As the pilgrims made their way up to Jerusalem and as the city came into view, they reflected on the City and the Kingdom - both present and promised - it represented:

Unless the Lord build the house, those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain -
it is vain to rise up early and go to rest late reaping the fruit of anxious toil, for it is the Lord who gives rest to the ones he loves!
– Psalm 127

By Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension, the Lord himself is building the house - a worldwide dwelling of the living God by his Spirit to the praise of his glory. Come and behold the wonder of it all - the length, breadth, depth, and height of God’s glorious love in Jesus Christ displayed in the gathering of the redeemed. — and let us dance and worship, confess and praise with abandon before the throne, the only reasonable behavior for those who have beheld the holiness and grace of the living God through Jesus Christ building a worldwide house of living stones.

Order of Worship for 06.14.09