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Psalm 147:12-20
Christmas 2B
Two rather striking features to this psalm leap out at you. First, there is the singularly positive, sunny statements about how God has strengthened Jerusalem, given peace within Israel’s borders, and just generally provides a warm and safe environment for God’s people. The second striking feature is the celebration at the end of Psalm 147…
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Christmas 2B
It takes so long for Christmas to get here. We wait and wait through the long season of Advent for the coming of the Lord. Then in one day we celebrated his coming, and we’re done. No wonder many non-liturgical Christians simply ignore Advent and spend a month celebrating Christmas. Such a miraculous event deserves…
Psalm 148
Christmas 1B
Some years back at a worship service we used St. Francis of Assisi’s poem “Canticle of the Sun” as part of a responsive reading. There was, alas, a slight typo in the bulletin that made it sound at one point as though we were worshiping Mother Earth. This led a rather conservative member of my…
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Christmas 1B
If we can successfully deal with a couple of problems in this Lectionary reading, we can preach a sermon on it that will address a perennial and painful question on this First Sunday after Christmas. The first problem is the same one we stumbled upon two Sundays ago when we focused on Isaiah 61:1-3 and…
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Advent 4B
Most of what makes Psalm 89 such an interesting poem cannot be seen if you restrict yourself to just the verses that the Lectionary has carved out of the psalm’s full 52 verses. Because this poem that begins in such an upbeat tone and with such a full-throated desire to sing praise to God for…
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…
Psalm 126
Advent 3B
Psalm 126 is such a lyric song that it almost makes you forget that what it celebrates never actually quite happened. The first line is often translated as God’s having “restored the fortunes of Zion” but what it appears more literally to mean is when the Lord “brought back the captives to Zion,” which would…
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Advent 3B
What a great text for this Third Sunday of Advent! It is full of Good News, but there is still an air of mystery, a sense of “it’s not Christmas yet.” This poetic description of what God is about to do for his suffering people is among the most lovely and powerful in the Bible. …
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Advent 2B
Maybe the Consultation on Common Texts that puts together the Revised Common Lectionary thinks that Advent is no time to think about God’s anger over sin. Because by carving verses 3-7 out of this lection from Psalm 85, we once again edit the Almighty. It’s OK to start with the first 2 verses and lyric…
Isaiah 40:1-11
Advent 2B
Advent began last week with a lament filled with longing for the coming of God (Isaiah 64). On this Second Sunday of Advent, the mood changes dramatically with the Good News that God is coming soon. That shift of mood parallels the radical shift between Isaiah 39 and Isaiah 40. Even the most casual reader…
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