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Amos 7:7-17
Proper 10C
It just doesn’t pay to tell a prophet to shut up. Things tend to get worse. Or at least that is so with a true prophet of God. Hucksters, fakes, charlatans can be intimidated. They will flee when threatened. They will say nicer things for a price. But not so the true prophets of God…
2 Kings 5:1-14
Proper 9C
Martin Luther King, Jr., once preached a sermon on this text from 2 Kings 5, and I’m grateful to Richard Lischer for calling attention to it in a lecture he gave while working on his book The Preacher King. In the classic style of preaching that Dr. King so well embodied, he picked up on…
Psalm 66:1-9
Proper 9C
A bit cheeky. A goodly dose of chutzpah. A tad forward. You have to admire the psalmists who on many occasions are not the least bit adverse to ordering the whole world to praise the God of Israel. Make no mistake: all those “Praise the Lord” lines in so many of the psalms are in…
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14
Proper 8C
There’s no getting around it: this is a very curious story. It’s also a story with some good old-fashioned suspense, a bit of intrigue, and some humor. The writer tips off us readers right from the get-go of verse 1 to say that Elijah was departing via a whirlwind. The way the writer just drops…
Psalm 16
Proper 8C
Psalm 16 presents the words of a person whose life appears to be going swimmingly. Everything is working for this poet. These look to be the words of a winner, of a person who was born sunny-side up as a confirmed optimist. And I suspect we’ve all met people like this. I also suspect that…
1 Kings 19:1-4, (5-7), 8-15a
Proper 7C
In place of a commentary on this passage, we offer an entire sermon on 1 Kings 19:1-18. 1 Kings 19:1-18: Four Pages: The Journey Is Too Much
Psalm 22:19-28
Proper 7C
Ordinary Time is just beginning yet the Lectionary directs us to a sometimes difficult psalm. Yes, we are being asked to consider only the hope-filled, praise-filled conclusion to this poem but it’s not as though we can forget its terrible opening set of verses. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” brings us…
Psalm 8
Trinity Sunday C
The poet of Psalm 8 stared into the night sky and was properly dazzled at what he saw. But to put it mildly, what he did not see was a lot! Had this psalmist been able to spend a scant ten minutes looking through a telescope, he would doubtless have fainted in wonderment. Ancient astronomers…
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Trinity Sunday C
Are the Lectionary folks winking at us a bit with this text selection for Trinity Sunday? Obviously you don’t get any robust Trinitarian texts anywhere in the Old Testament. If it is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit you are looking for—or any combo of a couple of those at least—then Proverbs or Psalms or anywhere…
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Pentecost C
This week, instead of a sermon commentary, I have provided a sample sermon: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b: How Many Are Your Works?: Pentecost C
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