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Psalm 123
Proper 28A
Psalm 123 is the fourth of the Songs of Ascent (Psalms 120-134) and the first that is a prayer. Most scholars think that Israelite pilgrims from all over the Promised Land (and perhaps beyond, if this is an early post-Exilic Psalm) sang these words as they journeyed up to Jerusalem and maybe even as they…
Judges 4:1-7
Proper 28A
You’d probably have to thumb through a lot of children’s Bible story books before you’d find a retelling of Judges 4. It’s, after all, very resistant to the kind of moralizing such books sometimes like to do. In fact, even adult readers may have to dig pretty deeply to find anything edifying in this text….
Psalm 70
Proper 27A
Psalm 70 is the alternate Lectionary reading from the Psalter for today. I’ve chosen it because I wrote on the regular reading, Psalm 78, barely a month ago. And it turns out that there’s a lot to ponder and perhaps preach in this apparently simple little Psalm. It is given scant attention in many commentaries…
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Proper 27A
What’s the Church’s most important task? Some people might answer, “Sharing the gospel’s good news with the whole world,” or “Teaching children to follow Jesus.” Others answer, “Being God’s hands of justice and mercy in the world” or “Being a welcoming place.” Each of those is certainly among the church’s important tasks. But were you…
Psalm 107:1-7, 33-37
Proper 26A
Though it is the first Psalm in Book V of the Psalter, Psalm 107 seems to be a continuation of the historical Psalms that ended Book IV, the end of a trilogy that includes Psalm 105 and 106. All these Psalms sing the praises of the God who acts in history for his people. Psalm…
Joshua 3:7-17
Proper 26A
Joshua 3 always feels, at best, somewhat anti-climactic. After all, you might argue the Bible’s first five chapters have all been pointing toward the Jordan crossing it describes. Patriarchs like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have given their lives to God’s promise to make this happen. The people of Israel have been heading (but sometimes meandering)…
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
Proper 25A
Psalm 90 is a classic text for funerals, for ecclesiastical observances of New Year’s Eve, and for any other time we mark the passing of time and lament our tenuous place in it. So it is a fitting choice for this last Sunday of October just a month away from the end of Ordinary Time….
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Proper 25A
Few of us can read Deuteronomy 34 without getting at least a lump in our throat and tear in our eye. After all, Moses has dragged the Israelites, often kicking and screaming, out of Egypt, through the wilderness and to the doorstep of Canaan. Yet this Sunday’s Old Testament text reports that he never gets…
Psalm 99
Proper 24A
Psalm 99 is the last of the Enthronement Psalms that proclaim that Yahweh reigns not only over little Israel, but also over the entire world. It is a particularly exquisite declaration of Yahweh’s reign because of its symbolic use of numbers, notably the numbers seven and three. The former is the number of perfection throughout…
Exodus 33:12-23
Proper 24A
Have you ever been so eager for something that you’d put your life on the line for it? You may not think so. Yet Moses did. Sometimes he’s close to God, sure of God, “filled to the brim,” as Neal Plantinga writes, with God. At other times, however, Moses feels uncertain, misled and spiritually “dried…
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