Psalm 104

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.

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Psalm 100

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
2   Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!

3 Know that the Lord is God!
    It is he that made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

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Psalm 90

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.”

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Abounding in steadfast love

Psalm 103

A sermon for the Season of Lent

Today our text is Psalm 103. We will deal with the first 13 verses. It begins:
1“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”
That “bless” really means “praise” and “O my soul” means with my whole person, as it goes on: “and all that is within me bless his holy name!”

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Out of the Depths

Psalm 130

A sermon for the Season of Lent

Why do we have Lent? For those of us in the Protestant tradition, it is not so obvious. It is important for us to realize why. We don’t have any trouble with Christmas. Christmas was first made a celebration in 346 A.D., 350 years after Jesus was born. We have no trouble getting kids ready for Christmas. But then there is Ash Wednesday, and maybe we should do something more? We don’t want to be like those who say we can’t eat meat on Fridays, that we have to do certain things. There is something about suffering, and maybe we should give up Lent for Lent. What’s it for?

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