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Psalm 70
Proper 27A
The odd and curious words “Aha! Aha!” occur four times in the Hebrew Psalter. Twice in Psalm 35, once in Psalm 40, and then here in Psalm 70. It is a translation of the Hebrew הֶאָח / he-ach and near as anyone can tell, a derisive “Aha!” seems to be a pretty good rendering of…
Psalm 43
Proper 26A
If you rounded up some Old Testament scholars and especially those who are experts on the Book of Psalms, you would likely find consensus among most of those people that Psalms 42 and 43 belong together such that you really cannot look at one without the other. Some might contend this had originally been a…
Psalm 1
Proper 25A
Psalm 1 is such a positional psalm. By that I mean that from start to finish this song is all about where a person is situated and what their posture or position is. We begin with a negative litany of where a blessed person must not be. A blessed person does not walk with sinners,…
Psalm 96:1-9
Proper 24A
In the mid-1970s when I was a boy, our congregation in Ada, Michigan, got a new minister who tended to begin worship services using Psalm 96:7-8 as his Call to Worship. Over and over and more weeks than not I heard Rev. MacLeod say, “Ascribe to the Lord . . .” multiple times. I…
Psalm 23
Proper 23A
All things being equal, I suppose it would be OK if we preachers did not find anything overly new or original to say about what may be the most famous, best-loved psalm of them all. In fact, sometimes our efforts at being innovative can lead us astray even as being overly zealous to share some…
Psalm 80:7-15
Proper 22A
This week the Lectionary is carving out the middle section of Psalm 80 beginning at verse 7 and its call for God to make his face to shine on his people so as to restore them. If we zoom out and look at the entire psalm, then we see that verse 7 is a refrain…
Psalm 25:1-9
Proper 21A
Some years back I was asked to preach at a worship service in a congregation that was celebrating that day the launch of the new church education year as well as the start of the new academic year at a local Christian day school. To tie in with that theme, I eventually found my way…
Psalm 145:1-8
Proper 20A
Recently as I read the first 8 verses of Psalm 145, I found myself oddly enough wondering what is the antecedent for all the “they” references in especially verses 4-7. On the one level it is almost certainly the case that the “they” refers back to the next generation. One generation commends God’s works to…
Psalm 103: (1-7), 8-13
Proper 19A
The first half dozen verses of Psalm 103 are familiar to some of us because a lot of churches use those words as the words of Thanksgiving following a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. At our church, the pastor reads the words and the congregation then echoes them. They are such fitting words following…
Psalm 119:33-40
Proper 18A
A few weeks back, for the last Sunday in July, the RCL took us to a snippet of Psalm 119 (verses 129-136), and now here we are again – but this time verses 33-40. So to review all the basics: Psalm 119 is the longest of all the psalms clocking in at 176 verses. Those…
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