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Psalm 90:12-17
Proper 23B
The middle section of Psalm 90 – omitted by this week’s lection in the RCL – deals with the wrath of God, and that is probably why the Lectionary averts its eyes from that part on every occasion when Psalm 90 pops up in the Lectionary. Yet it is a key part of what is…
Psalm 8
Proper 22B
Comments, Observations, and Questions The Lectionary usually reserves Psalm 8 for Trinity Sunday as it is assigned for that day in both Year A and Year C of the RCL. Oddly, it is not a cinch to see how Psalm 8 fits a Trinitarian theme but since in Year B we are getting this psalm…
Psalm 19:7-14
Proper 21B
Admittedly Psalm 19 all-but begs to get split into two parts. That does not mean, however, that the Lectionary was correct to cave into doing just that. Whoever wrote this poem saw unity in it even if the rest of us ever since have had to work a bit to connect the first 6 verses…
Psalm 54
Proper 20B
In TV shows and movies—often as part of a comedic scene but sometimes in a more serious vein too—we have all seen the musical and visual effect that signals someone is having a flashback of a memory or is getting ready to recount something from his or her past. As you can see in the…
Psalm 116:1-9
Proper 19B
For many of us, we cannot read the opening verses of Psalm 116 without thinking of the lovely song based on it that has become popular in recent years. What the song gets right is the lyric words of the first two verses because the psalmist swiftly moves from the grateful observation that God heard…
Psalm 15
Proper 17B
Well, I guess you had best count me out. At least in terms of dwelling in God’s “sacred tent.” Because if the list of entry requirements in Psalm 15 are accurate, rare would be the day I could check every box. I might be able to check certain boxes on certain days and different ones…
Psalm 34:15-22
Proper 16B
Welcome to Week 3 of Psalm 34. As noted before, the Lectionary for some reason devotes three consecutive Sundays to this relatively short psalm. What’s more, in the original Hebrew this is an acrostic poem, meaning it is meant to be memorized and seen as a unity. But despite via the Lectionary we have considered…
Psalm 34:9-14
Proper 15B
It is not at all clear to me precisely the thinking behind dedicating three August Sundays to a single psalm. Preachers are challenged enough this month on the Gospel side of things with five weeks’ worth of sermons from John 6, all pretty much on the same theme. But now we are getting a triplet…
Psalm 34:1-8
Proper 14B
These days I am contributing two sermon commentaries a week here on the CEP website: the Old Testament reading and the Psalm. This week I worked on the Old Testament passage first: the tragic story of the unraveling of David’s household through the rebellion and later the heartbreaking death of David’s son Absalom. So having…
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