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Psalm 113 is the third psalm in a group of psalms in Book Five known as the hallelujah psalms (Psalms 111-118). It also the first of a collection of six psalms (Psalms 113-118) that are (...)

Psalm 146 lacks any evidence of context, enabling the reader to hear it in her own time and place. In the psalm God is the author of liberation (v. 7), the only one worthy of (...)

Written as an acrostic poem, approximately every other line in Psalm 37 begins with a successive letter of the twenty-two letter Hebrew alphabet. This can even be seen in the English translation of the NRSV (...)

Psalm 111 is a classic psalm of praise extolling the virtues of God presented as the praise of a single individual. It is a Hallel, one of the psalms that begins with hallelu Yah, “Hallelujah” (...)

Psalm 121 is one of the Songs of Ascent, Psalms 120-134, as indicated by its opening words. In general these psalms focus on Jerusalem, the journey to Jerusalem — always categorized as “going up,” and (...)

Fifteen psalms in the Psalter, Psalms 120-134, share a common superscription, “Songs of Ascents. The root meaning of the word “ascents” is ‘alah–”to go up.” The frequent references to Jerusalem and Zion in this collection (...)

Were anyone to quiz congregants filing in to worship about the content of the little book of Joel, chances are good that few could cogently respond. Why then, preach from Joel? Several considerations might lead (...)

Joel 2 is, perhaps, most well known from its quotation in Acts 2:14 and following. In Acts, Peter calls upon Joel’s words to help the festival crowds in Jerusalem understand the powerful in-rushing of the (...)

On September 30, 2015, the state of Georgia executed Kelly Gissendaner, who plotted the 1997 murder of her husband, Douglas. While in prison Kelly converted to Christianity and demonstrated that hers was a genuine conversion. (...)

Often, there is no sermon on Good Friday. The reading of Luke’s Passion story from Jesus’ prayer in the garden to his burial (22:39-23:56) is the focus of the service. Perhaps the story is read (...)