May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy. Psalm 126:5
Reflection:
There are ebbs and flows in our lived experience, tears flow, joy is shouted, and there are countless feelings in the in-between. Psalms can provide language and liturgy for all moments we need to articulate our emotions before God. Psalms for joy and celebration. Psalms for sorrow and grief. Psalms for love and peace. Psalms for despair. Psalms for hope. Psalms for when everything is falling apart. Psalms for holy anger and screams for justice. Psalms for communal worship and for personal prayer. Psalms for God’s mysteriousness that we cannot quite put into words. Psalms for holy wonder at the sacredness of everyday moments.
I’m reflecting on this psalm in what is yet another season of transition in my life. Circumstances will change. It will get better and it will get worse. God’s love is steadfast.
It seems to me that God has a habit of bringing us out of the difficult times. God is renewing, transforming, and enlivening us again. God’s work is for our salvation; the cycle of life, death, and resurrection spiral anew in each generation. This cycle is not only for the forgiveness of sin but for the reversal of the oppression and injustice caused by sin. Even now, the prisoners suffer, the poor are hungry, the sick are terrified by their illness, and yet, we believe that the injustices that each of them face will be righted, even though the work is still incomplete. There is hope that while the pattern repeats, it is not an exact repeat, more like a spiral than a circle. We are moving closer to the kin-dom of God.
In advent, we sow tears, we mourn, we repent, and we hope that God will be born within us once again, to bring the joy of our salvation.
I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020 shortly after we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. It is a practice I have continued since. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, Third Church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. While we were using Psalms in year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. In Advent of 2020 we rejoined those who use the lectionary in year B. Advent of 2021 year C. Advent of 2022 year A. Advent of 2023 year B.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections.
Year B Psalms
Advent – Transfiguration: 1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 80, 2nd Sunday in Advent Psalm 85, 3rd Sunday in Advent Psalm 126, 4th Sunday in Advent Psalm 89, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Psalm 148, New Year’s Day Psalm 8, Epiphany Psalm 72, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 139, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 62, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 111, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 147, Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Lent) Psalm 50
Lent: Ash Wednesday Psalm 51, 1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 25, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 22, 3rdSunday in Lent Psalm 19, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 107, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 51 or Psalm 119:9-16, 6th Sunday in Lent (Palm or Passion Sunday) Psalm 118 or 31
Holy Week: Monday Psalm 36, Tuesday Psalm 71, Wednesday Psalm 70, Maundy Thursday Psalm 116, Good Friday Psalm 22, Holy Saturday Psalm 31
Easter: Easter Psalm 118 or 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 133, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 4, 4th Sunday of Easter Psalm 23, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 22, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 98, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 1, Day of Pentecost Psalm 104
Season After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 81, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 138 or Psalm 130, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 20 or Psalm 92, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 9or Psalm 133 or Psalm 107, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 130 or Psalm 30, 7th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 48 or Psalm 123, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 24 or Psalm 85, 9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 89 or Psalm 23, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 14 or Psalm 145, 11thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 51 or Psalm 78, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 130 or Psalm 34, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 111 or Psalm 34, 14th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 84 or Psalm 34, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 45 or Psalm 15, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 125 or Psalm 146, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 19 or Psalm 116, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 1 or Psalm 54, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 124 or Psalm 19, 20th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 26 or Psalm 8, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 22 or Psalm 90, 22ndSunday after Pentecost Psalm 104 or Psalm 91, 23rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 34 or Psalm 126, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 146 or 119, 25th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 127 or Psalm 146, 26th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 16, 27th Sunday after Pentecost (Christ the King) Psalm 132 or Psalm 93.
Sources and notes:
“Psalm 126 is the seventh in the collection of songs of ascents (see Psalms 120 – 134). It is the voice of pilgrims to Jerusalem who have come to remember the restoration of Zion and seek the renewal of the people of the LORD.” Mays p. 399
“The song is about joy remembered and joy anticipated. In both cases the joy is the work of LORD, in the first through the restoration of Zion and in the second through the renewal of those who sing the song.” Mays p. 399
“”Restore the fortunes” is a translation of the Hebrew idiom that is difficult to replicate in English. It is a fixed expression found primarily in prophetic sayings, where it is used for the radical change for the conditions brought about by divine wrath to those which result from divine favor. It means restoration of an earlier situation between God and people (e.g., Amos 9:14; Joel 3:1; Jer. 29:14; Zeph. 2:7).” Mays p. 399
“The cycle of misfortune and deliverance celebrated in v 1 has half come round again. The community bring their prayer for restoration with the hope that Yahweh will repeat his saving activity (cf. 106:43-44; Judg 3:9, 15).” WBC p. 174
“What the pilgrims remember about the past they pray for in the present. The restoration of Zion needs completion in the restoration of the people; the memory of its restoration gives hope for their own renewal.” Mays p. 400
“…Psalm 126 reminds us that we live in the hope of God’s help, always remembering what God has done in the past … and always anticipating what God will do in the further…” NIB p. 664
“Traditionally, sowing had overtones of sorrow as a sign of death (cf. John 12:24; 1 For 15:36). But the toil and tears of frustration would eventually give way to a harvest of blessing for the community (cf. 30:6 [5]).” WBC p. 174
This psalm pops up in the lectionary in Lent and Advent maybe indicating that “only those who move toward Christmas and Eater with the “tears” of repentance and need may enter into the joy of “the great thing God does for us”.” Mays p. 400
“Psalm 126 is also appropriately associated with the seasons of Advent and Lent, because it communicates the reality that the people of God always live by both memory and hope. During Advent and Lent, we remember the humble and humbling circumstances of Jesus’ birth and death; yet we do so in the joyful hope represented by his resurrection and the promise of the renewal of all things. The hopeful, joyful tone of Psalm 126 points to the possibility that dreaming in v. 1 involves not simply the incredulous response to a divine act of deliverance but the suggestion that every divine act of deliverance evokes a joyous vision of the future out of which the people of God live (see Joel 2:28 and its use in Acts 2:17).” NIB p. 665
“The memory of restoration in the past was, according to most biblical commentators who adhere to the storyline of the Psalter, about the return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. The singers of Psalm 126, who have arrived in Jerusalem to celebrate a sacred festival, find themselves in a situation of despair and seek God’s help. In doing so they recall the restoration to Zion, something the people in exile hoped for but never dreamed would happen. Psalm 126 presents what LeAnn Snow Flesher calls “life’s ebbs and flows.” She maintains that our ancestors in the faith understood the ebbs and flows described in the book of Psalms and that the psalms provide the “liturgical tools” to make sense of and deal with them, in the form of laments and words of praise.” W p. 201
Altar, Robert. 2007. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary New York: W. W. Norton & Company
WBC Allen, Leslie C. 1983. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Vol. 21. Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1974. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. 8th ed. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.
Bourgeault, C. (2006). Chanting the psalms: A practical guide Audio Book. New Seeds.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2007. Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade.
Brueggemann Brueggemann, Walter. 2014. From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Brueggemann, Walter. Davis Hanskins, Editor. 2022. Our Hearts Wait: Worshiping Through Praise and Lament in the Psalms Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY.
Brueggemann, Walter. (2002). Spirituality of the psalms. Augsburg Pub. House.
Brueggemann, Walter. (1984). The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Chilson, Richard, ed. You Shall Not Want: A Spiritual Journey Based on the Psalms. Ave Maria Press, 2009.
Chittister Chittister, Joan. (2011). Songs of the heart: reflections on the psalms. John Garratt Publishing.
Cudjoe-Wilkes, G., Wilkes, A. J., & Moss, O. (2022). Psalms for black lives: Reflections for the work of Liberation. Upper Room Books.
WBC Craigie, Peter C. 1983. Psalms 1-50–Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 19. Waco, TX: Word Books.
Creach Creach, Jerome Frederick Davis. 1998. Psalms: Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.
W de Claisse-Walford, Nancy L. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 4-5. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 22. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2020.
Green, Barbara. 1997. Like a Tree Planted: An Exploration of Psalms and Parables Through Metaphor. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
W Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 2-3. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 21. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2016.
NIB Keck, Leander E. 2015. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Lewis, C. S. (2017). Reflections on the Psalms. Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
Mays Mays, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
McCann McCann, J. C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
McCann, J. C., & Howell, J. C. 2001. Preaching the Psalms. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Merrill, N. C. (2020). Psalms for praying an invitation to wholeness (10th Anniversary Edition ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Miller Miller, Patrick D. 1986. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Morgan, Michael. 2010. The Psalter for Christian Worship Revised Edition. Westminster John Knox Press.
Schlimm Schlimm, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know.Nashville, TN: Abington Press.
Spong Spong, M. (Ed.). (2020). The words of her mouth: Psalms for the struggle. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press.
WBC Tate, Marvin E. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. Edited by David Allan. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Vol. 20. Waco, TX: Word.
Weems, Ann. 1995. Psalm of Lament. Westminster John Knox Pres
OTL Weiser, Artur. 1998. Old Testament Library: Psalms. Translated by Herbert Hartwell. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Manchester University Press.
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