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If you are considering this psalm selection for Christ the King/Reign of Christ Sunday, one of the first decisions you’ll need to make is whether your sermon text will be only verses 1-7a or the (...)

This deceptively simple psalm serves as the introduction to the Psalter and sets before us, the readers, a vision of life as a journey marked by bifurcating paths: turn one way, happiness (1:1), another, destruction (...)

Are we teachable? Can we change? Can we grow into the image of God in which we are created?¹ Each text for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost asks these questions. Psalm 25 puts them in the (...)

Context, context, context! Just as location is all important for home buyers, so is context crucial for understanding every passage of the Bible. Most biblical segments, even law codes, are embedded in a larger narrative (...)

Psalm 145 occurs just before the five-psalm doxological close to the book of Psalms (Psalms 146-150) and is the last in a group of Psalms (Psalms 139-145) in Book Five that are identified in their (...)

This psalm lection contains a magnificent constellation of biblical terms, portraying them with a striking intimacy that catches modern readers off guard: “righteousness and peace will kiss each other” (verse 10)?¹ This psalm lection contains (...)

Chapter 13 of Matthew features the third major discourse of Jesus in this Gospel. In a set of seven parables, Jesus reveals the character of the reign of God—the “reign [or realm] of the heavens,” (...)

The assigned verses are a portion of a much larger psalm that concludes book three of the psalter.1 The context of both the verses and the psalm are interpretively significant. Verses 1 to 4 introduce (...)

This is a commentary on the middle section of Psalm 50—Psalm 50:7-15. The psalm can be divided into three sections: Psalm 50:1-6—Introduction (See my 2021 commentary on these verses) Psalm 50:7-15—God speaks to his people (...)

Psalm 47 is a hymn that celebrates God’s reign as king over the earth.1 The psalm also portrays a procession for the purpose of celebrating God’s kingship. This is most evident in the declaration that (...)