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Mark 8:27-38
Commentary
Proper 19B
Digging into the Text: This is one of those texts that a preacher ought to approach with fear and trembling. It’s like standing at the foot of a mountain one is about to climb, or setting out on a journey fraught with danger and difficulty. We have come here to the center of Mark’s gospel….
Psalm 125
Commentary
Proper 18B
Digging Into the Text: Psalm 125 is one of that small collection in the book of Psalms called “Songs of Ascent” (120-134). Most scholars agree that this is most likely a group of songs or chants used by pilgrims going up (ascent} to Jerusalem for one of the three great pilgrimage feasts– Jerusalem, Mount Zion,…
Mark 7:24-37
Commentary
Proper 18B
Digging Into the Text: The RCL throws another curve ball this week. Last week it was cutting out part of the text; this week it’s piling one story on another. So, the choice is to either preach both, or skip one of them to concentrate on the other. Preaching both might not be the best…
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Commentary
Proper 17B
Digging Into the Text: Once again the RCL takes a longer, complicated text and tries to make it briefer and simpler with some judicious chopping and trimming. Sometimes this move toward simplicity actually makes the preacher’s task more difficult, even as it raises the suspicions of the more knowledgeable members of the congregation. That may…
Psalm 45
Commentary
Proper 17B
Digging into the Text: In reading this Psalm something about the phrase “palaces adorned with ivory” struck a chord in my memory. After some reflection I realized it was a hymn from my childhood entitled “Ivory Palaces.” It could be found in many hymnals from the first half of the 20th century, and was made…
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