A sermon for the Season of Lent (Maundy Thursday)
Maundy Thursday marks the beginning of the high holy days which are the center of the Christian year. The word “Maundy” comes from the word “mandated,” that is, we are commanded, or called on, to celebrate this because it is the beginning of the Lord’s Supper. It is “three days” from Thursday night to Sunday morning.
A sermon for the Season of Pentecost
There has long been a rumor that Psalm 46 contains a secret code, and it goes like this: Using the King James Version of this Psalm, when you count 46 words in, you come to the word “shake.” (It’s toward the end of the third verse.) If you then start at the end of the Psalm and count 46 words in, you come to the word “spear.” When you combine these two words, you have “Shakespeare.” And, as a matter of fact, in 1611 when the King James Version of the Bible was published, Shakespeare was 46 years old. He had just moved back to Stratford. He would have been 46 through the end of April. April 23rd was his birthday.
A sermon for the Season of Lent
Psalm 104 is a creation Psalm about the glory of nature and the whole of creation. This Psalm, like other creation Psalms, is the basis for hymns such as “All creatures of our God and King,” “Let all things now living,” and “All things bright and beautiful.”
As you likely know, in 1965 the British veterinarian, Alf Wight, took the title of the hymn “All things bright and beautiful” and under the pen name James Herriot, wrote a series of poignant stories about the animals he treated and their owners.
A sermon for the Season of Lent
Some years ago, the beloved father of a family died, and his son asked to read Psalm 90 at his father’s funeral. It is a beautiful psalm, and it ends like this:
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.”