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Psalm 54
Proper 20B
In TV shows and movies—often as part of a comedic scene but sometimes in a more serious vein too—we have all seen the musical and visual effect that signals someone is having a flashback of a memory or is getting ready to recount something from his or her past. As you can see in the…
Proverbs 31:10-31
Proper 20B
What are we to make of this conclusion to Proverbs? In the past some women saw it as a kind of blueprint for life and so were honored if they could be seen as fitting this profile of the “wife of noble character.” Not surprisingly, more recent times have witnessed other reactions. Some now more-or-less…
Psalm 116:1-9
Proper 19B
For many of us, we cannot read the opening verses of Psalm 116 without thinking of the lovely song based on it that has become popular in recent years. What the song gets right is the lyric words of the first two verses because the psalmist swiftly moves from the grateful observation that God heard…
Proverbs 1:20-33
Proper 19B
In Plato’s dialogue Phaedrus Socrates tells an ancient Egyptian legend about a king named Thamus and a god named Theuth. Theuth, it seems, was an inventor of great tools and new technologies. One day he showed King Thamus a vast array of his inventions, climaxing with his most recent innovation: writing. The inventor proudly told…
Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Proper 18B
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” “The early bird catches the worm.” “A penny saved is a penny earned.” “God helps those who help themselves.” Sound familiar? They should as these are among the better known modern-day proverbs that have a lot of currency throughout North America. I am not familiar enough…
Psalm 15
Proper 17B
Well, I guess you had best count me out. At least in terms of dwelling in God’s “sacred tent.” Because if the list of entry requirements in Psalm 15 are accurate, rare would be the day I could check every box. I might be able to check certain boxes on certain days and different ones…
Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Proper 17B
Are the people who put together the Common Lectionary winking at us this week? The Lectionary across its three-year cycle contains exactly ONE text from the Song of Songs (or the Song of Solomon) and this is it. But it occurs on the same Year B Sunday when the Gospel lection is from Mark 7…
Psalm 34:15-22
Proper 16B
Welcome to Week 3 of Psalm 34. As noted before, the Lectionary for some reason devotes three consecutive Sundays to this relatively short psalm. What’s more, in the original Hebrew this is an acrostic poem, meaning it is meant to be memorized and seen as a unity. But despite via the Lectionary we have considered…
1 Kings 8:(1-6, 10-11), 22-30, 41-43
Proper 16B
The last few verses of this lection strike me as much as anything. So much of the Old Testament is all-Israel all-the-time. There is warfare and defeat of other nations, dark warnings about inter-marriage with Canaanites, the threat of foreign religious practices wheedling their way into the faith of Israel. It’s easy at times to…
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