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Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up thine hand: forget not the humble. Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it. Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless. Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none. The Lord is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land. Lord, thou hast heard the desire...

Read the following text from Psalm 69. 22 Let their table before them become a snare; And when they are in peace, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see; And make their loins continually to shake. 24 Pour out thine indignation upon them, And let the fierceness of thine anger overtake them. 25 Let their habitation be desolate; Let none dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; And they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou hast wounded. 27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity;...

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.(Psalm 2:1-4)According to the Divine Psalmist, the Kings of the Earth and the rulers have embarked on an all-encompassing liberation movement, seeking to use their influence to break society free from the “bands” and “cords” of the religion of the LORD and his...

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.(Psalm 2:1-3)The first two Psalms go together. Perhaps it isn’t immediately apparent, because in some ways they are completely different, but I believe the Holy Spirit led those who placed them side by side as the opening of the Psalter. Psalm one examines a lone individual, a God worshipping , scripture meditating disciple who has made...

“Let Us Go to the House of the LORD!” (Psalm 122:1) You may notice that we still have the white paraments up from last week, when we observed All Saints’ Day. That’s because today we’re doing a kind of “All Saints’ Day, Part Two.” Last week we remembered those from our midst who entered the Church Triumphant over the past twelve months: Homer and Dorothy Rouggly, Bob and Dottie Worsham. This week, today, we’re remembering other departed saints from our midst, whom we commemorated at the start of the service with a plaque at the entrance to our church. The...

I'm trying to find an old source for the music of hymns and psalms from about 1775 to 1815. Since I want to transcribe from it, I'd be looking for something written down before 1923. Would anyone be able to point me to something of that kind?

“Confessing the Faith with the Augsburg Confessors” (Psalm 119:46) Today Lutheran churches around the world are celebrating the 487th anniversary of the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. On June 25, 1530, in the city of Augsburg, Germany, a group of Lutheran princes presented a confession of their faith, composed by the theologian Philip Melanchthon, Luther’s right-hand man--they presented their confession to Emperor Charles V. That document, called the Augsburg Confession, summarizes what our Lutheran churches believe, teach, and confess, on the basis of Holy Scripture. Today then we want to consider what it means for us to be “Confessing the...

Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:1-4)Psalm one and Psalm Two go together. Psalm one looks at an individual over against the world he lives in. The Individual is separated inwardly, he thinks differently because he has a different source, the Law of God. He meditates on...

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.(Psalm 1:1-3)In the first Psalm, God reveals the marks of the truly blessed man. His blessedness comes not from outward...

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the...

“Like a Tree Planted by Streams of Water” (Psalm 1) One of the delights of late summer is all the delicious fruit that we get to enjoy, fruit that the fruit trees have produced: peaches, apples, cherries. Juicy, ripe, sweet--the fruit is so delicious. I think the peaches are my favorite. But those fruit trees could not have yielded all that good fruit unless they had a plentiful supply of water. They need the water to produce the fruit. In a way, that is a picture of our lives as Christians. We need the “water” of God’s word in order...

As if the 2016 cycle couldn’t get any uglier, a nasty war of words broke out Friday when Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid accused a Republican senator of “praying” for President Obama’s death. ADVERTISEMENT The allegations followed Georgia Sen. David Perdue’s remarks Friday to a Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington. “We are called to pray for our country, for our leaders, and yes, even our president,” Perdue said. “I think we should pray for Barack Obama.” He added, “We need to be very specific about how we pray. We should pray like Psalms 109:8 says. It says, 'Let...

The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken. The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. (Psalm 9:14-15)The ninth Psalm is an eschatological revelation. The Psalmist ,by the Holy Spirit celebrates the coming of the LORD . At his Arrival, the united international enemies of Israel fall, they are turned back and routed! They had besieged her in their fury, but God rebukes them,”putting out their name” forever! The LORD comes...

Bishop Doerfler’s Stunning Church Music Letter   HE PSALMS from the Old Testament give witness to the human expression of faith through Sacred Music that manifests the beauty of God. It is our joy to give God the best, most beautiful musical expression that we can offer him as we sing the Mass. My illustrious predecessor, the Most Reverend Alexander K. Sample, wrote eloquently regarding Sacred Music in his pastoral letter entitled, Rejoice in the Lord Always. The teaching and directives given therein remain in effect, although he acknowledged that the implementation of the directives would take some time...

“Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani?” (Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12; Psalm 22; Mark 15:1-47)“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” This is one of the seven words from the cross, that is, one of the seven times Jesus spoke during his crucifixion. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” This saying of Jesus is recorded for us in two of the four gospels, in Matthew and Mark, where it is the only word from the cross that is recorded. For the other words from the cross, we have to go to Luke and John. “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” I think what is so striking about this word from...

“A Fruitful Tree” (Galatians 5:16-25; John 15:1-5; Psalm 1)We just heard a bunch of readings from a variety of places in the Bible--Psalm 1, Proverbs, Jeremiah, Paul’s letter to the Galatians, and words of Jesus from the gospels of St. Luke and St. John--and all of these readings, about trees bearing fruit. This is an image of course of people and the fruits or works that they produce in their lives. Now the first thing to recognize is that we all bear fruit. We all produce works in our lives. The question is, though: What kind of fruit are we...

O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one,How blessed will be the one who repays youWith the recompense with which you have repaid us.How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little onesAgainst the rock! (Ps. 137:8–9)2What nasty person would say such things? Well—a pretty angry psalmist! This portion of Psalm 137 is one of various “imprecatory psalms” (Pss. 7, 12, 35, 55, 58, 59, 69, 79, 83, 109, 137, 139). “Imprecation” is the calling down of curses or divine judgments on someone. Imprecatory passages have shocked some modern editors into performing “psalmectomies” on psalter hymnals, excising these...

“Restore Us, O God” (Psalms 80, 85, 126)We’ve just heard three psalms that are appointed for this Advent season, Psalms 80, 85, and 126. Did you happen to catch what they have in common? There was a connecting theme running through all three of these psalms. And here it is. It is the prayer, in one form or another, that goes something like this: “Restore Us, O God.” In Psalm 126, we heard of a previous restoration: “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.” And then the psalmist prays that the Lord would...

Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.(Psalm 40:6-8)The Psalms of the Bible, can only be fully appreciated when one realizes that they are the prayers not only of Israel, but of Israel’s Messiah. The Messiah is in the psalms, he is predicted there, his prayers, worship, thoughts, hopes, are recorded in this prayer-book...

"...All we Christian people are indeed duty-bound to give great and undying thanks to the holy prophet David, who so diligently left us in writing his most devout psalms for us and our posterity to read. And he did so, it seems to me, chiefly for three reasons: first, that the minds of sinners might be raised up and excited by these holy psalms...secondly, that if any man or woman had fallen into great and abominable sins, they should not despair but put their entire and steadfast hope of forgiveness in God; thirdly, that they might use these holy psalms...