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Psalm 130

Lent 5A

This poem is labeled a “Psalm of Ascent” but it starts as a Psalm of Descent.  It is called De Profundis in older Bibles—the Latin for “from the depths.”   When last this came up for the Lectionary Year A Fifth Sunday in Lent in 2020, the initial COVID lockdown was in its second week.  Some…

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Psalm 130

Proper 5B

This poem is labeled a “Psalm of Ascent” but it starts as a Psalm of Descent.  It is called De Profundis in older Bibles—the Latin for “from the depths.”  It is certainly a curious, perhaps an almost stark, way to begin 2021’s Season of Ordinary Time!  And yet this psalm fits this time, these past…

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Psalm 130

Lent 5A

This poem is labeled a “Psalm of Ascent” but it starts as a Psalm of Descent.  It is called De Profundis in older Bibles—the Latin for “from the depths.”  And that just might make this an appropriate preaching passage for the Fifth Sunday in Lent in the COVID-19 pandemic when many of us will not…

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Psalm 130

Proper 14B

One of the strangest books I’ve ever read is The Trial/Das Urteil by the German author Franz Kafka.  The book’s opening line starkly says, “Someone must have slandered Josef K. because even though he had done nothing bad, one morning he was suddenly arrested.”  The police show up at his apartment before breakfast one day…

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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…

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Psalm 130

Lent 5A

As we continue our Lenten journey up to Mt. Calvary, the Lectionary puts a perfect Psalm before us on this Fifth Sunday of Lent.  We’re getting close to our destination, but here the path takes a severe dip, sort of like a saddle on a mountain just before the summit.  This Song of Ascents takes…

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Psalm 130

Proper 8B

Even the most capable biblical scholars find Psalm 130 hard to categorize.  After all, it beautifully combines a plea for forgiveness with an expression of trust that contains an element of thanksgiving.  However, perhaps it’s precisely that combination of elements that makes it such an eloquent Old Testament expression of the gospel.  Martin Luther called…

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Out of the Depths

Preached at the 2005 Calvin Symposium on Worship

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