Sermon for July 19th, 2026

Psalm 20:1-9

To the leader. A Psalm of David. 1 The Lord answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary, and give you support from Zion. 3 May he remember all your offerings, and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah 4 May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your plans. 5 May we shout for joy over your victory, and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all your petitions. 6 Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with mighty victories by his right hand. 7 Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses, but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They will collapse and fall, but we shall rise and stand upright. 9 Give victory to the king, O Lord; answer us when we call.

Psalm 20: Setting Out With a Blessing

There's an old Irish blessing--probably not the one you're thinking of--and it goes like this: May those who love us, love us. And those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts. And if he doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping.

Here's another one: May your neighbors respect you, may trouble neglect you, may the angels protect you, and may heaven accept you—but not just yet.

And one more: May you have the foresight to know where you are going, the hindsight to know where you've been, and the good luck not to run over yourself in the process.

Blessings--whether funny, beautiful, or deeply touching--are essentially small prayers of goodwill that we express toward people or things that are close to us. We bless our food before a meal, we bless people when they sneeze, and here in Texas, we say "bless your heart" when we want to politely excuse someone who said or did something stupid. As a church community, we bless backpacks at the beginning of a school year (which we'll do again two weeks from today!); we bless our graduates at the end of the school year; we bless the pets in our community after Easter, and we say a shalom blessing over families and church members who are moving away to begin a new chapter of their lives in a different place. We'll come back to that a bit later in the service!

Our scripture reading today is Psalm 20, which is essentially a Psalm of Blessing for the King of Israel, as he departs with his armies to fight battles--hence the last line in verse 9--Give victory to the king, O Lord; answer us when we call. But embedded in this prayer for victory is, I think, a template...