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Psalm 119:9-16
Lent 5B
The Revised Common Lectionary has two suggestions from the Psalter for this Fifth Sunday of Lent—Psalm 51:1-12 and Psalm 119:9-16. Psalm 51 is, of course, the quintessential Lenten Psalm, full of guilt and contrition because a terrible sin has been committed by a man who was sinful from birth. Psalm 119 is all about how…
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22
Lent 4B
Psalm 107 was originally a liturgy of thanksgiving offered at one of Israel’s great festivals, as evidenced by the opening call to give thanks and the repeated refrain, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.” The theme of this thanksgiving is the often-repeated word, hesed,…
Psalm 19
Lent 3B
As I begin this piece, I am thinking about Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Underground Railroad, which follows two escaped slaves, Caesar and Cora, as they journey on a literal underground railroad to the north and freedom. On this Third Sunday of Lent we are a little less than half way on our journey…
Psalm 22:23-31
Lent 2B
Psalm 22 is the quintessential Lenten Psalm. Most obviously, Jesus quoted verse 1 on the cross and many scholars think that he quoted the rest of the Psalm throughout that dark time of God-forsakenness. Certainly, the Psalm has lines that perfectly fit other moments of his crucifixion. And the first Christians used this Psalm more…
Psalm 25:1-10
Lent 1B
Psalm 25 is widely considered to be an ugly duckling among the Psalms. At first (and second and third) reading, it seems to lack cohesion and logical progression. But like the proverbial ugly duckling, there’s something beautiful here waiting to be discovered. It begins when one reads the Hebrew text and discovers that we have…
Psalm 50:1-6
Epiphany 6B
At first glance Psalm 50 seems an odd choice for the celebration of Christ’s Transfiguration. This last Sunday of the Epiphany season should be filled with talk of Christ’s glory finally revealed to his followers, as in the Gospel reading for today from Mark 9. The reading from the Epistles sings about the “glory of…
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c
Epiphany 5B
Psalm 147 is the second Psalm in the so-called Hallelujah chorus that ends the book of Psalms. It is part of the final triumphant response of God’s people to their difficult experience with God in a hostile world. Gone now are all the “why’s” and “how long’s,” the threats of enemies and the crises of…
Psalm 111
Epiphany 4B
Psalm 111 is the first of several Hallel Psalms, so named because they begin with the Hebrew words, Hallel (praise) and Yah (a shortened version of Yahweh). Again and again, God’s people are called to praise their covenant making and keeping God. But there are times in life when the Hallel’s get stuck in your…
Psalm 62:5-12
Epiphany 3B
Psalm 62 is a Psalm of trust with a healthy dose of instruction mixed in. It is tailor-made for troubled times in which the clamor and agitation, grasping materialism and sheer meanness of society threaten the person who is trying to live a God focused life. In other words, Psalm 62 is for times like…
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
Epiphany 2B
A little more than half a year ago (July 17, 2017), I wrote a sermon commentary on the first and last parts of Psalm 139 on this Center for Excellence in Preaching website. Since I spilled a lot ink on the entire Psalm there, I’ll merely highlight some of those comments here and add a…
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