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Psalm 116 is a song of thanksgiving of an individual, a poem written after a difficult time of life has been endured, survived, or overcome. It may seem strange, at times, to recite an individual’s (...)

Leadership is a buzzword in many disciplines these days: business, law, medicine, education, politics, and congregational life. The study of leadership has become a sub-discipline in many academic and professional fields, and in the past (...)

The story of David slaying Goliath, violent though it is, has been used for generations to open the imagination of children to the LORD’s power. At the heart of the story is the dramatic moment (...)

Psalm 130, best known by its Latin incipit De Profundis, “Out of the Depths,” has inspired church musicians for centuries, usually in the context of a Requiem Mass. One need only mention Johan Sebastian Bach’s (...)

Psalm 116 is a prayer of thanksgiving. Like other psalms of this type (see Psalm 30; 32; 34), Psalm 116 begins by saying that God has rescued the psalmist from trouble (verses 1-2). Then the (...)

Psalm 107, classified as a community hymn of praise, was most likely a liturgy of thanks offered by worshipers at a festival at the temple in Jerusalem. The psalm opens in verses 1-3 with  an (...)

In the conventional understanding, the Psalm in the weekly lectionary is chosen to meditate on the First Reading and, like that reading, to anticipate the Gospel. In that case, the insistence that God has searched (...)

Psalm 97 is one of only seven psalms in the book of Psalms that is classified as an enthronement psalm (Psalms 47, 93, 95-99). These psalms are distinguished from the royal psalms (Psalms 2, 18, (...)

The biblical texts for the second week of Advent are Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13, 2 Peter 3:8-15a, and Mark 1:1-8. The prophetic voice in Isaiah confidently claims an end to exile as the “Lord (...)

This week’s psalm selection is the opening section of one of the great lyrics of the Bible — Psalm 90. It is the only poem in the Psalter that is associated with Moses; the Hebrew (...)