Author: Administrador

As suggested in last week’s essay on Psalm 16, the sequencing of psalms sometimes seems intentional, or at least significant. In terms of today’s lection, the beginning of Psalm 66 follows beautifully the conclusion of Psalm 65. In Psalm 65:12-13, “the pastures” and “the hills” and “the meadows” and “the valleys” respond to God as “they … Continue reading “Psalm 66:1-9 Commentary by J. Clinton McCann”

Chosen for a Sunday toward the end of the liturgical season of Ordinary Time that confirms the constancy of grace manifested mysteriously in the middle of doldrums, Psalm 66 blows in fresh air with its jubilant call for joy — a common thread that all scripture lessons for this Sunday share. According to the psalmist, … Continue reading “Psalm 66:1-9 Commentary by Jin H. Han”

When one surveys Psalm 65 as a whole, what is most striking is the breadth of the psalm’s subject matter. It begins with praise to God in Zion (verse 1), a setting which continues through verse 4. Even here the topics of praise are varied, including prayer being answered (verse 2), sins being forgiven (verse … Continue reading “Psalm 65:[1-8] 9-13 Commentary by Scott Shauf”

Although the central section of this psalm is comprised of hymnic praise of God, the psalm as a whole suggests that the prayer exemplifies what Walter Brueggemann categorized as psalms of reorientation. Psalms of reorientation are prayers uttered after the disarray and disorientation of life slips into the past. Like the ancient psalmist, we recognize … Continue reading “Psalm 65:[1-8] 9-13 Commentary by Walter C. Bouzard”

In a recent gathering, one of my students led a guided meditation. She asked us all to close our eyes and remember a situation in which we felt truly loved and secure. We were to focus there for a while and then envelop that place in a circle of radiant pink light. (The pink didn’t … Continue reading “Psalm 63:1-8 Commentary by Jane Strohl”

Psalm 63 offers minimal words for a minimal place where experience is anything but minimal. The Psalmist’s poetics here are like a minimalist painting that shows only one or two strokes of paint across a field of white. For example, Franz Kline, an American abstract expressionist painter of the mid-twentieth century, was fond of bold … Continue reading “Psalm 63:1-8 Commentary by Paul O. Myhre”

The psalm opens with longing. By longing, I do not mean what this consumer-driven culture tells us that we want. I mean real longing. When is the last time you longed for something or someone? Maybe it was a partner far away by necessity or a child across the country in school or a long-deceased … Continue reading “Psalm 63:1-8 Commentary by Beth L. Tanner”

Psalm 62 has elements of a Psalm of praise, thanksgiving, lament, and wisdom. But it also lacks elements of each of these. Thus, I consider it a mixed-genre Psalm. In its outline, it is divided into three parts, which the occurrence of the word ‘selah’ does. Who wrote the Psalm and when is impossible to … Continue reading “Psalm 62:5-12 Commentary by Wendell Frerichs”

Retain the Refrain! The psalm selection for the third Sunday after Epiphany is 62:5-12. As is often the case, the worship leader is faced with the choice of reading the entire psalm or of going with only the selected verses. In favor of reading the entire psalm is the repetition in verses 1 and 5 … Continue reading “Psalm 62:5-12 Commentary by Rolf Jacobson”

This Psalm is for the asylum seeker, those who seek refuge from adversaries, those who yearn for security and stability. Dare I say that this Psalm is for us all especially now? The Psalmist’s experience of crisis prompts the big question of whether or not he (anyone?) can trust and take refuge in God in … Continue reading “Psalm 62:5-12 Commentary by Shauna Hannan”