CONTEXT OF THE PSALM - This psalm is, according to rabbinic sources, with the Feast of Dedication or Hanukkah, which traces its origin back to the restoration of worship during the time of the Maccabees in 165 bce following the tragic desecration of the Temple under the orders of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

PSALM 30 AND EASTER - Both Easter and our psalm-lesson share the affirmation that God reveals life-giving power as a gift. The awareness by the psalmist triggers thanks, praise, and dancing. The psalmist chooses life as God’s gift and gives thank to God forever-his/her entire life becomes a life of praise.

PRAISE ONLY WORKS IN GOOD TIMES? - Sometimes psychologically, readers tend to compartmentalize praise and lament as appropriate categories for good times vis-à-vis bad times. Suffering, however, doesn’t have to cancel out God’s good news that life is a gift from God. As one commentator remarks, joy is possible in the depths. And praise is not reserved for seasons of prosperity; rather it becomes a constant way of life . . . The psalmist prays to live and lives to praise. [1]

The Psalmist uses evocative images to describe his/her experience before the intervention of God turns life around-living in Sheol, among those gone down to the Pit. In recent times we might describe such a life as being "in the pits." How would you describe "the Pit?" What images can you think of that could convey the sense of utter hopelessness that psalmist’s words evoke?

At the end of the psalm, the writer sings a new tune-"you’ve turned my mourning into dancing . . . you’ve clothed me with joy." Can you think of your own grace-filled reversals in which God moved within your life in such a way that you could rejoice even in the midst of a tough situation?

This psalm could provide the basic framework / structure for a confessional homily that begins with high praise, moves to a description of a tough situation of hopelessness, the cries for help, and concluding with a return to high praise.

I would spend some time examining the "Pit"+ iful language of hopelessness. I don’t have the book at the moment, but Brueggemann spends some time discussing these very terms that appear in Psalm 30. (Sorry, I don’t know the title of the book L)

I can envision Jesus sitting in the tomb just about to walk out and into a new place in the divine program and reciting this psalm. At least in spirit, this is the kind of song that would certainly reflect the passion and resurrection drama of Jesus.

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[1] New Interpreter’s Bible, XII (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998), page 606.