Christmas 2
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Object:
This psalm was likely written for the people of Jerusalem after their return from exile (see vv. 2-3) and was intended to remind the hearers that the same God who runs the cosmos also cares for Israel.
In the verses designated by the lectionary for today, this theme shows up in reference to God's sending of snow and hail (v. 16) and winds and flowing waters (v. 18) upon the earth. We should be careful not to connect those verses directly to verse 20 -- "He has not dealt thus with any other nation" -- for the psalmist is not saying God's actions through nature are unique gifts to Israel. That would be the opposite of Jesus' assertion that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).
Rather, the psalmist wants his audience to take heart that the God who has power over the functions of nature guards Israel. This mighty God is the one who is now the security of Jerusalem, who "strengthens the bars of your gates" and "blesses your children within you" (v. 13). Comfort may also be taken from the inverse of that point as well: the God who is the Savior and Security of Israel is the one who controls the cosmos.
A preaching theme arising from all of this is "From where does our security come?" -- a subject especially critical in our post-9/11 world. There can be no easy answers, but we can talk about the ultimate security of living our lives in God's world -- yes, this is God's world, as this psalm proclaims; it is not the terror-makers' world. And we can talk about the rituals of protection, including prayers for safety and the placing of our loved ones and ourselves in God's hands.
Vanessa Ochs, author of Safe and Sound: Protecting Your Child in an Unpredictable World (Viking Penguin, 1995), tells of certain rituals parents through the ages have undertaken to guard their children -- everything from amulets and talismans to incantations, confessions of sins, and pictures of saints. Then, speaking of her own children and her feelings of fear for their safety, she concludes, "Only when I began to focus on the daily ceremonies of protection -- the prayers, blessings, goodnights, and goodbyes that are part of our ritual regimen -- was I able to relinquish the extreme overprotection and protect, as I had hoped, adequately."
An aside: The Roman Catholic lectionary uses these verses as the "Psalm for the Year: A Reading" for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly called the Feast of Corpus Christi), celebrated on the second Sunday after Pentecost. The observance honors the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the psalm connection is in verse 14b, "he fills you with the finest of wheat."
-- S. P.
In the verses designated by the lectionary for today, this theme shows up in reference to God's sending of snow and hail (v. 16) and winds and flowing waters (v. 18) upon the earth. We should be careful not to connect those verses directly to verse 20 -- "He has not dealt thus with any other nation" -- for the psalmist is not saying God's actions through nature are unique gifts to Israel. That would be the opposite of Jesus' assertion that God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45).
Rather, the psalmist wants his audience to take heart that the God who has power over the functions of nature guards Israel. This mighty God is the one who is now the security of Jerusalem, who "strengthens the bars of your gates" and "blesses your children within you" (v. 13). Comfort may also be taken from the inverse of that point as well: the God who is the Savior and Security of Israel is the one who controls the cosmos.
A preaching theme arising from all of this is "From where does our security come?" -- a subject especially critical in our post-9/11 world. There can be no easy answers, but we can talk about the ultimate security of living our lives in God's world -- yes, this is God's world, as this psalm proclaims; it is not the terror-makers' world. And we can talk about the rituals of protection, including prayers for safety and the placing of our loved ones and ourselves in God's hands.
Vanessa Ochs, author of Safe and Sound: Protecting Your Child in an Unpredictable World (Viking Penguin, 1995), tells of certain rituals parents through the ages have undertaken to guard their children -- everything from amulets and talismans to incantations, confessions of sins, and pictures of saints. Then, speaking of her own children and her feelings of fear for their safety, she concludes, "Only when I began to focus on the daily ceremonies of protection -- the prayers, blessings, goodnights, and goodbyes that are part of our ritual regimen -- was I able to relinquish the extreme overprotection and protect, as I had hoped, adequately."
An aside: The Roman Catholic lectionary uses these verses as the "Psalm for the Year: A Reading" for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly called the Feast of Corpus Christi), celebrated on the second Sunday after Pentecost. The observance honors the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and the psalm connection is in verse 14b, "he fills you with the finest of wheat."
-- S. P.
