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Psalm 17:1-7, 15
Proper 13A
Psalm 17 deals with the age old problem of oppression and wickedness. It’s a popular topic in many of the ancient Psalms, and it is a constant feature of news reports today. All through history and all over the world, the wicked oppress the innocent. How should the innocent respond? Well, there are two basic,…
Genesis 32:22-31
Proper 13A
God graciously meets and accepts God’s adopted sons and daughters wherever and whoever we are. But God never just leaves us where we are. That’s no less true of God’s 21st century adopted daughters and sons than it is of Jacob. The first time God meets Jacob, he’s fleeing both his homeland and his twin’s…
Psalm 119:129-136
Proper 12A
Given a choice, what busy preacher would preach on this reading from Psalm 119? I mean, it is stanza #17 in an endlessly long, apparently meandering, often boring meditation on a subject that most of your listeners won’t care about at all, namely, the importance and beauty of God’s law. Some brands of Christianity don’t…
Genesis 29:15-28
Proper 12A
Genesis 29 features one of the oddest, often slimiest groups of characters ever assembled outside a North American reality television show studio. Thankfully, then, it’s not oily enough to escape the grasp of God’s strong, gracious hand. In fact, God somehow graciously transforms all of their cheating and resentment into a vehicle for God’s amazing…
Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24
Proper 11A
Psalm 139 is a doctrinal and devotional classic. It bristles with theologically rich ideas and it hums a lullaby of divine care. Oh yes, it also shocks with its infamous ending; “if only you would slay the wicked, O God!” But for all its familiarity, Psalm 139 is hard to describe. Is it a hymn…
Genesis 28:10-19a
Proper 11A
While Christians profess that God is graciously present to everything everywhere, we also have to admit that it’s sometimes hard to recognize that presence. Especially when God’s adopted sons and daughters are busy running from some kind of pursuer. Genesis 28’s Jacob is at least figuratively on the dead run. He has, after all, swindled…
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Proper 10A
In my last church, we used Psalm 65:9-13 as the Old Testament reading for every Thanksgiving Day worship service. Its description of harvest bounty fit the time of year so well, and its ascription of praise to God for that bounty fit the theme of our national Day of Thanksgiving. But this harvest Psalm is…
Genesis 25:19-34
Proper 10A
Sometimes it’s precisely when we assume nothing can go wrong that things, in fact, do go quite wrong. Thankfully, then, God is graciously present in and to such things, always providentially bending them toward God’s good and loving purposes. It certainly seems like nothing can go wrong as the Old Testament text the Lectionary appoints…
Psalm 145:8-14
Proper 9A
Psalm 145 is an exuberant, but hardly extemporaneous Psalm. Indeed, it is a carefully crafted Psalm of praise. The superscription explicitly identifies it as that, using a word for praise found only here in the entire Psalter. We might call it the quintessential Psalm of Praise, for it uses all the traditional language of praise…
Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67
Proper 9A
Sometimes God only seems to keep part of God’s promises. To see their complete fulfillment, we may need to squint pretty hard. Earlier in Genesis, God promised Abraham the land of Canaan, many descendants and a worldwide blessing through him. In their old age, Abraham and Sarah saw God initially fulfill that promise through Isaac’s…
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