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Psalm 86:11-17
Proper 11A
In one of her novels Anne Tyler shows a woman named Maggie attending a funeral. In the course of the service the pastor reads a psalm, and Maggie found it to be a lovely poem full of warmth and hope. This was a relief to her since ordinarily she thought of the psalms as often…
Psalm 65:(1-8), 9-13
Proper 10A
As I write this in July 2023, it feels at times like the world is on fire. Canada certainly has been on fire for a good bit in 2023. Canadian wildfires burning thousands of miles away have been blanketing with smoke cities as far away as Washington D.C. and also in the Midwest, giving us…
Psalm 145:8-14
Proper 9A
The Lectionary carves out for us the middle third of this psalm and so although there are multiple (albeit overall related) themes in this poem, we will focus on verse 8 and how it sets the tone for the verses before us. “The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” …
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Proper 8A
Across its 52 verses, Psalm 89 covers a lot of ground. You would not sense that from the mere 8 verses the Lectionary has carved out for this lection but if you range beyond those verses, you will see a lot going on. There is praise and thanksgiving. There is a nod to the more…
Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18
Proper 7A
The Revised Common Lectionary is usually a straightforward affair when it comes to selected texts. But with semi-regularity you get a text chopped up the way Psalm 69 is divided in this lection. First we jump onto the already moving train only at verse 7, then we grab 4 verses, put 5 more in parentheses…
Psalm 100
Proper 6A
It will never happen of course but sometimes one could wish that for certain absolutely key vocabulary words in Hebrew or Greek, all Bible translations in English (or in any language) could agree on one translation of that word that would get used consistently every time it occurs. That way readers of the translation would…
Psalm 50:7-15
Proper 5A
In an episode of the original Star Trek series titled “The Apple,” the crew of the USS Enterprise visits a planet that is ruled by a god by the name of Vaal. One inhabitant of this planet named Akuta has what looks like a small antenna attached to his neck and it is through this…
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Pentecost
The singer Sting says he’ll be watching “every breath you take.” The pop group Berlin gave the original Top Gun movie its romantic lead theme music with its song “Take My Breath Away.” Taylor Swift has a whole album titled “Breathe” and its lead song says that after her love went away, she just cannot…
Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
Easter 7A
In a classic scene of the old TV sitcom M*A*S*H Hawkeye Pierce decides to play a trick on his nettlesome bunkmate Frank Burns. Lately Frank had been bragging about how his stock market portfolio had been getting richer. But it is clear—to the consternation of the more pacifist Pierce—that the reason is that Burns is…
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