Sermon for June 25th, 2023

I have to admit…after two weeks in Scotland—one week of intense research for my dissertation, followed by another another intense week with my son hiking and backpacking over 40 miles up and down remote highland hills—then a transatlantic flight, going through customs, delayed flights, baggage mix ups, another three hour flight back to El Paso arriving at 11pm, and jet lag…I was totally going to recycle an old sermon to preach this week.

But then I read the Psalm I had originally planned to preach on today, Psalm 15. I was struck by its beauty and simplicity, the symmetry of its poetry in Hebrew, and the weight of its advice. I thought of my daughter Abigail, who is midway through her 15th year of life, and like most teenagers today faced with difficult choices and decisions in a complex culture where social norms, rules and values seem to change every day.

And so I couldn’t help myself. Not only did I write the sermon, I also decided to do my own translation of Psalm 15 from the original Hebrew. There’s nothing really wrong with the NRSV translation in your pew bibles, but I wanted to make a translation that really highlights the poetic features that are so clear in the Hebrew—the alliteration, the meter, the structure and even the playfulness of this poem, all as it dispenses some pretty profound advice for navigating through life’s challenges. So this translation, and this sermon, are dedicated to my daughter Abigail—and really to anyone searching for sense and simplicity in a complicated world.

Psalm 15:1-5 (OT p. 495)

David’s Song of DOs and DON’Ts.

1O YHWH, who can stay at your shelter?
Who may inhabit your holy hill?

2The ones who:
DO walk in the way of integrity
DO work at doing what’s right
DO speak truth from the heart;

3The ones who:
DON’T slander with twisted tongue
DON’T malign family or friends
DON’T pile shame upon their neighbors;

4The ones who:
DO perceive the wicked as worthless;
DO give weight to the ways of the godly;
DO keep their word, even when it hurts

The ones who:
DON’T barter back and forth and back again
5DON’T enrich themselves at others’ expense
DON’T demand bribes from decent beings.

The ones who DO all of these things… DON’T ever falter or fall.