The fact that we go on pilgrimage together is important, and has been noted before. It is essential that we don't do this spiritual journey alone, or treat our salvation individualistically. This psalm is the psalm of journeying together.
Yet, even as I write this, I know that "together" has become abused, twisted, warped and bastardized into something it was never intended to be. I read "together" as a circling of the wagons, a call for ideological purity and an inquisition to keep the outsiders out and to find the "secret outsiders." Soon you have your tribes, whether they be denominations (not nearly as prevalent or line-drawing today) or brands (authors, etc.).
Now, the age of social media was supposed to "save" us from tribalism and ideological dictatorship by allowing everyone to have a voice in the great Internet, savior of us all (tongue firmly in cheek). But all that has happened as it has allowed falsehood to spread faster and has given our ideological leaders a ground to voice their opinions and condemnations without the blessing of editorial accountability. Napoleon had his armies, Caesar had his legions, ideologues have their twitter followers. And I am self-aware enough to note that I am writing all of this on a blog of social media. Hypocrisy, maybe? Redemptive, hopefully? Either way, saved, we are not.
Social media is not the problem. Technology is not the issue. Technology only allows us to unleash our worst and best characteristics at blinding speeds. The problem, and the blessing, is that we travel in herds. The problem of herds is that we get way too focused on "in and out." And this kind of thinking saps our joy. When is the last time you had an experience that nourished you like the dew on the mountain, giving you life and purpose?
Today, let's live out this psalm. Let us be compelled by the beauty of unity and renewed in the promise of God's everlasting life. Let us be conduits of grace and agents of reconciliation.
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