Psalm 8 “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being…” Genesis 2:7 And so it is Holy Trinity Sunday — the one Sunday of the church year which is wholly devoted to exploring and celebrating …
Tag: Psalms
Psalm 23: When the Virus Comes Home…
Psalm 23 The virus came home to us this week. I’ve watched it on the news for weeks, for months now, as I know you have as well. I have watched as the anonymous numbers rose in our county and beyond. I have prayed with nurses whose vocation lives and breathes in the intensive care …
Near to the Brokenhearted
Psalm 34:15-22 I have been pastoring a long time now. And while the world has changed a great deal in the last three decades with the result that many of the ways in which my work is accomplished has also changed, something I learned early on through the modeling of others has not changed. And …
Thieves and Bandits … and the Shepherd
Psalm 23 John 10:1-10 I shook my head to see the ad — I expect you did, too. Apparently a major department store is now selling jeans encased in fake ‘mud’ — at a price of $425. I shook my head to imagine that anyone, anywhere, would pay such a price to appear to be …
Simple White Crosses and Crosses of Ash
Psalm 51 I cut through campus the other day. I had decided to spend some quiet time in the library — reading and praying and pondering ahead to the holy season before us now. Although the fact that I had chosen a ‘window seat’ on the first floor meant I was distracted by the steady …
A Cross of Ashes and Another Cross
Psalm 51 “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me…” Psalm 51:3 This story comes to mind most every year on Ash Wednesday. I was six, maybe seven years old. We were on a family camping trip. The fold out camper had been backed into its spot and unhitched from our station …
Ashes and Dust and Broken Hearts
Psalm 51 It’s an old story, this one, since the young man in question turned eighteen not long ago. And yet, I remember it like it was yesterday the Saturday morning when I broke my nephew’s heart. I am telling you the truth when I say that I had a three-year-old standing at my feet …
Of Sheep and Shepherds
Psalm 23 John 10:11-18 I don’t know much of sheep and shepherds, it’s true. A long time ago when I preached on a Good Shepherd Sunday, I confessed this truth. As he shook his hands with me after worship that morning, John Spangler offered to educate me. John was a hard man of few words and to …