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2 Samuel 11:1-15
Proper 12B
A sermon on this text might be entitled, “The Dream Ends, The Nightmare Begins.” This text is the Continental Divide of David’s life and of the history of the monarchy in Israel. Up to this story, everything gets better and better for David, as he climbs (or, more accurately, is lifted by God’s grace) from…
2 Samuel 7:1-14a
Proper 11B
This is arguably the most important text in the books of Samuel, indeed, in what scholars call the Deuteronomistic history from the Pentateuch through Chronicles. So, although I’ve written on it just 7 months ago at the height of Advent, I will attempt to offer some fresh preaching ideas for this Eighth Sunday of Ordinary…
2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19
Proper 10B
There is no question what this text is about—the ark of the covenant. It is mentioned over and over, nine times in all. So is David; his name comes up even more. David brings the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem. That’s what this text is about. But, so what? Why was that so important…
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Proper 9B
This is a little text, but it is the exclamation point of the whole David story. He gets everything God promised him, and then some. The boy whom we first met when he was shepherding his father’s flock becomes the King of Israel, the shepherd of God’s flock. And he establishes Jerusalem as the capital…
2 Samuel 1:1,17-27
Proper 8B
This is a strange and tough text to preach on, until you look at it through the lens of our contemporary situation, particularly in America. One of the hard realities of this past year was “the presence of [our] enemies,” as David put it in his most famous Psalm. Let me put this text in…
Symposium 2021: We Should Be Dancing
W.H. Auden wrote, “I know nothing, except what everyone knows—if there when Grace dances, I should dance.” It’s clear that David knew that good truth, but I’m going to have to disagree with Auden, because not everyone seems to know how important dancing can be. For instance, did you know that up until 1995—1995!—dancing was…
2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Advent 4B
It would be very difficult to pick a more fitting text for this last Sunday of Advent. After focusing with ever growing intensity on the coming of God’s salvation, we are just 5 days away from our celebration of the birth of the long-promised Messiah. This text is “the mother of all Messianic prophecies,” “the…
2 Samuel 23:1-7
Proper 29B
Like other great leaders of Israel before him (Jacob in Genesis 49 and Moses in Deuteronomy 33), David concludes his life with famous last words. Though he undoubtedly spoke other words after this (cf. opening chapters of I Kings), “[t]hese are the last words of David” in an official way, his last pronouncement, his prophetic…
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Proper 14B
In the long story of God’s covenant relationship with his beloved but rebellious child Israel, the story of David and his beloved but rebellious child, Absalom, occupies 6 long and painful chapters. It is one of the most gripping and heart wrenching stories in all of literature. Indeed, it has been the inspiration for some…
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Proper 13B
The world is full of people who seem to get away with murder, and theft, and adultery, and lying, and abuse, and rape. Oh, every once in a while someone gets caught and punished, like the Golden State Killer. But for everyone who gets caught, how many aren’t? It sure seems as though you can…
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