05C*
A Call to Worship
Christmas Day (iii) Year C 2015
Psalm 98

People of God, draw near in faith and hope to worship God, and be blessed.
The more we sing praises, pray and worship God, the more we are blessed.

All that is created - draw near to acknowledge your Creator, and be blessed.
When we recognise and celebrate God’s glory in creation, we are very blessed.

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation; O my soul, praise him
for he is your health and salvation.... Let the Amen sound from his people again...”1
We are indeed blessed when we sing, praise and pray to God in worship and
celebration on this Christmas Day, as we worship and revere God the King. Amen.

Psalm 98

1 Sing a new song to the LORD, for he has done wonderful deeds.
His right hand has won a mighty victory;
his holy arm has shown his saving power!
2 The LORD has announced his victory
and has revealed his righteousness to every nation!
3 He has remembered his promise to love and be faithful to Israel.
The ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

4 Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy!
5 Sing your praise to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and melodious song,
6 with trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn.
Make a joyful symphony before the LORD, the King!

7 Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise!
Let the earth and all living things join in.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands in glee!
Let the hills sing out their songs of joy
9 before the LORD, for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with fairness.

Prayers of Praise
Christmas Day (iii) Year C 2015
Psalm 98

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation; O my soul, praise him
for he is your health and salvation.... Let the Amen sound from his people again...”1
As the people of God, we draw near in faith and hope to worship God, and we
are blessed as we sing our praises, pray, and offer our acts of worship to God.
As we sing: “...All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him..!1
we have not acknowledged the many things that God has created that do not
draw breath! So let each of them in their own way praise and honour God as “...the
sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the earth and all living things join in.
Let the rivers clap their hands in glee! Let the hills sing out their songs of joy…”
“Praise to the Lord, who in all things is wondrously reigning, ... uplifting, sustaining..”1

As we have offered our praises and celebrate that the sea and waters join in that
glad chorus, we are reminded of ancient times when the “....darkness covered the
deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters…”2
that this was the time known as “chaos”, and that God brought light and life out of
that chaos. There are many people today who consider that “chaos” still exists in our
world, and that God is not in control of all things. In faith and trust, the psalmist reminds
us that “…The LORD is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice,
and the nations with fairness…” With grateful hearts and minds, we celebrate the
coming of God amongst us as the Prince of Peace, and the “joy of loving hearts”.

“…Shout to the LORD, all the earth; break out in praise and sing for joy… Sing your
praise to the LORD…” Holy and Eternal God and King of all that was, all that is, and
all that will be into the unknown future, we dare to draw near to you in faith and trust—
to offer the gift of our praises to you. Help us always to grow in our understanding of
who it is we worship; and why we offer these acts of humble, yet joy-filled worship. Amen.

A Personal Meditation
Christmas Day (iii) Year C 2015
Psalm 98

The author of this psalm was obviously feeling jubilant about God’s victory over
an unnamed enemy, and encouraged his people to celebrate God’s powers and
majesty in free-flowing, uninhibited acts of worship. Their joyous worship included
singing and shouting; creating new songs and sounds; and the various musical
instruments added to those sounds; and finally the ram’s horn or Shofar, with its
loud and very evocative systems of blasted sounds, whose sound pattern depended
on the worship theme. The sound of the Shofar always sends a shiver down my
spine because of its historical connections as the first of the primitive instruments
used in worship of God, the Eternal King. The people also celebrated the fact that,
in their understanding, the Lord “...has remembered his promise to love and be
faithful…” Whilst I have a problem about the concept of God “forgetting” the love
and compassion God has for God’s creation – and especially for people; it is cause
for joyful celebration that God has always remained faithful to God’s own promises.

Creative pause: God always remains faithful to God’s promises.


One of the versions of prayers used in Holy Communion or the Eucharist has these
words:... those who love the Lord and would like to love him more...”, and those words
always strike a chord with me, as however much we “love the Lord”, we can always
love the Lord more than we do. That growing love can be encouraged by a more
personal involvement in worship as witnessed by the worshippers in today’s Psalm.
Everyone of the participants in that worship wanted to be there and wanted to be
deeply involved in the worship of God – and that makes a real difference to any acts
of worship! Those worshippers had a focus for their worship and an invitation to be
as uninhibited in the worship offerings as they wished. I believe that often our acts
of worship of God are stifled by our desire to do “do the right thing” and to be thought
of as being “proper” about our worship of God; when God would probably love it if
our worship was noisy and genuinely enthusiastic! My experiences of worship with
Pacific Island people with their love of music and dance would certainly support that.

Creative pause: How inhibited are you in your worship of God?


Psalm 98 is also a renewed acknowledgment of God’s mighty saving actions in times
past, when God’s “right hand has won a mighty victory; his holy arm has shown his
saving power!” By celebrating God’s saving actions in times past, this encouraged
them to remember God’s faithfulness to them as a nation. Psalm 98 is also about
celebration, the revelation of God’s righteousness and justice; hearing God’s voice
announcing God’s own presence among them as the Holy One who judges fairly
and establishes a kingdom of fairness and equity for all nations; and above all,
Psalm 98 is an honouring and revering of God as the reigning King of all creation,
especially as they move forward as God’s people in their national and religious life.

Creative pause: How do you recognise and celebrate God’s liberating actions?


1 From “Together in Song” #111
“Praise to the Lord the Almighty”
Words by Joachim Neander 1650-80
Words in the Public Domain

2 Genesis 1:2 (NLT)

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 C. Used with permission.

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

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