One thing have I asked of the Lord,
and that alone I seek;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to seek his will in the temple.

Psalm 27: 4-5 (NRSV)

Psalm 27, well worth reading prayerfully in its entirety, is a beautiful psalm, in which the psalmist asserts his or her confidence in the Lord who protects and who is our strength, our “light and our salvation" (v. l). Verses 4-5 quoted above may refer to the physical house of the Lord, however, because God is incarnate in Christ, and all the world is made holy by our Creator, the house of the Lord and God's temple is not only a physical space.

It is wherever we are and to"dwell in the house of the Lord"is therefore to be aware that we are in God's presence, guided by God's light, seeking God's will, at all times. To ask that we"may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of [our lives]'; is to ask for the comfort of the awareness of God's presence and of ourselves in God's holiness.

May we, with the Psalmist, hear our hearts tell of God's word saying, "Seek my face'; and respond as the Psalmist does:"Your face, Lord, will I seek" (v. l 0).

Revd Claudia Coustas
Chaplin