Proper 9 / Pentecost 7 / Ordinary Time 14
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
Psalm 48 is a song of praise celebrating the presence of God. God's presence is praised in general, but in particular the psalmist wants to celebrate the manner in which God's presence has blessed Jerusalem and its temple. The psalmist does not say it explicitly, but intimates strongly that it is in Jerusalem's temple that God's presence is most profoundly experienced: "Walk about Zion, go all about it, count its towers, consider well its ramparts; go through its citadels that you may tell the next generation that this is God our God forever and ever" (vv. 12-14).