Home » Old Testament » Psalms »
Psalm 148
1st Sunday after Christmas C
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider This is a stirring call to praise that’s strikingly reminiscent of Francis of Assisi’s beautiful hymn, “All Creatures of our God and King.” It’s an invitation to “all creatures of our God and King” to lift up their “voices and with us sing, alleluia, alleluia.” In fact, Psalm 148…
Psalm 25:1-10
Advent 1C
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider How in the world can we preach or teach a Psalm on a Sunday when most of our listeners are already thinking about and mostly interested in getting ready for Christmas? If they’re thinking about anything Scriptural, many Christians are thinking about Matthew and Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ conception…
Psalm 132:1-18
Proper 29B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider This psalm may seem about as relevant to 21st century worshipers as a repair manual for a Model T or instructions for preserving papyrus. It, after all, focuses on David, who has been dead for a long time, and Zion, which no longer has the kind of meaning it…
Psalm 127
Proper 27B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Few psalms are arguably more challenging to preach and teach than this somewhat quirky one. After all, it contains neither the vows nor calls to praise that characterize so many other psalms. Psalm 127, in fact, more closely resembles the kind of wisdom literature we find more commonly in…
Psalm 146
Proper 26B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider This psalm marks the beginning of the end of God’s peoples’ songbook. It’s one of five doxologies that offer resounding praise to the Lord. It’s appropriate the psalmist should end this way. After all, she sees praise as a lifelong vocation and privilege. After all, Psalm 146’s poet twice…
Psalm 34:1-8 (19-22)
Proper 25B
Psalm 34 blends thanksgiving to God for answering prayer with teaching about the kind of godliness that’s the most appropriate response to God’s salvation. Yet as the NIV Study Bible points out, that combination makes this psalm somewhat unique. After all, most psalms’ thanksgiving leads to calls to others to join in that praise. There’s…
Psalm 91:9-16
Proper 24B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 91 is a profession of God’s protective care. It’s a deeply beloved psalm, particularly by people who find themselves under some kind of duress. In fact, the church father Athanasius reportedly told a colleague, “If you desire to establish yourself and others in devotion, to know what confidence…
Psalm 22:1-15
Proper 23B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 22 is a psalm of lament that expresses the poet’s anguish at his enemies’ relentless and ferocious attacks on him. It contains the kind of honesty with God that 21st century Christians seem sometimes reluctant to express. So how does such a lament fit into the season of…
Psalm 26
Proper 22B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 26 is the poet’s plea for God’s “vindication.” It pictures a courtroom in which the poet-defendant begs the judge to declare her innocent. In it she insists she’s innocent because she has led what she calls a “blameless life” (1). Yet such a plea seems to clash with…
Psalm 124
Proper 21B
Comments, Observations, and Questions to Consider Psalm 124 is a psalm of praise for God’s deliverance from fearsome enemies. Yet those familiar with Reformed expressions of the Christian faith may recognize that Reformed worship services sometimes begin at Psalm 124’s end. After all, John Calvin’s Genevan and Strasburg liturgies placed verse 8’s “Our help is…
Content related to Psalms