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Psalm 1 2025
Proper 18C
The Hebrew Psalter opens with a beatitude. But unlike Jesus’s well-known Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and Luke 6, Psalm 1’s blessing is not for something a given person is or does. No, this blessing gets pronounced over those who do not engage in certain activities. As beatitudes go, then, this one is rather different. A…
Psalm 112 2025
Proper 17C
Depending on where you are “at” these days, it could well be the case that reading Psalm 112 is a little difficult. Sunny promises tumble over top of one another in these ten short verses. Lyric descriptions of all the good things that come to righteous and good people stack up like cord wood. There…
Psalm 103:1-8 2025
Proper 16C
As lyric psalms go, it is tough to beat Psalm 103. The RCL is having us look at only the first eight of the psalm’s twenty-two verses but we know this poem stays on high notes of beauty and praise throughout. In a couple of the congregations to which I have belonged the pastors used…
Psalm 82
Proper 15C
Some translations of Psalm 82, including the New International Version I typically look at, put scare quotes around the three instances of the word “gods” in this short psalm. Sometimes such scare quotes get called air quotes if invoked by a preacher or other public speaker. If you say, “Well, according to certain ‘experts’ ….
Psalm 33:12-22
Proper 14C
When I was somewhere around the age of 9 years old and my brother was 5 years old, my Dad bought us a Shetland-Welsh Pony. We had moved out to the country the year before and so had our own barn and fenced-in pasture. I had said I was interested in having a horse or…
Psalm 49:1-12
Proper 13C
There are a number of psalms in the Hebrew Psalter that stray a bit into the biblical genre of Wisdom Literature. And a couple of those psalms in particular work the same Wisdom territory you can find in the Book of Ecclesiastes. Psalm 39 most closely resembles Qoheleth right down to that most-oft used word…
Psalm 138
Proper 12C
The 138th psalm covers a lot of ground. It also reflects both high aspirations and hopes and also notes of utter realism from the hardscrabble reality of life in a broken world. On the one hand we encounter here the opening sentiments of full-throated, full-hearted praise of Israel’s wonderful and faithful and gracious God. God…
Psalm 15
Proper 11C
It’s quite the list. Is blameless (so commits no sin presumably) Does what is righteous Speaks the truth and so never lies Never slanders a neighbor or utters any kind of slur against anyone Despises the vile but honors the good Keeps promises no matter what it costs Gives interest-free money to the poor and…
Psalm 25:1-10
Proper 10C
Some years back I was a guest preacher at a local church and they told me that the service for that Sunday was going to be focused on education. They were celebrating that spring’s graduates in the congregation as well as noting the importance of running Christian day schools as in my Reformed tradition we…
Psalm 66:1-9
Proper 9C
To read Psalm 66 while bombs are dropping in Israel, Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, and maybe other places is an odd, disconcerting experience. “All the earth bows to you, they sing the praises of your name.” Really? “His eyes watch the nations, let not the rebellious rise up against him.” Is God just watching, just observing? …
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