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“A Mighty Fortress is Our God” — the hymn, which according to Ulrich Leupold, “more than any other epitomizes Luther’s thought and personal experience” — is a rather free paraphrase of Psalm 46. For that (...)

God of Power, God of the People Some of the psalms are among the easiest parts of the Bible to understand.  The comforting message of Psalm 23, the expression of wonder at the night sky (...)

The last words that Jesus spoke from the cross, according to Luke, were taken from this psalm: “Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ Having said (...)

Psalm 116 is sung or read each year at Passover celebrations in Jewish homes to this day. Don’t Give Up On Prayer! The psalm is a part of the collection of psalms running from 113 (...)

Psalm 16 is a very problematic psalm, and for a gaggle of reasons: 1. Most scholars consider this to be a Song of Confidence or Trust like Psalm 23, yet it begins with a very (...)

The Psalms enrich preaching during Holy Week and Easter, even if few preachers base an entire sermon on the Psalms. Jesus prayed the Psalms from the cross, and the Gospels quote the Psalms to tell (...)

Psalm 119 follows Psalms 113-118, known as the Egyptian Hallel, which are psalms recited during the Jewish festival of Passover. It, like Psalms 111 and 112, is an alphabetic acrostic in form, but it is (...)

When a psalm is divided up, like the one for this Sunday (verses 1-7, 17-19), the integrity of the psalm is lost. Then the beautifully intertwined words of lament to God and praise of God (...)

Handel Had It Right At least once a year, in the church where I grew up, our resident soprano soloist sang with great enthusiasm (and a bit too much tremolo) “I know that my Redeemer (...)

“Ein feste burg ist unser Gott…” is the original, German phrase that opens Martin Luther’s famous hymn. In English we sing “A mighty fortress is our God” but that is not quite the meaning of (...)