How Beloved

A UCC Daily Devotional Talitha Arnold

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself. - Psalm 84:1, 3a (NRSV)

 

For the ancient Hebrews, God’s dwelling place—mishkan—meant the great marble and gold Jerusalem temple. For the Pueblo peoples of the southwestern United States, the sacred dwelling place is an adobe and stone kiva, sometimes below ground, sometimes above it. For the Diné/Navajo, it’s the hogan, the family home built with logs and mud.

 

Psalm 84 also affirmed a humble house for the Divine. Mishkanmaterials were not only marble and gold, but also the twigs and mud of a swallow’s nest. Like the Pueblo and Diné, the psalmist knew that even ordinary dirt and wood were holy in the Creator’s sight. 

 

In likening God’s temple to a bird’s nest, the psalmist underscored the sacredness of all creation, just as many Indigenous traditions do. The Diné Night Chant, for example, includes an affirmation that the family hogan is made not only with mud and wood, but all the holy elements of creation:  

 

House made of dawn, House made of evening light, 

House made of rain, House made of dark mist, 

Great God of the earth, I make my offering to you. 

 

And like many Indigenous prayers, Psalm 84 described the right relationship with God’s dwelling place. “How lovely is your dwelling place” also translates as “How beloved is your dwelling place.” God’s house—be it a temple, kiva, hogan, or all creation—is beloved, a place we love and care for so that, in the words of a Tewa prayer, “we might live fittingly on this earth.” 

  

Prayer

Holy One, thank you for teaching us how to love all your dwelling places. Amen.