sometimes it isn’t just everyday stressors that knock us down.  At some point you may find yourself doing battle with a terrifying medical diagnosis, a serious depression, or a family crisis that makes it almost impossible to look up, for a time.  Here Psalm 121 has words of comfort to offer us as well. “The Lord is your keeper.” “He who keeps you will not slumber, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” There is no moment of your life, no situation you could face, however awful, in which God doesn’t have his eye on you.  “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:5, 8) Even in those moments, even when you feel like you’re at the bottom of a deep, dark pit, God’s never letting you go.   Lift up your eyes to the hills.  From where will your help come?  Your help will come from the Lord.

Now the context of this psalm, as you may have noticed in your pew Bible, is that it’s “a song of ascents,” a climbing song, if you will.  There are quite a number of these preserved for us in the book of Psalms, songs that would have been sung as pilgrims were making their way up to Jerusalem, up to the temple which was located on a hill in the center of the city.  (Though the particular wording of this psalm evokes images of other hills too, perhaps out beyond Jerusalem.)  I love that the people of Israel sang as they climbed.  It makes me think of camping trips I took as a kid, when we would sing together on hikes through the woods, and while climbing mountains.  I know we have others in the congregation who love to hike too, and I don’t know if you ever sing as you go.  But you might at least enjoy reflecting on these words from Psalm 121 next time you find yourself out in God’s glorious creation:  “I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”

Our creation banners in the front of the sanctuary reflect some of the incredible views we are privileged to see all around us here in Seattle. We talk about artists going through different periods or phases of their work? Clearly God was having a blast with the mountain phase when he got to the Pacific Northwest.  Seriously!  Mountains everywhere!  It’s almost impossible not to lift up our eyes to the hills, especially this time of year.  And there may be other hills or mountains you call to mind, too, when you hear these verses.  When I prayed the words of this psalm as a teenager, for instance, the hills to which I lifted my eyes were the Catskill and Adirondack mountains in upstate NY.  God did some mighty fine work out there too.

I invite you now to call to mind a favorite mountain view.  Or to meditate on the picture of Mt. Rainier on the cover of today’s bulletin, or the banners before you.  If you have an artistic bent, you might even want to sketch what you see in your mind’s eye as we return to Psalm 121 in conclusion this morning. (The kids in particular might enjoy the drawing assignment, and are welcome to get another handful of crayons to help them with it.  Feel free to draw a beautiful mountain scene.)

As you draw, or look, or simply close your eyes and listen for a moment, several members of our congregation are going to help me offer you once more the great gift that is Psalm 121…

Brom: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Kay: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Pete: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Sharlene: He will not let your foot be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Steve: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Anné: The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

Alina: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Brom: The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Kay: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Pete: I lift up my eyes to the hills.

Sharlene: I lift up my eyes to the hills.

Steve: I lift up my eyes to the hills.

Alina: I lift up my eyes to the hills.

Anné: I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will be my help come?

Brom: My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Kay: From where will my help come?

Pete: The Lord is my keeper. 

Steve: From where will my help come?

Sharlene: God neither slumbers nor sleeps.

Deb: From where will my help come?

ALL: My help comes from the Lord!

Amen.