Juliana’s Sermon on Psalm 104

Juliana Mecera is a congregant at St. Lydia’s and a graduate of St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary.  She shared this sermon on Psalm 104 with us at dinner church on July 17.

Psalm 104 begins the evening service—or Vespers—in the church I was raised in. So, I grew up hearing this psalm in church every Saturday night. Sometimes I chanted it for the entire congregation. Sometimes I sang it as part of the choir. I love the feeling of the words on my tongue. I love the even rhythm of the verses, but it’s not just the rhythm of this psalm that is steady—the words themselves are about stability and order.

The psalm is all about nature and the way the earth works that we both take for granted and really, truly depend on. We need water to cool & hydrate us on these hot days. We need plants to eat for strength. We need the trees to give us a bit of shade. And Psalm 104 praises God for creating and giving us all these things that work together in a way that we can depend on. Through the earth, God provides a kind of foundation or stable ground for us. And, As human beings, this order grants us comfort.

So, as a middle-school and high-school student, when I’d come to church panicked about the slew of projects that would soon be due at school, I took comfort in these words that told me that God would provide. I loved the words, “These all look to you to give them their food in due season.” It was beautiful to me that my anxiety could be curbed by being reminded of God’s care for the earth. I was part of God’s creation—and I trusted that as part of that, I got cared for, too.

But sometimes, those things that make up our foundation in life are taken away from us. We do not always have plenty. More often than not this world seems far from orderly or stable at all.

Read the rest of Juliana’s sermon here.