Psalm 90:1–6, 12 — Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Dwelling Place

Why families choose it

The oldest prayer in the psalter, attributed to Moses, and the honest one about time: a thousand years as yesterday, a life like grass that flourishes in the morning and is cut down at evening. Read for a grandparent it does two things at once — it tells the truth about how long even a long life is, and it sets that life inside a dwelling place ‘in all generations’, which is exactly what a grandparent was.

Reading it aloud

This reading trusts the reader to say hard things calmly. Do not soften the grass verses — read them evenly, because for a long life fully lived they are not cruel, they are true. Leave your longest pause before ‘So teach us to number our days’; the selection jumps there, and the silence is the bridge. That last verse is the prayer of everyone listening — say it slowly, and let it end without decoration.

In the programme, list it in the order of service as “Scripture Reading — Psalm 90:1–6, 12” with the reader’s name beside it. The full text is public domain and may be printed on the life-story or back page.