Lent is a time of spiritual rigor and growth. The main way this is done is through intensified meditation on God’s Word and prayer. To that end, St. John’s and St. Peter’s offer midweek services for your spiritual growth. The Book of Psalms is one of God’s most precious gifts to us. Martin Luther, the great Reformer, loved the Psalms and extolled their use:
No books of moral tales and no legends of saints which have been written, or ever will be, are to my mind as noble as the Book of Psalms…. In it we find what all saints do — their attitude to God, to their friends, to their foes; and their manner of life and behavior in face of manifold dangers and sufferings. Above all this, the book contains divine and helpful doctrines and commandments of every kind. It should be precious to us if only because it most clearly promises the death and resurrection of Christ, and describes his kingdom, and the nature and standing of all Christian people. It could well be called a “little Bible” since it contains, set out in the briefest and most beautiful form, all that’s to be found in the whole Bible, a book of good examples from among the whole of Christendom and from among the saints, in order that those who could not read the whole Bible through would have almost the whole of it in summary form.
On Wednesdays in Lent, we will be studying the Psalms together during our special Lenten midweek services. In particular, we will examine five categories Martin Luther used to describe them: Psalms of Prophecy, Instruction, Comfort, Prayer, and Thanks. Come and hear, so that your heart may be increasingly nourished by this most precious gift, the Psalms.
Dates: Wednesdays, March 8, 15, 22, 29, and April 5
Time: Noon at St. John’s, Rankin (40 minutes or less); 7:00 PM at St. Peter’s, Forestville
(All services preceded by a meal.)
