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Psalm 148
Christmas 1C
We have but one Sunday after Christmas this year as Epiphany proper is already next week on January 6. So the Lectionary decided to let loose with all the post-Christmas praise it could muster by choosing Psalm 148. Talk about relentless! This Psalm is one long string of the imperative hallelu yah or “Praise Yahweh,”…
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Christmas 1C
You will be quickly forgiven if, upon first reading, you decide not to preach on this little snippet of Scripture. How can you build a helpful Gospel centered sermon on this gerrymandered bit of fluff? Why in the world would the RCL land here for this first Sunday after Christmas? I mean, the first Sunday…
Psalm 80:1-7
Advent 4C
If you are going to choose a Psalm of Lament for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, you may as well include the most Adventy and hopeful part of the Psalm! But the RCL did not do that, choosing to break off the reading of Psalm 80 already at verse 7. Had they gone on to…
Micah 5:2-5a
Advent 4C
This is the quintessential Advent text, because it was so clearly fulfilled in the birth of Christ. In Matthew 2: 5, the chief priests and teachers of the law answer Herod’s frantic question about the birthplace of the long promised King of the Jews. “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the…
Isaiah 12:2-6
Advent 3C
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Note: During Advent the Lectionary occasionally appoints other readings in place of a Psalm. More than we realize, the Bible is a trove of images, similes, metaphors, and visual depictions. Throughout Scripture God describes himself through a battery of metaphors that inevitably lead you to form a picture in…
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Advent 3C
As I read Zephaniah, the memory of a bumper sticker came back to me. It said, “Jesus is coming soon, and is he ever ticked!” (It actually used a more vulgar term that gave the sticker more punch, but you get the point.) That is exactly the mood of most of Zephaniah. Indeed, if our…
Malachi 3:1-4
Advent 2C
A number of years ago I preached a series of sermons on the Minor Prophets entitled “The Gospel in a Minor Key.” Obviously, that was a play on words, but it also reflected the fact that these unusual little prophetic books proclaim the Good News in unexpected, dissonant, almost off-key ways. Our text for this…
Psalm 25:1-10
Advent 1C
When I read Psalm 25, I find myself drawn to its utter realism. If you enter into the rhythms and patterns of these verses, what you will find is probably something akin to your own life. If you are like most people, including most Christian people, then the pattern of your piety is probably something…
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Advent 1C
Advent begins this year in burned out cities littered with dead bodies and in a devastated countryside where the deer and the antelope do not play (Jeremiah 33:4-5 and 10). After centuries of divine patience with Israel’s blatant covenant breaking, God has finally had it. This dark book of Jeremiah is God’s word of judgment…
Psalm 132:1-18
Proper 29B
Digging into the Text: Psalm 132 is the longest of the Psalms of Ascent, and bears little resemblance the the themes and forms of the other Psalms in this collection. Many scholars think the Psalms of Ascent were used by Israel especially for the pilgrimage feasts (Passover and Pentecost) for which large numbers of pilgrims…
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