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Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
Proper 22C
So then, What is a Covenant-Keeping God to Do? Elizabeth Achtemeier, in her Interpretation commentary on the book of Habakkuk insists that, while the backdrop of this prophetic book is the disobedience and injustice of God’s people and their subsequent punishment at the hands of an invading Babylonian army, that is not the primary focus…
Jeremiah 32:1-15
Proper 21C
“A Little Book of Consolation” For those who have been tracking in Jeremiah with me through this season of Lectionary readings, be warned! This week’s lectionary text switches from poetry to narrative and left me quite disoriented. How can both the apocalyptic lament and the story of a land purchase both be Jeremiah? Let me…
Psalm 146
Proper 21C
Psalm 146:9 directly names that famous triplet found throughout the Bible but most especially in the Old Testament: the widow, the orphan, and the stranger. If you read God’s Law and the various statutes God put into place for his people Israel (especially in Leviticus but elsewhere as well), you will see again and again…
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Proper 20C
Illustration: The Emperor’s New Clothes is a wonderful parable for explaining the prophet’s task. The prophet is not the only person who knows or notices what is true. The prophet is the one who foregoes pretense and is unafraid to say the quiet part out loud. In the classic children’s story, it is a young…
Psalm 113
Proper 20C
Many of us have been taught that sometimes it is helpful to read passages from the perspective of those who find themselves on the underside of history. This may be especially true of famous pieces of writing that we are perhaps too accustomed to reading from the vantage point of those who tend to come…
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Proper 19C
The Politics of Babylon Jeremiah is coming at God’s people with every attempt he can think of in hopes of stirring them out of complacency. The emotional appeals run the gamut: grief, anger, provocation, reasoning, coaxing. He sees the people jockeying for power, attempting alliances with this super-power and then another. He observes their systemic…
Psalm 51:1-10
Proper 19C
Even allowing for poetic license, it is a little difficult to know what to do with Psalm 51:6. Despite in the previous verse having referenced what we often call the doctrine of Original Sin—we are sinful from the get-go and thus not only after we commit an actual sin—in verse 6 the claim is made…
Jeremiah 18:1-11
Proper 18C
Illustration: One of the most delightful challenges of pastoring is attempting answer kids’ questions about God. They are unfiltered and haven’t yet learned the church rules dictating what one can wonder, ask or assert about who God is and how God works in the world. (Maybe this is what Jesus intended when he wished that…
Psalm 1 2025
Proper 18C
The Hebrew Psalter opens with a beatitude. But unlike Jesus’s well-known Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and Luke 6, Psalm 1’s blessing is not for something a given person is or does. No, this blessing gets pronounced over those who do not engage in certain activities. As beatitudes go, then, this one is rather different. A…
Psalm 112 2025
Proper 17C
Depending on where you are “at” these days, it could well be the case that reading Psalm 112 is a little difficult. Sunny promises tumble over top of one another in these ten short verses. Lyric descriptions of all the good things that come to righteous and good people stack up like cord wood. There…
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