Advent 1
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Object:
(See Lent 1, Cycle B, for an alternative approach.)
There are two important features about this psalm that should not be overlooked. First, like a few other psalms, this one is an alphabetic poem, known as an "acrostic." This means that the psalm follows the alphabet with each successive verse starting with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Writers who employed this technique were not simply trying to be clever. Ancient Hebrews believed even the very letters of words used to worship and honor God were sacred. Arranging the verses in this creative and thoughtful way was just another attempt to show reverence and respect to the Lord.
The second feature to note is that the psalm is a lament. The lament is the most prevalent type of psalm in the psalter. Over forty of the psalms in the canon are laments. In general, a lament was a prayer or plea offered to God in times of distress.
The lament of Psalm 25 was originally written to be used in a service of worship in which an individual's needs or suffering was the focus of the service. It is this feature that finds this psalm used several different times throughout the Christian lectionary cycle, especially during Lent and Advent.
In both these significant seasons in the Christian year, the psalmist's plea is important: "Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame" (v. 3). Faithful waiting is the main emphasis in both Advent and Lent. Both seasons call for a disciplined wait for fulfillment. We wait for the birth of the Messiah. We wait for the child to become a man. We wait for the man to die on a cross. We wait for his resurrection. We are waiting for his return.
Being put to shame can have two points of focus. As we wait faithfully for the Lord to act on our behalf, we hope not to be humiliated or oppressed by circumstances. Nothing is a greater challenge to our faith than to suffer in the midst of, or because of, our obedience. Waiting is inevitable, but as the Lord taught us to pray, we can ask that the Lord "deliver us from evil."
The other focus of shame has to do with the character of our faithfulness. The temptation during the long wait for the Lord to appear is to lose heart and to break trust. In a fit of despair we cry with the fool, "there is no God" -- or, what amounts to the same thing, we claim there is no hope. In this sense, the psalmist is praying that when the Lord appears we will be found faithful, that we will not be shamed by our disobedience or by our surrender to despair.
In the case of the psalmist, the wait is marked by suffering -- but isn't that always the way? If there were no pain in life, no tension, no challenges to our morality, there would be no longing for the Lord to appear. It is because our world is fallen and we are constantly bombarded with messages to give up or give in that our waiting takes on such a critical function. In a broken and cruel world marked by violence and death, we wait for the arrival of the Prince of Peace.
-- J. E.
There are two important features about this psalm that should not be overlooked. First, like a few other psalms, this one is an alphabetic poem, known as an "acrostic." This means that the psalm follows the alphabet with each successive verse starting with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Writers who employed this technique were not simply trying to be clever. Ancient Hebrews believed even the very letters of words used to worship and honor God were sacred. Arranging the verses in this creative and thoughtful way was just another attempt to show reverence and respect to the Lord.
The second feature to note is that the psalm is a lament. The lament is the most prevalent type of psalm in the psalter. Over forty of the psalms in the canon are laments. In general, a lament was a prayer or plea offered to God in times of distress.
The lament of Psalm 25 was originally written to be used in a service of worship in which an individual's needs or suffering was the focus of the service. It is this feature that finds this psalm used several different times throughout the Christian lectionary cycle, especially during Lent and Advent.
In both these significant seasons in the Christian year, the psalmist's plea is important: "Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame" (v. 3). Faithful waiting is the main emphasis in both Advent and Lent. Both seasons call for a disciplined wait for fulfillment. We wait for the birth of the Messiah. We wait for the child to become a man. We wait for the man to die on a cross. We wait for his resurrection. We are waiting for his return.
Being put to shame can have two points of focus. As we wait faithfully for the Lord to act on our behalf, we hope not to be humiliated or oppressed by circumstances. Nothing is a greater challenge to our faith than to suffer in the midst of, or because of, our obedience. Waiting is inevitable, but as the Lord taught us to pray, we can ask that the Lord "deliver us from evil."
The other focus of shame has to do with the character of our faithfulness. The temptation during the long wait for the Lord to appear is to lose heart and to break trust. In a fit of despair we cry with the fool, "there is no God" -- or, what amounts to the same thing, we claim there is no hope. In this sense, the psalmist is praying that when the Lord appears we will be found faithful, that we will not be shamed by our disobedience or by our surrender to despair.
In the case of the psalmist, the wait is marked by suffering -- but isn't that always the way? If there were no pain in life, no tension, no challenges to our morality, there would be no longing for the Lord to appear. It is because our world is fallen and we are constantly bombarded with messages to give up or give in that our waiting takes on such a critical function. In a broken and cruel world marked by violence and death, we wait for the arrival of the Prince of Peace.
-- J. E.
