07C*
A Call to Worship
Christmas 2C 2016
Psalm 147: 12-20

We come to worship God in response to God’s summons to “Glorify the LORD...”
“Praise now the Lord, it’s good to raise our hearts and voices in his praise...”¹

We come to sing praises to God in response to God’s call to “Praise your God...”
God’s “nature and his work invite to make this duty our delight...he views his children
with delight, he sees their hope, he knows their fear... and loves his image there.”¹

We come to worship and praise God in response to God’s Self-disclosure in and
through creation; and by God’s actions of giving us Laws for holy, dedicated living.
“...Keen in God... with humble folk to dwell...” so “Sing to God with joy and gladness...
psalms of gratitude; with the voice of praise discover that to worship God is good...”²

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Psalm 147: 12-20

12 Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates
and blessed your children within your walls.
14 He sends peace across your nation
and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat.

15 He sends his orders to the world — how swiftly his word flies!

16 He sends the snow like white wool;
he scatters frost upon the ground like ashes.
17 He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold?
18 Then, at his command, it all melts. He sends his winds, and the ice thaws.

19 He has revealed his words to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel.
20 He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations.
Praise the LORD!

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Prayers of Praise and Thankfulness
Christmas 2C 2016
Psalm 147: 12-20

We come now to worship God in the sacred space of our living and loving
community of faith, in response to God’s summons to “Glorify the LORD...”
and together, to sing and pray our thankfulness for all God’s blessings to us.
We give thanks for the way God has guided us as a faith community; and for
the wise and dedicated leadership that has brought us to this time and place.
On a personal level, we also give thanks to God for those dedicated people
who have guided and blessed us on our faith journey; and who have always
“been there” for us when we needed them. It is because their faith and trust
in God, that we come together to “Glorify the LORD...”; and to offer our praises
for all God’s patient and forgiving mercy, and blessings that we have received.
“Praise now the Lord, it’s good to raise our hearts and voices in his praise...”¹

We come to sing praises to God in response to God’s call to “Praise your God...”
We give our thanks and praise to God because we have been blessed in so
many ways! We are so blessed to have the freedom to worship God as we are
called; that God has given us security in our homes; that God has blessed the
children with whom we most closely relate; and that we have food to feed the
peoples of our land. We pray now for people who do not know these blessings.
We pray for people who suffer persecution for their faith in God; for people who
do not know what it means to be secure; whose children are malnourished and
unhealthy; and who lack medical assistance or education that enables them to
live to their God-given potential. We pray for people who do not know what it
means to live in peace; and who only know tyranny, hardship and oppression.
We especially pray for people living in these difficult conditions, and who yet find
joy in life because of their faith in God, and we praise God for their faithfulness.
“Praise now the Lord, it’s good to raise our hearts and voices in his praise...”¹

We come to worship and praise God in response to God’s Self-disclosure in and
through creation; and by God’s actions of giving us Laws for holy, dedicated living.
There are so many ways we can come to know God if we keep our eyes and our
ears open; and if we have a receptive heart and mind! Help us each always to offer
our worship to God with an open heart and soul; and with an open mind and all of
our gentle and loving strength; and help us to be loving and accepting of all whom
we know as our “neighbours” – however we interpret that word. “...Praise the LORD!”
“Praise now the Lord, it’s good to raise our hearts and voices in his praise...”¹ Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Christmas 2C 2016
Psalm 147: 12-20

The selected verses of this psalm paint a picture of the Israelites as a community
that was very blessed by God, because of that community’s special involvement
in God initiated relationship centuries earlier. They were also very blessed by being
the recipient of God’s Law with its “decrees and regulations”; which gave the people
of Israel a unique approach for its people to live in loving, harmonious relationships;
especially with that Law’s intense focus on the worship of the One True God as
being central to a life that was worth living. God also blessed the people of Israel
by protecting them from invasion and giving them peace - whilst they remained
faithful to God; their children were also very blessed; and God provided them with
plentiful food. However, history teaches us that life was not always peaceful for the
people of Israel, especially when they disobeyed those “decrees and regulations”,
and then they suffered many hardships when they were invaded by their marauding
neighbours – as a self-imposed consequence of their faithless and godless living.



The psalmist played with words as he wrote: “...[God] has revealed his words to
Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel…” Jacob was the original name of that
ancient patriarch, but after Jacob’s life-changing experience, God gave Jacob the
name “Israel”; so the descendants “Abraham, Isaac and Jacob” became the “people
of Israel”. The psalmist’s other playful choices of words were: “Glorify the LORD, O
Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!” The actual site of Zion has had an interesting
history in that it has been shifted around over the years. Prior to its capture by David,
Zion had been a stronghold of the Jebusites– an early Canaanite people who lived
in the ancient city of Jebus - before David conquered it and gave it the title of the
“City of David”, which in turn became Jerusalem. Later on, the actual location of Zion
shifted to what was known as “Temple Mount”, and thus also the site of King Solomon’s
Temple. Eventually, according to some authors, the titles of “Zion” and the Jerusalem
Temple became almost inter-changeable, with “Zion” now referring to the surrounding
area of the remaining ruins of third Temple built by “Herod the Great”. Whilst “place”
was very important to those ancient people of Israel, it was the committed worship of
the One True God that sanctified and blessed those people’s faith and acts of worship.



Verse 11 introduces the theme of selected verses for today: “...the LORD’s delight is
in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love…” and the theme
that follows that introduction highlights the disclosure of God’s-Own-Self through God’s
care of all that God created by establishing the ordered pattern of the seasons. This
Self-disclosure to the people of Israel, with the attached understanding that they would
share their special knowledge of God throughout the whole world, was the mission of
the people of Israel. However, frequently they failed to fulfil or understand their mission—
or many even misrepresented that God of love to people; thereby denying countless
people an intimate knowledge of the God who yearned to love and be known by them.



1 From “Together in Song” #91
“Praise now the Lord, it’s good to raise”
Words by Isaac Watts 1675-1748 (alt)
Words in the Public Domain

2 From “Together in Song” #92
“Sing to God with joy and gladness”
Words By John L Bell © 1993 The Iona Community
Wild Goose Publishing Company
Used with Permission, Word of Life International License #2425

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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:
© 2016 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.

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

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