The Transfiguration Of Our Lord / Last Sunday After The Epiphany
Preaching
Hear My Voice
Preaching The Lectionary Psalms for Cycles A, B, C
(For an alternative approach to vv. 1-8 and 22-23, see Proper 14/Pentecost 12/Ordinary Time 19, Cycle C.)
In the lectionary scheme, the psalm for the day is considered to be a response to or meditation on the First Lesson, but this week, that connection is not obvious. The First Lesson for this Sunday is the translation of Elijah into heaven via the chariot of fire and a whirlwind. It's true that Psalm 50:3 says that a "devouring fire" precedes God as he comes, but that correlation is flimsy. And to further complicate things, the Revised Common Lectionary has whacked the older Common Lectionary's offering of this psalm in half (formerly, it was 50:1-15).
The psalm pictures God holding a trial. In the longer version, we hear the charges God brings, having to do with a crude reliance on animal sacrifices -- but in the RCL pruning of the psalm, all we get is the convening of the court. (The RCL does list verses 7-15 as the alternative psalm for Proper 5/Pentecost 3/Ordinary Time 10 in Cycle A, but that's a long way removed from this Sunday.)
The verses we are given first show God sending out the summons for the trial (v. 1). The summons goes to the earth itself. Second, they tell us who the defendants are: "the faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice" (v. 5). And third, they affirm the righteousness of the Judge, "God himself" (v. 6).
So we are left with the set-up for a trial, but none of its transcript. If we are to preach from these verses, it may be wise to base the sermon on verse 3: "Our God comes and does not keep silence." There are plenty of times when God does keep silence, or seems to, and those are challenges to our faith; yet, perhaps, more troublesome are the times God's voice is heard, as the divine judge convenes the court and tries us "faithful ones who made a covenant with [him] by sacrifice" [of Jesus Christ].
Is that a surprise? If our sins are covered by the sacrifice of Jesus, then what charges can be brought against us? Only this one: that, after receiving forgiveness, we fail to live as though God's love and grace matter in our present conduct.
Consider the case of a wife who wholeheartedly loves her husband. He claims to love her, too, but in ways that really matter, he is unfaithful to her. His wife knows nothing of his infidelity, but each time she tells her husband she loves him, he feels like a skunk because he knows he is betraying her love. In that sense, the wife's genuine love becomes a judgment on her husband, whether or not she ever learns of his unfaithfulness.
In the same sense, God's love is the measure of what God calls us to be, the judgment on us. But divine love also invites us to love God back. God's love tells us that genuine, ongoing commitment covers sin's residual effect, casts out fear, and gives us bold confidence on the day of judgment, whatever form that day may take.
-- S. P.
In the lectionary scheme, the psalm for the day is considered to be a response to or meditation on the First Lesson, but this week, that connection is not obvious. The First Lesson for this Sunday is the translation of Elijah into heaven via the chariot of fire and a whirlwind. It's true that Psalm 50:3 says that a "devouring fire" precedes God as he comes, but that correlation is flimsy. And to further complicate things, the Revised Common Lectionary has whacked the older Common Lectionary's offering of this psalm in half (formerly, it was 50:1-15).
The psalm pictures God holding a trial. In the longer version, we hear the charges God brings, having to do with a crude reliance on animal sacrifices -- but in the RCL pruning of the psalm, all we get is the convening of the court. (The RCL does list verses 7-15 as the alternative psalm for Proper 5/Pentecost 3/Ordinary Time 10 in Cycle A, but that's a long way removed from this Sunday.)
The verses we are given first show God sending out the summons for the trial (v. 1). The summons goes to the earth itself. Second, they tell us who the defendants are: "the faithful ones who made a covenant with me by sacrifice" (v. 5). And third, they affirm the righteousness of the Judge, "God himself" (v. 6).
So we are left with the set-up for a trial, but none of its transcript. If we are to preach from these verses, it may be wise to base the sermon on verse 3: "Our God comes and does not keep silence." There are plenty of times when God does keep silence, or seems to, and those are challenges to our faith; yet, perhaps, more troublesome are the times God's voice is heard, as the divine judge convenes the court and tries us "faithful ones who made a covenant with [him] by sacrifice" [of Jesus Christ].
Is that a surprise? If our sins are covered by the sacrifice of Jesus, then what charges can be brought against us? Only this one: that, after receiving forgiveness, we fail to live as though God's love and grace matter in our present conduct.
Consider the case of a wife who wholeheartedly loves her husband. He claims to love her, too, but in ways that really matter, he is unfaithful to her. His wife knows nothing of his infidelity, but each time she tells her husband she loves him, he feels like a skunk because he knows he is betraying her love. In that sense, the wife's genuine love becomes a judgment on her husband, whether or not she ever learns of his unfaithfulness.
In the same sense, God's love is the measure of what God calls us to be, the judgment on us. But divine love also invites us to love God back. God's love tells us that genuine, ongoing commitment covers sin's residual effect, casts out fear, and gives us bold confidence on the day of judgment, whatever form that day may take.
-- S. P.
