Oh how precious and truly good it is…

August 16, 2026

Scripture: Psalm 133: 1-3
Surely there have been many occasions throughout
the course of human history when those who were living
at a particular time were completely awestruck by the
wonder and beauty of creation…there is so much that is
just amazing…as we saw in our ‘Mission Picture Show’
this morning, there truly is an abundance of beauty that
virtually surrounds us all in the bold flowers of mid-
summer and in fresh vegetables ready to grace our dinner
tables, as well as in the sweet joy of laboring alongside
others in pursuit of worthy and necessary goals…truly all
of it can bring us to a place of warmth and peace deep
within. But little can match the beauty of a full-on
rainbow lighting up the late afternoon sky. An occurrence,
that of late, has been quite frequent as we seem to go from
one major thunder storm to another, often with the sun
almost magically appearing shortly thereafter. Truly
rainbows are one of the crowning glories of a Creation
that I have come to believe was meant to bring intense
enjoyment to the human soul.
And in remembering one such rainbow last week that
started somewhere I could not see, then arched up in a
perfect half circle and ended just the same, I realized that

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a simple, yet truly wondrous blessing such as this goes
along very well with today’s words from Psalm 133.
‘Behold how very good and pleasant it is…’ ‘Behold’, a
verb meaning to see or watch, to witness or to
contemplate…a word that is asking something of us…and
in the context of our psalm, a word reminding us that we
are surrounded by something very special that is worth
taking the time to truly look for.
In this portion of Psalm 133 we are asked to reflect
on a very particular type of beauty within Creation…a
beauty and a glory that was first voiced in the opening
account of Creation found in Genesis Chapter 1 and verse
31. After making all that is, the earth and all things upon
it, God looked out over the results of the creative impulse
and reflected on how ‘How very good indeed’ everything
truly was. And in that final reflection at the end of the
sixth day, just prior to the seventh day’s Sabbath rest, a
close reading of God’s final declaration meant, how very
good everything is when it is all in balance, when all is in
right and good relationship…how very good it is when all
of Creation reflects the inherent goodness of the Trinity,
that same relational goodness and harmony which God
intends for all of Creation when all things play their
appointed role and when mutual benefit…is the
underlying quality of life found between all, and in all.
Which brings us back to the words the psalmist offers
for today… ‘Behold how very good and pleasant it is for

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kindred to dwell together in unity’. This then is that
moment of beauty, a very particular ‘rainbow of glory’ I
would like to reflect upon today. The call from our Lord
for us to find a way to dwell together as one people of
faith, to seek and to find our way into the relationship in
which we were first imagined-into-being, a relationship
meant to bring glory to God, as well as balance and ‘deep-
flowing-rivers’ of joy and peace to each one of us. ‘They
will know you are my followers’, Jesus tells us, ‘By the
love you have for one another’, by the love shown
through your lives as people who follow after and reflect
the love of our Lord.
Psalm 133 is part of a collection of psalms that are
called Psalms of Ascent. They were songs and prayers
recited and celebrated while journeying on pilgrimage
towards Jerusalem. They were songs of ‘ascent’ because
Jerusalem was literally up above all the surrounding
territory…the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was literally
a seven-mile climb. And as anyone who has ever traveled
together as a family on an arduous and long journey can
tell you, there are always challenges to unity to be found
there for sure. I wonder if we as Christians, on our own
journey together towards the place of our call might not
also, and even somewhat frequently ask, ‘are we there
yet?’ Walking a road towards greater and deeper unity
will have challenges to be sure…but it is still a blessing
worth pursuing.

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Behold how very good…and pleasant! Both of these
words give us a starting point for consideration. The
origin of the word ‘good’ is actually Old English…it
comes from the word ‘God’ pronounced with a long ‘o’
sound. The dictionary defines ‘good’ as meaning,
‘virtuous or desirable, having the right or desirable
quality’, and interestingly, even including ‘to unite or to
be associated with’…there is that unity thing again.
Behold…how very ‘God’ and pleasant it is for kindred to
dwell together in unity…how very ‘God’…
The word ‘pleasant’ speaks to me as saying how
enjoyable or joy-inducing life together in communion
with God, and with one another can be. How pleasing it is
to dwell within the rainbow of beauty that Christian life
together is meant to be. So, it is both ‘God-like’ as well as
pleasing to our souls when we are able to draw near to
this calling of our psalmist…how amazing it is to dwell
together as brothers and sisters in faith.
True ‘unity’ however is not always an easy concept to
grasp. It is all well and good to speak about how we are
all supposed to be ‘one in Christ’ or how we are all
‘children of one God’…but really coming to grips with
what a call to unity might look like requires a deeper look
and perhaps a deeper commitment as well.
First of all, we have been living for multiple
generations in a social experiment that I would argue has

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largely been much less than it is made out to be. And that
experiment is a thing called the nuclear family…as
opposed to, and different from an extended family where a
home might contain family members from multiple
generations living together. This is far more common in
other parts of the world, and may yield benefits the
smaller nuclear family unit may not be able to. A nuclear
family is also quite far away from the social experience of
our psalmist. By not learning to work through the
multiple complex and challenging relationships often
found within the extended family unit, there can arise a
tendency to become isolated and to act out of self-
centered independent impulses rather than the deeply
interdependent relationships our faith is based on and in
fact calls for.
In other words, I believe the more we live as small
islands unto ourselves, the less we are inclined to reach
out and to share with others outside of our own little
group…and often the more we may fear that any
resources we have will only be sufficient for our own use.
This can easily lead to a sense that one must provide fully
and totally for one's own, rather than remembering that
we are already in a relationship with a God who promised
to provide all the means necessary to fulfil the divine will
and, in fact, to do so abundantly. This barrier to sharing
fully and freely is one of the greatest deceptions we can
fall prey to, for in truth all we have comes from God to

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begin with…in truth, every aspect of Creation that
somehow enriches our lives is a gift of grace…a gift
freely given that we might also freely give as the Spirit
asks of us.
It is also troublesome and quite common to confuse
unity with uniformity…the feeling that in order to be in
unity we must walk, talk, think, and act alike. In fact,
nothing could be further from the truth. We are not
supposed to all subscribe to some single set of rules for
proper thought and behavior, but rather to live within and
celebrate all the wonder and diversity present throughout
Creation. For it is only in diversity that we find the energy
of true creativity and imagination; it is diversity that
makes the multi-colored rainbow so amazing. True ‘unity’
towards which we are called to walk, and to work is best
achieved within the expression of diverse understandings
and points of view. In contrast, uniformity of human
behavior and habit is often forced and artificial when it
asks people to set aside or to silence their own
contributions, surrendering instead to the will of the
louder voice.
Christian unity must reflect and include the way we
work through issues important to our whole community as
well. But again, it is unity we must seek after and not
uniformity. However, as has been hinted at, unity can
also be a messy business. Learning to care for and to
share with others may require us to walk in places we

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have never traveled before, and to do or say things that
are unfamiliar as well. But it can also be joyous and
shockingly beautiful just as well. Much like the rainbow I
spoke of earlier. This God-called for and inspired unity
we are to strive after is critical to our life together and in
truth, to the future of humanity itself. Truly it is the most
precious meeting point between God and us individually,
as well as with the gathering of community.
I truly believe that ‘holy unity’ is the actual outward
expression of the love of God poured more than lavishly
into a willing heart…and like the image of the oil on
Aaron’s beard in our psalm it can be messy when it is
overflowing. Just like the oil of anointing poured over
one’s head and down onto the robes, dwelling together in
Christian unity can be a messy and wondrous blessing.
‘Christian unity’, is also a call to justice, a call to
pursue the same passions that Jesus had…a call to work
together to end oppression and to root out and defeat any
evil as we seek to hasten in the day of our Lord. All that is
needed in the search for Christian unity is a willingness
and a desire to seek a more peaceful and compassionate
life within community.
Unity as a ‘shared purpose of goodness’ is a
commitment to pursue sufficient life opportunities for all
peoples. A call to work for a just and holy life for all
those created in the image of the one God of love…and a

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commitment to embody extended and life-giving love for
all others.
So…it truly is about beautiful rainbows and friends
you can count on. For in the end, real unity is all about
how well we make and keep true friends. For we were
created for each other as well as for the rest of Creation.
We were formed to mirror the divine image of
relationship-in-love. Unity is why we are here…it is our
shared call…and the closer we can come to making Godly
unity the underlying experience of all of our lives, the
more blessed life will be for all of humanity.
If we truly believe what we say about God…if we are
sure that God is love, and loving, then it is our
responsibility to reveal that to others through the living
out of our lives as people of faith. We are called to seek
out ‘common fellowship’…for it is only in community,
only in the action of common fellowship that we can
reveal the true identity of our God.
In closing I would like to share a quote I came across
online referring to this week’s psalm. Written by Lance
D. Watson the quote sums up the need for us to search
diligently for true unity. Watson says, ‘When it was born
in Jerusalem, the church was a fellowship. When it went
to Greece, it became a philosophy. When it went to Rome,
it became an institution. When it went to Europe, it
became a culture. When it went to America it became an

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enterprise…Oh, how the Church needs to return to being
a fellowship again.’
May our every effort make it so, as we revel in the
beauty of every rainbow, and cherish our every true
friend…
…amen