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When I was a boy living at 142 Larkins Street in Findlay , Ohio , we had a big, beautiful maple tree in our front yard. Oh, I doubt that it was as big as some of the live oaks that I’ve seen in Texas , but I was a small boy and it looked huge to me. That tree served many purposes during my years on Larkins Street . It proved to be a great fort during snowball fights. It was often third base when we were playing street baseball. It was our own jungle gym for climbing, and once up there served as an excellent spot from which to launch water balloons. However, the best employment of that beautiful maple tree on Larkins Street was when it became base in the neighborhood game of “Hide ‘n’ Seek”. You remember that game don’t you? The seeker counts to 100, the hiders hide and the search begins. The object of the hider is to get to base before being found by the seeker. The object of the seeker is to get to base and report the whereabouts of the hider. Everybody playing “Hide ‘n’ Seek” wants to get to base. It is a great place to be.

I think the reason that game has maintained its popularity through the generations is that it speaks to our hearts. We all need a base in our lives – a place to go where we are safe, where we are home. Psalm 122 is a psalm of running to base. Listen to it even is we read it responsively as a Psalter printed on page 845 of your Hymnal. We will sing response 2 wherever we see the red “R”. Ed will play this simple tune through once then we will sing together. Let us join in reading and hearing the Word of the Lord:

1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

2 Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem .

3 Jerusalem—built as a city that is bound firmly together.

4 To which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, to give thanks to the name of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel .

5 Thrones for judgment were set there, the thrones of the house of David.

 6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem !

“May they prosper who love you!

7 Peace be within your walls, and security within your towers!”

8 For the sake of my relatives and friends I will say, “Peace be within you!”

9 For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.

The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. In this passage the psalmist reflected on the refreshing and revitalizing effects of being in Jerusalem . Let’s pray.

This is a pilgrimage psalm, a traveling psalm. It was written to be sung either on the way to Jerusalem or on the way home from Jerusalem . Three times a year pilgrimages were taken from all over Israel to the Holy City . They were instructed to come together for the festivals of Passover, Pentecost and Succoth. I guess it was like my family singing, “Over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house we go” as we made our 18-mile trek through the winding back roads from Findlay to Grandma Vee’s house in Fostoria . When the pilgrims would arrive in Jerusalem, I can imagine them smiling like a children playing hide ‘n’ seek as their hands reach the trunk of that old maple tree. “Base!” What a great place to be.

Base Evokes a Sense of Home in those Who Reach It

Jerusalem was and still is such a special place. It is base to three world religions. Muslims from all over the world go to the Dome of the Rock to experience a base. Jews from all over travel to the Western Wall, all that is left of the 2 nd Temple to touch its stones and sigh, “ Base”. Christians from all over the world venture to the Holy City to walk the Via Dolorosa, the path that Christ took on that fateful Friday. When Christians arrive at the empty tomb they say with delight, “ Base”. We know what the psalmist means, those of us who have been to Jerusalem , there is something special about that place.

But base extends far beyond Jerusalem for the Christian. We do not have to wait for our journey to Jerusalem. We can experience base every week as we gather together for worship. Next Sunday as you arrive here, notice how like pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem, people are arriving from every direction. Much has happened since the last time we assembled. Some joys have been experienced and we have pictures to share. Some sorrows have happened and we have tears to shed and stories to tell. Some boredom has been endured and we are ready for something significant to happen. I hope you were glad when the alarm clock went off this morning and cried out, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” I love how Eugene Peterson paraphrased the first verse of this Psalm in The Message, “When they said, ‘Let’s go to the house of God,’ my heart leaped for joy. And now we’re here, O Jerusalem, inside Jerusalem’s walls!”

Robert Fulghum in his book, All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, tells of sitting in his house watching the neighborhood children play Hide ‘n’ Seek. He wrote:

“As I write this, the neighborhood game goes on, and there’s a kid under a pile of leaves in the yard just under my window. He has been there a long time now, and everyone else is found and they are about to give up on him over at the base. I consider going out to the base and telling them where he is hiding. And I thought about setting the leaves on fire to drive him out. Finally, I just yelled, ‘Get found kid!’ out the window.”

Fulghum confessed to having scared the child claiming that sometimes it’s hard to be helpful, but then he warned his readers, kids and adults, about hiding too well. Are you hiding too well? Have you lost that sense of home that comes with touching base? I have good news today. Base. You are here. Inside the gates of Jerusalem, assembled with tribes from all over that have come together. Look around you and see where base is for you. It is in the Rose window that has brought both awe and comfort through those boring stretches of the sermons? Is it the kneeling rail where you have offered prayers? Is it the altar before which you took your wedding vows or the baptismal font where you were first called a child of God and a member of God’s covenant community? Is it this cup and this bread, that when you touch them let you know that you are home, in God’s house, with God’s spirit, experiencing anew God’s grace? As you taste the sacrament this morning let the confidence of base fill your heart and soul. You are home. You are at base. “Base!” What a great place to be.

Base Elicits an Active Hope in All who Love It.

The psalmist’s reflections on his base caused him to pray for its peace, its prosperity, its security. He recognized that he was not on the road alone, ever. For the sake of his family and friends he hoped for peace. For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, he hoped for peace. But this is not a passive hope. It is not the wishful thinking of a child who blows out the birthday candles, having made his or her wish, but cannot tell anyone what it was or else the wish won’t come true. Biblical hope is certain optimism. Peace, prosperity and security are part of the picture for home, for base. And as we hope for these things we extend ourselves toward their realization. Biblical hope is an active hope – one that works toward its fulfillment. Eugene Peterson paraphrased that last verse of Psalm 122 with these words, “For the sake of the house of our God, God, I’ll do my very best for you.”

I was leaving the church the other day when I saw one of our Christian Believer students cramming for his class in the front seat of his car. I asked him about how he liked the class and he was very positive. He said it had been a great experience and he began talking of the Christian hope. He said; “You know, I have heard it described as the opiate of the masses designed to sedate people into accepting their lot in this life.” He continued, “but I see it as a forming hope that challenges me to work toward its fulfillment.” That thought has stuck with me all week. The psalmist’s hope elicited an action to pray for its peace, to remember the relationships, to revere the place of worship in his life.

Two years ago, my daughter, Chelsea, was writing essays for college admissions. She wrote one that nearly made me cry. In fact, she entitled it “Base”. Allow me to read you a portion of that essay with her permission:

Base is that safe place where children run when playing hide and seek. I have grown up in a home that values time at the table, the hub of our family activity. This is our base, our safe place. Here nurturing, safety, and connection, yearnings of the soul take precedence…

I have sat at many different tables, in many different houses, in many different cities. My surroundings have changed, but the one white candle still sits in the center of our table, a constant reminder of the importance of our base. This gift of base is precious in a world where time to spare is scarce, and time with family is even more rare. I know this gift brings with it the responsibility to contribute to and impact my immediate community. 

“I know this gift brings with it the responsibility to contribute to and impact my immediate community.” I am pleased to say that Chelsea has taken that responsibility seriously as she promotes community in her dormitory and on her campus. I am confident that the psalmist took his responsibility seriously as he worked toward the peace and security of his base. We have responsibility to work toward the hope that we have for our base, our worship community. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone who entered these doors felt the peace, the ease and the security of touching base? Wouldn’t it be ideal for anyone who sat in these pews to feel as though he or she was home and all the comforts of being there surrounded them? Wouldn’t it be great if everyone here, every Sunday felt included in worship? I hope that is the case and I lean toward its fulfillment. Won’t you? “Base!” What a great place to be.

I have found something far more meaningful than that beautiful maple tree on Larkins Street in Findlay, Ohio. I have found a base that evokes much more of that sense of home and elicits a much more active hope. I have found it in this cup and in this bread – in this expression of divine grace that tells me this is the place to be. You are invited to join me here. At this table we recognize that all belong. It is not a United Methodist table, it is the Lord’s Table. All who long for that wonderful sense of base, that glorious taste of grace, are invited to it. “Base!” What a great place to be.

Amen.