Home » Old Testament »
Psalm 43
Proper 26A
My Old Testament professor back when I was a seminary student and the Old Testament colleagues with whom I have taught the Psalms since becoming a member of the seminary faculty would not like the Lectionary’s choice of preaching on Psalm 43 alone. The reason is obvious: it is all-but certain that what we now…
Joshua 3:7-17
Proper 26A
It is not difficult to find the relevance of this first RCL reading for today, particularly in the United States. My country is only two days away from Election Day when Americans cast their ballots and thus express their opinion on who ought to lead our country. For Christians, that means trying to discern which…
Psalm 1
Proper 25A
For a long time I never knew or recognized the fact that the Hebrew Psalter was a thoughtfully edited collection of 150 songs and poems. I am not sure if I ever actually thought this collection was random or haphazard but it did not occur to me that someone put each psalm where it appears…
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Proper 25A
How fitting it is that the life of Moses should end as it does! The man who spent all those days up on Mt. Sinai speaking to God face to face comes to the end of his days on Mt. Nebo speaking face to face with God. And the God who miraculously saved Moses at…
Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13)
Proper 24A
“A scribe to the Lord . . .” At least that is what I heard my minister say when I was a young boy attending a church in Ada, Michigan. Rev. Angus MacLeod began more morning worship services than not with that portion of Psalm 96 that repeats the call to “ascribe” to the Lord…
Exodus 33:12-23
Proper 24A
Stories like this are nearly unbelievable for your average church goer and literally unbelievable for your average neighbor, because God doesn’t talk this way to us today, “face to face as a man speaks with his friend (33:11).” Very few of us ever hear God’s voice over a lifetime of faith. That’s why several years…
Psalm 23
Proper 23A
This is now at least the third time Psalm 23 has popped up in the Year A Lectionary and across also calendar 2020. The first time was during Lent and the second time a couple weeks after Easter. The first time was before we knew the world was going to get turned upside-down due to…
Exodus 32:1-14
Proper 23A
In this text, Paradise has almost been regained. Oh, yes, Israel is in a dry desert, not a lush garden. But so much of what had been wrong has been put right. Israel has been released from the house of bondage. Their covenant Lord is leading them to the land of milk and honey, providing…
Psalm 80:7-15
Proper 22A
“The Lord make his face to shine upon you . . .” That’s a line from the great Aaronic Benediction originally given to Israel in Numbers 6 and it is a line with which many Christians are exceedingly familiar on account of having heard it at the end of a church service so many times. …
Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Proper 22A
What a massive text for one sermon! I’ve preached ten-part series on these verses, spending much time on each word of the successive commandments. No wonder the RCL tried to help us by leaving out the crucial theological material connected to the second and fourth commandments, which is unfortunate given how important those verses are….
Content related to Old Testament