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Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Pentecost B
You have to look pretty close to figure out what brings the latter portion of Psalm 104 to the fore on Pentecost Sunday. But then you read verse 30 and perhaps you are reading a translation that capitalizes the word “Spirit” there, and then you connect the Lectionary dots. That capital “S” signals that the…
Psalm 47
Easter 7B
Sample sermon: How We See Things [Since Ascension Day is May 13 and the Sunday after it can also be Ascension Sunday, I am posting a sample Ascension Day sermon based on the Lectionary’s Ascension Day psalm text of Psalm 47.] One of the most mind-boggling spectacles I’ve ever seen is a short science movie…
Psalm 98
Easter 6B
Reading Psalm 98 is like uncorking a well shook-up bottle of champagne. The cork rockets upward and the bubbly inside the bottle fountains forth in exuberance. We’ve all seen those locker rooms after a team wins the World Series or the Super Bowl when players spray each other with such bottles—some years ago someone finally…
Psalm 22:25-31
Easter 5B
Let’s try a little thought experiment: imagine running across a long-ish narrative poem that began with something like, “The one I love torments me day and night, insults me in private and in public. She has made me out to be a villain, and I rue the day I ever met her at times. Who…
Psalm 23
Easter 4B
Psalm 23 is hands down the most famous poem in the Hebrew Psalter. People seem to read their own lives and experiences into this lyric little song. That is quite amazing given how foreign most of the imagery is. Have you ever met a shepherd? Spent any time with sheep? Has your head ever been…
Psalm 4
Easter 3B
It is easier so see in some Psalms more than others but many of the Psalms were written for two or sometimes three voices. Psalm 4 is clearly to be understood as having two speakers (at least two): the psalmist and Yahweh, the God of Israel. It’s pretty obvious that the psalmist is speaking in…
Psalm 133
Easter 2B
Would it be sacrilegious if we added a couple words to the first verse of Psalm 133? “How good and pleasant (and rare) it is when God’s people live together in unity.” Maybe I have been a pastor too long or maybe it’s being 13 months on the other side of the start of a…
Psalm 114
Easter Day B
[Note: The Year B Lectionary assigned Psalm 118 for both Passion Sunday and Easter. I chose to post on that for Passion/Palm Sunday last week and the Easter evening Psalm for this week. If you want to see last week’s post on Psalm 118, click here.] Psalm 114 is a curious choice for Easter Evening…
Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29
Lent 6B
You wouldn’t know it to look at it. Yet it’s true: a portion of Psalm 118—specifically verses 22-23—is the single most-oft quoted Old Testament text in the New Testament. Not Psalm 23. Not Psalm 100. Not some well-known story like Abraham sacrificing Isaac or David and Goliath. Nope. It’s little old Psalm 118. That has…
Psalm 51:1-12
Lent 5B
This semester I am a co-instructor in Calvin seminary’s Psalms & Wisdom Literature course. Last week I did a class session on tips for preaching the Psalms. One warning I always give—based on past experience with student sermons that went off the rails—is never to preach the superscriptions. Whether it is simply the common superscription…
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