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2 Samuel 6:1-5; 12b-19
Proper 10B
2 Samuel 6 contains enough action and vivid images to fill a whole Netflix series. It, after all, features a mysterious box, stumbling oxen and impetuous priest. Our text also gives us a dancing king, livid queen and one great big party. David has spent many years running from Saul. However, as 2 Samuel 6…
Psalm 48
Proper 9B
Psalm 48 is one of the several Songs of Zion scattered throughout the Psalter (Psalms 46, 76, 84, 87, 122). They sing the praise of the great capital city of Israel, because God has blessed her beyond imagination. This combination of patriotism and religion makes Psalm 48 a perfect Psalm for this first Sunday after…
2 Samuel 5:1-10
Proper 9B
When North Americans think of politics, even some Christians sometimes think only of endless campaigns and slick advertising. We sometimes relegate talk about God’s involvement in politics to the conversations of people we think of as religious zealots. At least some Christians are especially reluctant to talk about God’s role in putting people into political…
Psalm 130
Proper 8B
Psalm 130 is famous for its opening words, “out of the depths,” from which came the name by which this Psalm has been known for centuries, “De Profundis.” It is one of the Psalms of Ascent that Jewish pilgrims allegedly sang as they made their way up to the Temple for one of their annual…
2 Samuel 1:1,17-27
Proper 8B
This may, at first glance, seem like a rather odd passage to proclaim in the twenty-first century. The entirety of 2 Samuel 1, after all, mentions the Lord only twice. What’s more, David’s eulogy never mentions God. So if this were the only or last message I was ever going to proclaim, I wouldn’t choose…
Psalm 9:9-20
Proper 7B
In the Greek version of the Old Testament, Psalm 9 is treated as one Psalm with Psalm 10. There are multiple textual evidences for the validity of that connection, not the least of which is the fact that together they form an acrostic, an alphabet Psalm, in which each successive verse begins with the next…
1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23) 32-49
Proper 7B
North American television might eat up 1 Samuel 17’s story. It, after all, bristles with the kind of military might and imagery that networks like the CBC and Fox News make their living on. They love to do close-ups on war’s most powerful human figures that are soldiers of one shape or another. Even 1…
Psalm 20
Proper 6B
In these politically charged times, it is interesting (or ironic, or fortuitous, or providential) that the Lectionary would give us two Royal Psalms in a row. Last week in Psalm 138 we had a Psalm that spoke truth to power. This week in Psalm 20 we have a Psalm that prays for the one in…
1 Samuel 15:34-16:13
Proper 6B
There’s almost always more going on than meets the eye. Whether it’s at a cosmic or molecular level, we just can’t always see what’s really going on. So, for example, the 1973 Watergate break-in initially looked like little more than a clumsy effort at burglary. It turned, however, out to be part of President Nixon…
Psalm 138
Proper 5B
While some scholars call this an individual Psalm of thanksgiving, I think there is enough evidence to label it a royal Psalm of praise. For one thing, it is “of David,” the first of 8 Psalms attributed to David. While that doesn’t definitively prove that David wrote it, the central section (verses 4-5) is addressed…
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