63B*
A Call to Worship
All Saints' Day Year B 2015
Psalm 24

Creating God, we come to share in worshipping the Lord, who made the earth.
The Lord God also made all that inhabits and is part of the earth’s bountiful life!

Amazing God, we come to praise God for all of life that is ordered and balanced.
Our God also made all that enables right relationships between God and creation.

Transforming God, through your creative processes grounded in God’s love, you
overcame the powers of chaos and darkness, bringing light and joy to your creation.
Mysterious and Wonderful God, through the power of love, your creation is good
and beautiful and in harmony with itself; which calls us to also be one with you in love. Amen.

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Psalm 24
A psalm of David.

1 The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.
The world and all its people belong to him.
2 For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas
and built it on the ocean depths.

3 Who may climb the mountain of the LORD?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
who do not worship idols and never tell lies.
5 They will receive the LORD’s blessing
and have a right relationship with God their saviour.
6 Such people may seek you and worship
in your presence, O God of Jacob.
Interlude

7 Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors,
and let the King of glory enter.
8 Who is the King of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty; the LORD, invincible in battle.
9 Open up, ancient gates! Open up, ancient doors,
and let the King of glory enter.
10 Who is the King of glory? The LORD of Heaven’s Armies—
he is the King of glory.
Interlude

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Prayers of Thankfulness and Confession
All Saints' Day Year B 2015
Psalm 24

“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The world and all its people belong
to him...” Creating God, we come to share together in worshipping the Lord God,
who was, is, and is to be is the Initiator, Author and Completion of all creation, the
cosmos, and who is especially the Lord and Creator of our earth; and all that lives
on, or is a part of this earth’s bountiful and beautiful life! We give thanks for all that
speaks to our inner being through God’s creation, and the way its beauty enriches
our lives. Loving God, you created this world in love, and you have a deep and
eternal love for all you have created and continue to create; so forgive us when we
do not treat “the work of your hands”¹ with respect and honour its purposes and value.

Amazing God, we come to praise God for all of life as you created it – ordered and
balanced with each element of life supporting and sustaining another form of life.
We give thanks for the wide and wonderful diversity of life as we know it; and which
yet has to be discovered and marvelled at. We give thanks that the Creating Spirit of
God enables people to have something of God’s holy spark within us, which enables
us to seek to live in a right and balanced relationship with God and with the created
world. Forgive us when through our thoughts, motivations and/or actions, that balance
is disturbed, and we are out of step with our Creating and Merciful God. We give thanks
that “Your sovereign grace to all extends immense and unconfined; from age to age it
never ends, to reach all humankind..”² With thanks and praise, we now worship you!

Mysterious and Wonderful God, through your creative processes you overcame the
powers of chaos and darkness, bringing light and joy for all your creation. Transforming
God, through the power of love active in the lives of people, we give thanks for all those
people “...whose hands and hearts were pure...” and who through their living and caring.
have guided and blessed us on our faith journey. Forgive us, Generous God, when we
have failed to be an encouraging mentor to people who sought our help; and through
our preoccupation and self-centredness, we have failed to be aware of all their needs.
“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it...” May we faithfully revere our Creator God. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
All Saints' Day Year B 2015
Psalm 24

I remember as a child of about eight years old puzzling about Psalm 24 which
we often read in church, using the alternating verses reading method - by the
people and minister. He obviously loved that psalm - as we read it very often
in worship. Why was it I wondered then, that there was no a proper answer to the
questions the psalmist asked: “Who is the King of glory?” To my mind then, the
answer given didn’t answer the question: “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies—he is
the King of glory.” In addition, there was an earlier question that also puzzled me:
“...Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place...?”
I did not know where was the “...mountain of the LORD...”; but if there were limits
on who could stand in God’s “holy place” – how was it was acceptable for me to
go to church? Such is the mind of a child! Yet, there are some questions to which
the answers do not reveal any greater truths; and there are answers that leave one
just as bewildered and confused as ever! The answers in Psalm 24 are like that:
“...Only those whose hands and hearts are pure, who do not worship idols and
never tell lies...” Surely, it is only by God’s grace that we can even approach God!



The author asked twice “Who is the King of glory?” and the first answer is: “...The LORD,
strong and mighty; the LORD, invincible in battle. Open up, ancient gates! Open up,
ancient doors, and let the King of glory enter...’ The awesomely strong and mighty Lord
had defeated the powers of chaos, bringing order to the world, just as God did at the
world’s creation. Various translations of Genesis 1:2 gather a word picture of how people
have tried to describe the chaos of the pre-creation experience. The earth was described
as a “soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness” (The Message); “At first the earth
lacked shape and was totally empty, and a dark fog draped over the deep.” (The Voice);
“the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was
engulfed in total darkness” (Good News Bible); “the earth was a formless void and
darkness covered the face of the deep” (New Revised Standard Version). “The deep”
and “the deep sea” have similar connections to “chaos” in biblical terms, all of which are
conquered by “the King of glory” in the battle over disorder and God’s establishment of
order, balance and integrity because: “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. The
world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas
and built it on the ocean depths...” Once again, we have a connection with the creation.



“...Who may climb the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place..?” Professor
Walter Brueggemann writes in relation to this question: “...The response gives a prophetic
tone to the psalm, for qualifications for entering the sanctuary are ethical rather than ritual.
Verse 4 puts those moral qualities … first, ‘clean hands and pure hearts.’ Both actions and
intentions are part of the equation that is based on integrity rather than deception… Worship
and other dimensions of life are to match… [and] those who match their lives of worship and
integrity experience God as the one who is present to bless….”³ The answer is: those whose
lives of integrity and through confession of sin and receive forgiveness – they may worship God!



1 Psalm 8:3 (NLT)

2 From “Together in Song” #122
“What shall I do my God to love...?”
Words by Charles Wesley
Words in the Public Domain

3 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
& William H Bellinger Junior from “Psalms”
Psalm 24, page 1128
© 2014 Cambridge University Press

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Acknowledgements:
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

*Revised Indexing Scheme from 'Consultation on Church Union' (COCU).

I acknowledge and give heartfelt thanks for the theological inspiration available from the writings of
Professor Walter Brueggemann; and through the resources from the internet and “The Text this Week” (Textweek).

If the Prayers and/or Meditations are used in shared worship, please provide this acknowledgement:
© 2015 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year B. Used with permission.

jstott@netspace.net.au
www.thetimelesspsalms.net

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