1How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

3Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. 4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!

Selah

5Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 6As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. 7They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob!

Selah
9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!

10For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. 11For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

12 O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Psalm 84

Christian worship enters into the communion of God via the invitation and righteousness of Jesus Christ. Worship is a response to His grace. However, worship has a history and a future. We do not enter into the worship of God in a historical vacuum. Before the Temple, before the building of buildings, He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He met them in their journeying and in their tents.

When we rise to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, we acknowledge the delight of being with Him in sacred community spaces and the reality of His presence with us through the journey of our lives. This Psalm of the Sons of Korah recognizes both realities.

Sacred space framed by architecture
“How lovely is your dwelling place.”
“My soul longs for the courts of the Lord.”
“Even the sparrow finds a home… at your altars.”
“Better is one day in your courts”

The reality of journey with God
“Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”
“No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
If your worship is space dependent I fear your journey with Jesus will not be transformative. But if your worship of God resonates with a Spirit-fuelled delight in God, then I trust your journey with Jesus will yield transformation wherever you live, work, or play.