For the Beauty of the Earth

Yesterday was focused on praising God for what we see in his good creation. One song we sang was “For the Beauty of the Earth” by Folliott Pierpoint. The second verse reads:

For the wonder of each hour

of the day and of the night,

hill and vale and tree and flower,

sun and moon and stars of light,

Christ, our Lord, to you we raise

this, our hymn of grateful praise.

I closed the sermon with an encouragement to pay attention to what we see in creation this week and to be intentional about thanking God for the beauty we see around us. Pierpoint wrote his hymn after hiking to a hillside near his hometown of Bath, England and sitting to take in the view of God’s creation. We sometimes can get caught in the trap of seeing only the negative rather than the good we see around us.

With the psalmist we say:

I will sing to the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the LORD.

(Psalm 104:33-34, NIV)

Next week we’ll look at Psalm 118 which is quoted several times in the New Testament. Invite someone to come along with you!

God bless,

Brian

Scripture readings for next Sunday

Psalm 118—What is the theme of this psalm?

Matthew 21:33-46—What does Jesus mean when he quotes Psalm 118 here?

Lamentations 3:19-27—How might we apply this passage to our lives today?

2 Timothy 2:11-19—What does this passage teach us about God’s faithfulness?