December 13, 2018

Psalm 122: Awe In God’s Presence

We try to capture the awe and amazement of a pilgrim coming to Jerusalem to worship as we explore this Psalm.  This leads naturally to a discussion of the awe and amazement in our lives as Christians to have God ever present and the sublime wonder of worship in Holy Eucharist, Holy Thanksgiving.  We discuss the Church as the new Jerusalem and the temple of God, the implications for worship, and the need to build this new Jerusalem in peace and unity.  We digress to discuss the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 to better understand the section of the Letter to the Hebrews that discusses the need to assemble together.  We conclude with a discussion of how it is God who makes the Church special.

December 6, 2018

Psalm 120: Weary of Wickedness and Psalm 121: God, Our Ever Present Keeper

Tonight's study starts with Psalm 120.  We use it as an opportunity to discuss verbal emphasis which is lost translating from Hebrew to English and ways in which we can try to recover that emphasis.  We examined the psalmist's lament over living among those who are wicked and then explored a Christian approach to the same difficulty.

The second half continued with Psalm 121.  We discussed how the Psalms provide a variety of human perspectives on the same unchanging God, God's persistence providence, and how sometimes it seems that providence is lacking.

November 29, 2018

Psalm 149: Let the Faithful Rejoice In God

We examine Psalm 149 in this study as the last of the psalms for Morning Prayer for the Solemnity of All Souls.  We discuss the context and dwell chiefly on the points the second exodus, the wonder of God delighting in His people, and the unpleasant need to eventually deal with those who reject God in order to bring about lasting peace.