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Psalm 34:9-14
Proper 15B
It is not at all clear to me precisely the thinking behind dedicating three August Sundays to a single psalm. Preachers are challenged enough this month on the Gospel side of things with five weeks’ worth of sermons from John 6, all pretty much on the same theme. But now we are getting a triplet…
1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14
Proper 15B
My wife tells me I think too much about The Godfather, and if you have been paying weekly attention to these sermon commentaries of late, then you know this is indeed the second time in as many weeks that I have mentioned Francis Ford Coppola’s landmark 1974 film. But really, even more than last week’s…
Psalm 34:1-8
Proper 14B
These days I am contributing two sermon commentaries a week here on the CEP website: the Old Testament reading and the Psalm. This week I worked on the Old Testament passage first: the tragic story of the unraveling of David’s household through the rebellion and later the heartbreaking death of David’s son Absalom. So having…
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Proper 14B
I have this theory that although the actors who win the Academy Award earn the award for the entirety of their performances in the movies in question, there is often (maybe always) one key moment in those films that really cinches things. So in Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks is impressive throughout but it’s that moment…
Psalm 78:23-29
Proper 13B
Suppose you heard a story that went something like this: And so that evening the father of these four children decided that he would respond to their hunger and their requests for something yummy to eat by going to Burger King. When the father returned home, he had all their favorites: milkshakes, loads of crispy…
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Proper 13B
But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord. Talk about dramatic understatement! The presence of the Lord had been absent throughout the whole chapter of 2 Samuel 11 until the very end. But that’s only on the surface. Most everything David did here was “while no one else was looking,” but we know…
Psalm 145:10-18
Proper 12B
The Lectionary likes Psalm 145 but chops it up a little differently each time. That’s a shame since the psalm is meant to be read as a single unit and presents a unified theme too. Probably for this particular Sunday the RCL chose this part of Psalm 145 because of the verse about God’s giving…
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…
Psalm 23
Proper 11B
There are a few psalms that pop up in the Revised Common Lectionary with some frequency. The Lectionary likes Psalm 29 and Psalm 89, for instance. Psalms 118 and 148 are often assigned, too. But few come up quite as often—and often in pretty close chronological proximity as well—as Psalm 23. Once this sermon commentary…
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…
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