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Psalm 20

Preaching
A Journey Through the Psalms: Reflections for Worried Hearts and Troubled Times
Preaching the Psalms Cycles A, B, C
Everyone wants a protector. It is, as young people are fond of saying, a "no brainer." Life is no bowl of cherries and despite our New Testament Jesus and his calls to love and forgiveness, we are not fooled. We know that enemies abound. We all know that everyone could use a protector. Whether it's women who suffer and die from the scourge of domestic violence or homeless people set upon by amoral attackers, a protector is needed. Whether it is workers stripped of their pensions by corporations recording record profits or students no longer able to pay for their education, a protector is needed. Whether it is a youngster in the grip of sexual abuse or the angry, unjust accusations of coworkers or community members, a protector is needed.

Around this troubled globe there are countless scenarios where we can say that a protector is needed. Indeed, the list is so long that the heart grows numb in the reading. Yet, the truth is clear. A protector is needed.

The psalm describes this protector with words that warm our spirits. So powerful is this protector that even the utterance of God's name is protection (v. 1). This protector will fulfill our desires and see our plans come to fruition. This protector will provide us with the victory. This protector is the real deal. Incredibly, this protector is so powerful that we are to abandon our weapons and defenses and place our total trust in him (v. 7). What's that? Come again?

Ah. There's the rub. We want the protection. Who doesn't? But letting go of our own weapons? Abandoning our own right to protect ourselves? That's a bit of a different story. Only a fool surrenders his or her weapons and defenses. For too many of us, the MGM voice of Moses echoes in our souls. They will have to pry our weapons from our "cold, dead hands."

It seems that we would have it both ways. We want the protection, but find it hard to trust the protector. We want the benefits of the relationship, but none of the costs.

This psalm finds us in an all too familiar place. Trusting, really trusting in God just isn't our strong suit, is it? How does that old World War I song go? "Praise The Lord And Pass The Ammunition"? That really isn't what God has in mind for us, is it?

So let us live into the questions. How can we take that giant step of faith? How can we cease to depend upon our puny defenses and trust wholly in God? What will it take for us to release all the baggage we carry and to throw our hearts and souls upon the mercy and wonder of God?

Tough questions. Tougher answers. But in community, in commitment, in forging ahead in faith, they just might be found.
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John Jamison
Object: A sheep or lamb stuffed animal.

Note: For the best experience, when you ask the questions, take the time to draw the children out a bit and help them come up with answers. Make it more of a conversation if you can.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Excellent! Let’s get started! (Hold the sheep in your lap as you continue.)

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
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Thomas Willadsen
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Mary Austin
For May 4, 2025:

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John E. Sumwalt
Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,  singing with full voice… (vv. 11-12a)

Phillip Hasheider is a retired Wisconsin beef farmer and an award-winning author who was dead for six minutes and came back to tell about it. If you have ever thought about dying and wondered what it would be like, then Hasheider’s =Six Minutes in Eternity= is a book you will want to read.

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David Coffin
A medical worker is working long, hard, stress filled hours in an urban hospital setting. One day he or she is called into the administrator’s office to be terminated due to angering professionals in the upper echelon. The worker protests that it is, “My word against their word, why am I to be the scapegoat?” The administrator pulls rank! The worker is asked to turn in their badge and do not come into the premises again unless as a patient. The now unemployed medical worker still feels the calling to be a healer. So, they get a job at an alternative/natural health medicine store.
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Bill Thomas
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Acts 9:1-6 (7-20)
Martin Luther believed that the story of Paul’s conversion demonstrates that there is no need for special revelation. The reformer commented:

Our Lord God does not purpose some special thing for each individual person, but gives to the whole world — one person like the next — his baptism and gospel. (Complete Sermons, Vol.7, p.271)

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
I've recently spent several hours by the lakeside, for I've been in retreat this past week in the little village of Hemingford Grey, in Huntingdonshire. A great delight for me was to walk to the flooded gravel pits, sit on a bench in glorious sunshine, and watch the water birds. For me, that's a wonderful way to become very aware of the presence of God through the beauty of his created world. And sitting like that for several hours, doing nothing but watching and waiting, I can't help but absorb the peace which passes all understanding.

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Constance Berg
When Beth was a teenager, she lived on the streets. She smoked cigarettes and drank beer and her parents had said that she had to choose: her friends or her family. Beth chose her friends and lived from house to house and eventually in homeless shelters. She barely avoided being raped at one point. About six months of shelter-hopping was all she could take, and she found a shelter that sponsored her until she took the GED. They told her she was brilliant: she was just bored and dissatisfied with the status quo. The shelter supervisors suggested she look into community college.
James Evans
(For alternative approaches, see Epiphany 6/Ordinary Time 6, Cycle B; and Proper 9/Pentecost 7/Ordinary Time 14, Cycle C.)

The main theme of this psalm is captured profoundly in the movement within a single verse: "Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with morning" (v. 5). Casting life experiences between light and dark is not unique or novel, of course, but the poet's treatment of these themes offers some fertile ground for reflection.

Elizabeth Achtemeier
We have three different accounts of the conversion of Saul in the Gospel according to Luke (9:1-20; 22:6-16; 26:12-18). They differ in a few minor details, but essentially they are the same. In addition, Paul writes of his conversion in Galatians 1:11-16, and in 1 Corinthians 9:1 and 15:8-9, stating that at the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord. For Paul, that made him an apostle, equal to the twelve. An apostle, in Paul's thought, was one who had seen the risen Christ and had been sent to announce that good news.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
Once in a far-off land, there was a great king whose dominion extended far and wide. His power and authority were absolute. One day, as events would happen, a young man, a commoner, committed a grave offense against the king. In response, the king and his counselors gathered together to determine what should be done. They decided that since the offense was so grave and had been committed by a commoner against someone so august as the king, the only punishment that would satisfy justice was death.

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