[This is Week 4 of a 5-week preaching series on Psalms.]

Week 4 (July 2, 2017)

Preaching text: Psalm 30; accompanying text: John 6:67-69

A Song of Thanks

Psalm 30 is a song of thanks, which would was composed for moment when the person of faith has made it through the time of crisis -- when one has climbed out of the darkest vale of Psalm 23, and now can now look back from a place and time of safety. As such, Brueggemann calls these poems "psalms of reorientation (or new orientation)." These psalms "bear witness to the surprising gift of new life just when none had been expected" (Message of the Psalms, pp. 123-4). They recognize that the ship has sailed through the storm and a new shore has been reached. But -- and this is crucial -- there is no going back to a naïve "orientation." These psalms speak for those who have been brought through a deep crisis. As such, they know that faith that speaks the truth can never pretend that all will always be well and that all is as it should be. And yet, they have experienced new life and grace -- ...