Normally, I avoid preaching on the psalms. Not that I have anything against them; they’re beautifully expressive poetry that, over the course of 150 chapters, conveys the full range of human emotion. They’re incredibly useful for personal devotion. Not to mention that the psalmists wrote in such a liturgical style that the psalms are a wonderful resource for worship planning. It’s just that to me, the psalms often feel…well, repetitive. I mean, how many ways can you say, “God is awesome,” or “Everything is terrible, God,” or “Save me, God”? They’re obviously important texts, but psalm sermons can get bland if you’re not careful. So, in what’s perhaps a personal pastoral shortcoming, I generally avoid them for preaching purposes.
Showing posts with label Thank you. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thank you. Show all posts
Sunday, February 7, 2021
Sermon: "Delighting in the Caretaker", Psalm 147:1-11 (February 7, 2021)
Normally, I avoid preaching on the psalms. Not that I have anything against them; they’re beautifully expressive poetry that, over the course of 150 chapters, conveys the full range of human emotion. They’re incredibly useful for personal devotion. Not to mention that the psalmists wrote in such a liturgical style that the psalms are a wonderful resource for worship planning. It’s just that to me, the psalms often feel…well, repetitive. I mean, how many ways can you say, “God is awesome,” or “Everything is terrible, God,” or “Save me, God”? They’re obviously important texts, but psalm sermons can get bland if you’re not careful. So, in what’s perhaps a personal pastoral shortcoming, I generally avoid them for preaching purposes.
Monday, May 27, 2019
Sermon: "It's the Little Things", Psalm 67/Acts 16:9-15 (May 26, 2019)
(I decided to try recording my sermon on my phone this week, so of course my mom called me right in the middle of preaching 😂 Lesson learned: make sure ALL alerts are off before worship! Enjoy this sermon with its brief comedic interlude...)
I don’t know if you noticed, but this week’s scripture readings are a pretty dramatic change from the previous several weeks. For most of Eastertide, we’ve been reading long, dramatic stories of epic visions and miracles in the early Church. We’ve seen Peter’s vision inspire the inclusion of gentiles in the Christian movement; we’ve seen him bring a woman back from the dead; we’ve seen Paul transform from a persecutor of Christians to one of their greatest leaders, thanks to a significant team effort; and of course, we’ve seen our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, conquer death itself. But today, we have two brief readings, merely seven verses each. And not only that; they’re kind of…boring. I mean, after a month of dramatic transformations and resurrections and triumph, we get—what?—a song reiterating what we already know about God and a story about Paul chatting with some ladies? Um…no thank you. Can we get some more miracles and crazy visions, please?
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I don’t know if you noticed, but this week’s scripture readings are a pretty dramatic change from the previous several weeks. For most of Eastertide, we’ve been reading long, dramatic stories of epic visions and miracles in the early Church. We’ve seen Peter’s vision inspire the inclusion of gentiles in the Christian movement; we’ve seen him bring a woman back from the dead; we’ve seen Paul transform from a persecutor of Christians to one of their greatest leaders, thanks to a significant team effort; and of course, we’ve seen our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, conquer death itself. But today, we have two brief readings, merely seven verses each. And not only that; they’re kind of…boring. I mean, after a month of dramatic transformations and resurrections and triumph, we get—what?—a song reiterating what we already know about God and a story about Paul chatting with some ladies? Um…no thank you. Can we get some more miracles and crazy visions, please?
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