¹¹It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

¹³until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Jerusalem Fair, I long to be there,
The Lord is now waiting to welcome me there,
There's rest from our toil,
And life without care,
I long to be there sweet home _{Author unknown}

Reading from Job 29 _{[Abridged from Julia Elliott's Testimony 3rd November 2007]}

Job, like many of us, went through a period of terrible trials despite his faithfulness to God.  Most people haven't experienced anything like the depth of trial Job experienced. We can, however, identify with him and how he once flourished, but then felt that his fortunes had taken a turn very much for the worse. Job didn't mince his words - as far as he was concerned he had become a laughing stock.  This was very confusing to him, bearing in mind he had always tried to honour God and to do what he believed to be God's will.

Fifteen of the psalms (Psalms 120-134) in the Bible are songs of ascents (known as songs of degrees in the King James Version)  It's reputed that they were sang as pilgrims ascended to Jerusalem for pilgrimages to to the three great Jewish feasts _{Deut 16:16}.  As the journey progressed, they sang more of the psalm.