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Psalm 23
Lent 4A
Psalm 23 is hands-down the most famous of the 150 psalms in the Psalter. In terms of recognizability, Psalm 23 is probably right up there with popular ditties like “Roses are red, violets are blue,” with Shakespearean sonnets like “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day,” and well-known song lyrics like “Happy birthday to…
Exodus 17:1-7
Lent 3A
It’s the kind of thing that could become a family inside joke. Perhaps years before, the family had taken a Spring Break trip somewhere. Except that on this particular trip the weather was disastrously bad the whole week. No outdoor activities were possible. Instead the family got stuck inside a hotel room where arguments over…
Psalm 95
Lent 3A
Growing up in a tradition that had once upon a time been founded on Psalm singing only in church, I sang lots of psalms in my boyhood church even long, long after my Reformed tradition had added also hymns to our standard Psalter Hymnal songbook. Even as a young boy, though, I was struck by…
Psalm 121
Lent 2A
For the second week in a row the Year A RCL has assigned a psalm that was also the Year C Psalm lection just a few months ago in October 2022. So with modest modifications, here is a bit of a rerun on my recent thoughts on preaching this well-known—and very lovely—Hebrew poem. When I…
Genesis 12:1-4a
Lent 2A
“Go!” That is God’s first word to Abram. And it sets up what will become a curious dynamic for the people of God forever after. The people of God are a traveling people. Wherever “home” might be for us, it is as often as not something still up ahead of us rather than something we…
Psalm 32
Lent 1A
It was only a few short months ago that the Year C Lectionary assigned most of Psalm 32 as the Psalm Lection. Now here it is again assigned in its entirety for the First Sunday in Lent in the Year A Lectionary. Since I only have just so many insights into Psalm 32—and since some…
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7
Lent 1A
It is one of the more important questions you could ever pose. Perhaps that is also why it is one of the most-asked questions in history: Where does evil come from? As Christians, we perhaps think that surely the answer to this vital inquiry must be somewhere in the Bible. But it’s not there. Everywhere…
Exodus 24:12-18
Epiphany 7A
No one in Exodus 24 gets transfigured in this Old Testament Transfiguration Sunday Lectionary text, but it’s exceedingly easy to see why this text is featured for this particular Sunday. The whole thing is all about mountains and glory and the shining effulgence of God, and if that does not remind you at least a…
Psalm 2
Epiphany 7A
Thanks to Handel’s oratorio Messiah, Psalm 2 often gets associated with Christmas as traditionally it is during Advent that many choirs/orchestras present this well-known piece of music, including the thundering and fiery solo “Thou Shalt Break Them.” Yet here we are on Transfiguration Sunday looking at this very psalm. And if applied to the Messiah…
Psalm 119:1-8
Epiphany 6A
In the world of secular music, I would guess you would be hard pressed to find many songs with titles like “I Just Love Rules!” In fact the website Ranker provided their top list of songs with the word “law” in the title but songs of the variety “I’m Lovin’ the Law” don’t seem to…
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