[Propertalk] Fwd: [Goodsermons] Preaching Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 on Lent 1 - Free Resource!

[Joe Parrish]

...we have numerous exegetical, theological, and homiletical articles on all the texts this week at GoodPreacher.com, but we want to share with you this article on preaching Psalm 91 on this First Sunday in Lent.


Preaching Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 

 

"You will tread on the lion and the adder, and the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot." - Psalm 91:13

I stepped on a snake once while casting for fish in a mountain stream. The snake was enjoying sunny warmth on a riverside rock. Intent on rainbow and brook trout, I did not see the snake, but I felt its startled energy when it moved under my foot. Both of us were surprised. Both of us were also eager to depart for safer territory, and we did just that. I cautiously lifted the offending foot and backed away. The snake slithered speedily toward the river. I had indeed treaded upon the adder and trampled the serpent under foot, but no evil had befallen me as a result.

Perhaps the poet who penned Psalm 91 knew from some unspoken personal experience about adders, lions, and serpents. In any case, the poet writes lyrically and with confidence about the protecting "shelter of the Most High" (v. 1) in the midst of these and other life dangers. Psalm 91 is an expressive and artistic composition celebrating God as a trustworthy protector.

To preach Psalm 91 on the First Sunday in Lent is to offer a gift of biblical promise to listeners as they begin lament-and-confession-laden liturgical journeys from Ash Wednesday’s cinders of death to Easter’s promises of resurrected life. The psalmist announces: No matter what dangers we confront along life’s Lenten ways, if the Lord is our refuge, no evil shall befall us (v. 10). God journeys with us.

In traditions that use lectionary readings, psalms are generally a part of every worship service but are not regularly a Sunday homiletical focus. Those who do decide to craft a sermon based on a psalm realize rather quickly that preaching a psalm is simultaneously gift and challenge for the preacher.

A gift of many psalms is their eloquent and honest articulation of human experiences and emotions. Psalm 91, for example, speaks about realities faced by people in all times and places. We all at one time or another seek protection or refuge from things in life that threaten to overwhelm us. Psalm 91 speaks with confidence about God’s trustworthiness in the face of all manner of human difficulties. If we trust in the Lord, the psalmist announces, we are protected from life’s evils. This ancient announcement, echoed in contemporary language from contemporary pulpits, is a Lenten gift.

The confident pronouncements in Psalm 91 are not, however, in themselves unique. Other biblical texts are thematically similar. What stands out about Psalm 91 is the way the ancient writer renders the subject matter. This psalmist offers an artistic interpretation of a common and powerful biblical theme ­ God’s trustworthiness as refuge and protector. In the writer’s artistic approach to this theme, we encounter again the gift of biblical psalms as well as their homiletical challenge. Preachers who want to capture the extraordinariness of this psalm’s perspective on God as refuge and protector are challenged to preach this psalm on its own poetic and lyrical terms. 

What does this mean? Psalm 91 is an ancient poem translated from an ancient language for contemporary liturgical and homiletical benefit. Preachers have an opportunity to be innovative as they consider strategies for inviting listeners today to enter into the world of the poet. Preachers also have a chance to recreate for listeners the mood or tone of the psalm. Exegesis and sermonic analysis by themselves, however, do not sufficiently enliven for contemporary listeners the heartfelt, hymnic release of faith intrinsic to the shape and movement of Psalm 91. 

How do preachers do the work of recreating in their pulpits the world and mood of a millennia-old psalm? In the case of Psalm 91 imagery is a key. Psalm 91 is rich with vivid, colorful images. This psalmist depicts for those in need of refuge shelters, tents, shadows, pinions, wings, shields, and dwelling places. Images of life’s dangers are equally striking. Though we may encounter "deadly pestilence" (v. 3), the "snare of the fowler" (v. 3), the "terror of the night" (v. 5), the "arrow that flies by day" (v. 5), or the "destruction that wastes at noonday" (v. 6), no scourge shall come near our tents (v. 10). God’s own angels will guard us so that we will not dash our feet against stones (v. 12).

Some of this psalm’s images immediately resonate with contemporary listeners. Other images in this ancient text invite preachers to take up a creative process of clarifying and describing in order to release homiletically the rich meanings of the images without flattening their poetic flair and flavor. What does such a process entail? Psalm-based sermons, overall, are more vibrant when preachers resist over-dependence on more traditional forms of homiletical outlining and instead discover for themselves the flow or rhythm of the psalm itself. 

Psalm 91, for example, may have originally been directed toward those who enter God’s sanctuary for worship. Our journeys to the sanctuary, says this psalmist, are often hazardous, but God is both our destination ­ our refuge and fortress (v. 2)­and our reliable travelling companion. This psalm does not attempt to sidestep life’s dangers but rather moves through them with and toward depths of faith. 

Preachers on the First Sunday in Lent can couple this poet’s ancient imagery and language with vivid contemporary imagery and language, thus inviting listeners to consider similarly depth-full life journeys. Certainly, Lent as a whole presents such an invitation to believers. We do in life encounter and even tread upon serpents of various kinds, but even then, God is with us. We can journey through life’s dangers toward and with faith in a saving God. To preach such a message from this psalm is to offer listeners hope and even courage for their Lenten travels.

Jill Crainshaw
Wake Forest University School of Divinity

Be sure to go to GoodPreacher  and check out James Howell's Preaching Journal. It is like a weekly preaching seminar by one of America's most insightful preachers. Read how he dances with the text(s), his homiletical discoveries and frustrations, and how the sermon comes together. Then go to his website ( http://www.mpumc.org/ ) and watch him deliver the sermon. You will learn something every time you read his Preaching Journal.


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://stsams.org/pipermail/propertalk_stsams.org/attachments/20100215/9e6f3647/attachment.htm>