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Psalm 50:1-6
Epiphany 6B
Read just the first six verses of Psalm 50—as the Lectionary would have us do apparently—and it all looks grand. It is a powerful summation of the almighty power of Israel’s God. The imagery is majestic and even fierce. God sallies forth from Mount Zion cloaked in splendor with tempests and fires and bright flashes…
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
Epiphany 5B
Psalm 147 is a favorite of the Revised Common Lectionary. It seems to crop up at least once in each liturgical year and this is now the second time it has occurred in the still-new Year B cycle. This was the psalm—albeit with a slightly different configuration of verses—just one month ago on January 3. …
Psalm 111
Epiphany 4B
Psalm 111 is a shook-up bottle of champagne when the cork flies off: it is effervescent, effusive, and thus it is delightfully over the top in most every way. It’s one of those poems that tempts one to plant tongue firmly in cheek to ask the psalmist, “Don’t hold back: tell us what you really…
Psalm 62:5-12
Epiphany 3B
Just why the Lectionary begins this short psalm in verse 5 is something of a mystery. First of all, the first verse sounds the leitmotif of this brief poem. Secondly, if you don’t see the context of WHY the psalmist needs to find his rest in God alone—because the psalmist is being attacked and ridiculed…
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Epiphany 2B
An acquaintance of mine used to like to end his prayers with a half-witty, half-wry final intercession. If praying at table, his prayers were mostly typical . . . until the conclusion. “Dear Lord, we thank you for this food, for this day, for your goodness to us. Be with us as we fellowship at…
Psalm 147:12-20
Christmas 2B
Two rather striking features to this psalm leap out at you. First, there is the singularly positive, sunny statements about how God has strengthened Jerusalem, given peace within Israel’s borders, and just generally provides a warm and safe environment for God’s people. The second striking feature is the celebration at the end of Psalm 147…
Psalm 148
Christmas 1B
Some years back at a worship service we used St. Francis of Assisi’s poem “Canticle of the Sun” as part of a responsive reading. There was, alas, a slight typo in the bulletin that made it sound at one point as though we were worshiping Mother Earth. This led a rather conservative member of my…
Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26
Advent 4B
Most of what makes Psalm 89 such an interesting poem cannot be seen if you restrict yourself to just the verses that the Lectionary has carved out of the psalm’s full 52 verses. Because this poem that begins in such an upbeat tone and with such a full-throated desire to sing praise to God for…
Psalm 126
Advent 3B
Psalm 126 is such a lyric song that it almost makes you forget that what it celebrates never actually quite happened. The first line is often translated as God’s having “restored the fortunes of Zion” but what it appears more literally to mean is when the Lord “brought back the captives to Zion,” which would…
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