Advent 3
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
(See Proper 26/Pentecost 24/Ordinary Time 31, Cycle B, for an alternative approach.)
It is the words, "whose hope is in the Lord their God" (v. 5), that draws this psalm into use during Advent. The theme of hope permeates not only the Advent season, but also the entirety of the gospel message. In Paul's famous trilogy of what is greatest, hope is mentioned alongside faith and love. And while love is the most important in the apostle's mind, hope may be the most difficult to achieve.
Part of the reason for hope's difficulty is the ever-present danger of confusing hoping with wishing. Hope that is genuine can never be fully invested in a particular outcome. Standing by the bedside of a sick child, we can only wish the child well and whole. But if our hope depends on that outcome, it may not hold. Or, facing the uncertainty of a personal illness, our wish is that we will survive and avoid the pain of radical treatments. But if our hope depends on this outcome, we may find ourselves with no hope.
Hope undergirds the big picture. Hope is that experience of grace -- informed by faith, and enacted by commitment -- that believes in a good overall outcome regardless of our particular circumstances. It is this general hope that allows us to face our losses, and to confront our pain without sinking into despair.
And when the pain is great, hope is difficult to maintain.
That's why the psalmist correctly celebrates the origin and direction of our hope. "Happy are those ... whose hope is in the Lord their God." Hope is not in our schemes and cures. Hope is not in our technology or our ingenuity. Hope is not in some amorphous future. Our hope, if it is real hope, is in the Lord.
The psalmist is right again when he recognizes that those who are able to place hope in the Lord are "happy." This is one of those difficult words, in Hebrew and in English, that forces us to think past our own cultural meanings. The word "happiness" in our culture often means having everything just as we want it to be. But our discussion of hope dictates that this "happiness," whatever it is, is present regardless of our circumstances.
The synonyms "fortunate" and "blessed" may offer some insight into the psalmist's meaning. Those people whose hope is in God, who are not knocked out by the ups and downs of life, are the ones who are truly blessed. They are fortunate in having a hope that holds against the storm, and does not crumble when life gets hard.
How fortunate indeed! No wonder they are so happy.
-- J. E.
It is the words, "whose hope is in the Lord their God" (v. 5), that draws this psalm into use during Advent. The theme of hope permeates not only the Advent season, but also the entirety of the gospel message. In Paul's famous trilogy of what is greatest, hope is mentioned alongside faith and love. And while love is the most important in the apostle's mind, hope may be the most difficult to achieve.
Part of the reason for hope's difficulty is the ever-present danger of confusing hoping with wishing. Hope that is genuine can never be fully invested in a particular outcome. Standing by the bedside of a sick child, we can only wish the child well and whole. But if our hope depends on that outcome, it may not hold. Or, facing the uncertainty of a personal illness, our wish is that we will survive and avoid the pain of radical treatments. But if our hope depends on this outcome, we may find ourselves with no hope.
Hope undergirds the big picture. Hope is that experience of grace -- informed by faith, and enacted by commitment -- that believes in a good overall outcome regardless of our particular circumstances. It is this general hope that allows us to face our losses, and to confront our pain without sinking into despair.
And when the pain is great, hope is difficult to maintain.
That's why the psalmist correctly celebrates the origin and direction of our hope. "Happy are those ... whose hope is in the Lord their God." Hope is not in our schemes and cures. Hope is not in our technology or our ingenuity. Hope is not in some amorphous future. Our hope, if it is real hope, is in the Lord.
The psalmist is right again when he recognizes that those who are able to place hope in the Lord are "happy." This is one of those difficult words, in Hebrew and in English, that forces us to think past our own cultural meanings. The word "happiness" in our culture often means having everything just as we want it to be. But our discussion of hope dictates that this "happiness," whatever it is, is present regardless of our circumstances.
The synonyms "fortunate" and "blessed" may offer some insight into the psalmist's meaning. Those people whose hope is in God, who are not knocked out by the ups and downs of life, are the ones who are truly blessed. They are fortunate in having a hope that holds against the storm, and does not crumble when life gets hard.
How fortunate indeed! No wonder they are so happy.
-- J. E.
