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Psalm 98
Proper 28C
On the church’s liturgical calendar, next Sunday is the last Sunday of the church year, on which we finally get to celebrate Christ the King. So, fittingly, the lectionary has us preaching on Psalm 98 this second to the last Sunday of the church year. We can think of it as a prelude to that…
Isaiah 65:17-25
Proper 28C
The “heavens and … earth” that Isaiah 65 describes are clearly “new.” After all, they’re radically unlike the ones we know here and now. In fact, the prophet’s picture of them is so earthly and yet different from what we now experience that it almost makes us weep with longing for what Isaiah’s vision symbolizes….
Psalm 17:1-9
Proper 27C
There are a number of ways to read this Psalm. Clearly, it is a prayer, but what kind of prayer? A cursory reading might dismiss Psalm 17 as the proud prayer of a self-righteous person, an Old Testament version of the Pharisee’s prayer in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18:11,12). One wag said that the Pharisee had…
Haggai 1:15b-2:9
Proper 27C
How can people build a home for God that fully reflects his glory? That’s the question with which Israel wrestles in the Old Testament text the Lectionary appoints for this Sunday. However, it’s also an issue with which modern Christians also struggle, though we know that God no longer lives in buildings, but in human…
Psalm 32:1-7
Proper 26C
Psalm 32 is one of the seven penitential Psalms in the Psalter. Not surprisingly, the Revised Common Lectionary sees it as a perfect fit for the season of Lent. Indeed, I wrote on Psalm 32 just a few months ago for the Fourth Sunday of Lent (cf. the entry for Feb. 29 in the Sermon…
Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4
Proper 26C
As most every Bible commentary would tell you, the way Paul uses Habakkuk 2:4b (“the righteous will live by faith”) in Romans and Galatians may be a bit different from how the text “sounds” and seems to function in Habakkuk 2. Habakkuk has spent most of his prophecy up to this point complaining to God…
Psalm 84:1-7
Proper 25C
For the Jews who composed and sang Psalm 84 (the Sons of Korah according to the superscription), the Temple was the first place you would go to find God. For many modern folks, including some Christians, a church building is the last place you would expect an encounter with God. Psalm 84 is filled with…
Joel 2:23-32
Proper 25C
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider This is the “happy” section of Joel but probably needs to be seen in context. More on that at the end of this sermon commentary. For now we can see a connection to last week’s Old Testament Common Lectionary text from Jeremiah 31, which pointed to the promise of…
Psalm 121
Proper 24C
Walter Brueggemann is a giant in Old Testament studies. Among his many contributions to the field is his famous distinction among Psalms of orientation, Psalms of disorientation, and Psalms of re-orientation. Psalms of orientation are those Psalms in which all is well because the writer is experiencing a “season of well-being that evokes gratitude for…
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Proper 24C
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider I am not sure why the Revised Common Lectionary’s series of passages from Jeremiah skips around the way it does (one week Jeremiah 32 but then next time around it’s back to chapter 29 and now we leap to chapter 31) but I think I can understand why the…
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