Mourning and Dancing: the “Rhythm & Blues” of Life
Lectionary Date: May 5, 2019 [3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C]
Dr. Stephen Reid joins Rachel and Tim this week for a long-form episode, focusing on Psalm 30. Steve is Professor of Christian Scriptures at George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University. He earned his PhD at Emory University and has held a number of academic positions during his career. Dr. Reid is ordained in the Church of the Brethren, and you can find his preaching tips and exegetical work on WorkingPreacher.org. His areas of expertise include the Psalms, apocalyptic literature (especially Daniel), and black biblical hermeneutics. If you’d like to know more about his work, check out his book, Listening In: A Multicultural Reading of the Psalms.
This indeed was an enjoyable discussion to hear. There were two aspects that really resonated with me as it relates to Psalm 30…
(1) Hearing Professor Reid say “Christendom has fallen apart and this is good news” was initially startling and then refreshingly understood to mean that it gives way to rekindling a new approach to essentialness of biblical studies.
(2) And to hear “First person language is a liturgical move blending of ‘I’ and ‘We’…helps in reading the text in Psalm 30 slower and paying closer attention to the movements and investigating the why.