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The Timeless Psalmsby Joan Stott |
A Call to Worship
Psalm 19, Lent 3B 2012
Come, let us worship the Lord - our Maker and Sustainer,who created and blesses us, and teaches us about Life.
Spirit of Creation, your world with all its beauty and diversity
teaches us about the wonder and beauty of our Great God.
Come, let us worship the Lord – the Law-Giving God,
who teaches us how to respond to God and to each other.
Revealing God, you share yourself with us in ways we
can accept and understand - teach us how to learn from you.
Come, let us worship the Lord – the God of all knowledge,
who sees, knows, forgives and loves us – just as we are.
May our words and our thoughts be pleasing to you,
O LORD, our Rock, our Redeemer, and our Eternal God. Amen.
If used in shared worship, please provide an acknowledgement as follows:
© 2012 Joan Stott – "The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year B, used with permission.
Prayers of Thankfulness and Trust
Psalm 19, Lent 3B 2012
Revealing God, we give you our thanks for the way youcome to us in so many ways, to ensure that we can receive
your messages and comprehend them, even if only in small
pieces of your whole truth. We give thanks that every day
we are reminded of your creative powers that give us silent
messages about the wonder and beauty of our Creating God.
We offer you our praise and our trust, through all of our living.
Holy God, we give thanks that we also receive messages and
new insights into the being and nature of our Generous God.
Over the centuries, you have always shown and taught people
the truths of your love, justice and peace; and of their need to
live together in harmony, respect and in compassionate care
of each other. You have also taught us how to worship and praise
you; and how to serve you and bring honour to your holy name.
We offer you our praise and our trust, through all of our living.
Eternal Word of God, you also teach us that often we fail and
become separated from you and your glorious presence. This
separation from you diminishes us as people, because our lives
revolve around self and our own interests, and we lose sight of you,
our Eternal Father, and our brothers and sisters and their needs.
We ask you that help us to trust you enough to let go of our self
centred and sin-filled living, and to follow your ways of community.
We offer you our praise and our trust, through all of our living.
Inspire within us all, the desire to know and love God with all our
being, and that each day we may read the messages of God’s
eternal presence in nature and the created world; to experience
God through the Laws of God for righteous living; and to know
our sinful nature and offer it to God, so that as forgiven people, we
may offer you our praise and our trust, through all of our living. Amen.
If used in shared worship, please provide an acknowledgement as follows:
© 2012 Joan Stott – "The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year B, used with permission.
A Personal Meditation
Psalm 19, Lent 3B 2012
Generous God, I am so glad that you come to me and myfellow pilgrims in more than one way, ensuring that ‘God’s
message’ will somehow penetrate our consciousness, and
our heart and soul. Perhaps God’s messages are most easily
seen and noted in creation - because it is hard not to see,
hear, smell and gain some understanding of what God is
teaching us about God’s own Being and Nature, because
of the daily and nightly miracles on display in God’s creation!
| Creative pause: | God is teaching us with daily and nightly miracles. |
Persistent God, how thankful I am that you stay close by me,
whether I want you there or not! Trying to totally ignore God’s
messages is rather hard – because God never stops with my
lessons – that difficult lesson of living in harmony with my family,
my neighbours and the ‘stranger’ in my street. I love the concept
of harmony – even if I do not act upon it! When singing together,
or when creating music together, if I want to do it successfully, I
have to listen to all my neighbours to ensure we are all in ‘harmony’
with each other. That is one of the main lessons of God’s Laws—
listening to each other, and listening to God. Listening to God
calling me to worship where I am given the blessing of God’s
presence and enlivened by God’s words; listening to God calling
me to witness and service; listening to my neighbour and to the
‘strangers’ – so that I am actively part of a harmonious community.
| Creative pause: | Listening to God’s lesson about harmonious community living. |
Forgiving God, I really do appreciate the lessons you give me about
your tender mercy and your unfailing love – they are my life-blood!
Then, too, there are also the lessons on recognising my own sinfulness
and what I need to daily learn from those lessons! The lessons about
the ‘humble heart’ is a difficult one, but hopefully I am slowly starting to
understand it. Why is it so much harder to learn some lessons than
others? Why are the lessons about God’s loving forgiveness so much
easier to comprehend and act upon, than the lessons about learning
to make confession of my sinfulness? I guess that is part of the joyous
miracle of being human! Loving God, be patient with me and help me
learn all these quiet lessons that you so generously give me every day.
| Creative pause: | Learning each day the quiet lessons God gives to me. |