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31A*
A Call to Worship
Easter Day Year A 2014
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Today, I come to give thanks to the Lord my God, who is my glorious Song!
Today, we come to give thanks to the Lord our God, who is our glorious Song!

Today, I come to give thanks to the Lord my God, who is my Almighty Strength!
Today, we come to give thanks to the Lord our God, who is our mighty Strength!

Today, I come to celebrate and sing about the great goodness of God, whose
faithful love endures forever. The Holy One is the victor over my every sin.
Today, we come to celebrate and sing about the great goodness of God, whose
faithful love endures forever. The Holy One is the victor over our every sin
and faithlessness, and yet is with us in that victory. Thanks be to our Holy God! Amen.

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Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the congregation of Israel repeat:
"His faithful love endures forever."

14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my victory.
15 Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.
The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!
16 The strong right arm of the LORD is raised in triumph.
The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!
17 I will not die, but I will live to tell what the LORD has done.
18 The LORD has punished me severely,
but he has not handed me over to death.

19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,
and I will go in and thank the LORD.
20 Those gates lead to the presence of the LORD,
and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer and saving me!

22 The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD's doing, and it is marvellous to see.
24 This is the day the LORD has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,
and I will go in and thank the LORD.
20 Those gates lead to the presence of the LORD,
and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer and saving me!

22 The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD's doing, and it is marvellous to see.
24 This is the day the LORD has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

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Prayers of Thankfulness and Petition
Easter Day Year A 2014
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Holy God, as a community of faith we come to share in our worship of you; to build
each other up in faith, love and hope; to confess to God and to each other how we
have failed in our discipleship; to accept in humility the forgiveness that God gives to
us; and to be in fellowship with each other and to encourage and bless each other in
our journey through life. We pray that our thoughts, hopes and dreams are centred
only on God in this time of worship; and because of God’s faithful love for each one
of us, - that our inner beings are focussed on the songs and prayers of thankfulness,
because of God’s merciful forgiveness. May we each respond in love to God’s love—
and be a genuine witness to that love in our personal and community living and loving.

Generous God, today we come, as individuals and as a community to give thanks to
the Lord our God, for God’s continuing blessings of goodness and mercy towards us
all. Today, we come with our personal agendas, our fears and anxieties, our regrets
and human weaknesses; to offer our thanks to the Holy One who is always gracious
and generous with the gifts of faithful and enduring love towards every person here.
Today, we also come with our community agendas that are overloaded with our fears
and anxieties, our uncertainties about who and what we are and what God wants and
asks of us. Together, we call now on God’s faithful and enduring love to give us again
that sense of the victory that God has already won for us; and we join in giving thanks
and celebrating with God, who forever is our Almighty Strength and our glorious Song.

Creating God, the psalmist sang: “The Lord is my strength and my song... songs of
joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly”. Holy God, we all know that there
are times when it is difficult to sing God’s praises in our own “camp”, because of the
struggles of life and living; and that even though God is indeed our Strength, there are
times when we feel weak and helpless. Help us to be like the Psalmist who also sang:
“I will not die, but I will live to tell what the Lord has done.” We give thanks for the holy
life of God that is within each of us that renews and revitalises us when we are “down
and out” in our living and loving. May we always have the capacity to sing about what
God has done for us and the way God has guided and blessed us. May we always be
willing to sing the refrain: “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be
glad in it...” giving “...thanks to the Lord for he is good! His faithful love endures forever...” Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Easter Day Year A 2014
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”
How do we know what is “faithful love”? Can we only truly understand and
know what is “faithful love” when we have experienced “unfaithful love”? As
I experienced the breakup of my marriage in addition to a trusted relationship,
the word “fidelity” became very important to me. It seemed to sum up for me
all that I had hoped for and lost – and for me –God’s faithful love is a perfect
expression of fidelity. Various dictionaries define “fidelity” as: faithfulness,
steadfastness, authenticity, loyalty, trustworthiness, commitment, reliability,
allegiance and constancy; and devotion to a relationship, to a cause, or to
a belief. How precious is that “faithful love” that God has for each one of us—
and for all that has been and will be created! What a generous gift from God!



“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”
What exactly is the “love” that God has for us? How can we describe it?
According to some commentators and in another context, the word “love” in
the time of Jesus was described as being “attached” to a group or a person—
and in the way our responses and behaviour demonstrate that attachment. In
this electronic age with all its gadgetry, an “attachment” takes on a whole new
meaning, as we frequently attach images, explanatory or defining comments
or statement/s to reinforce our message in a letter, text or document. I have
often used the words “I am very attached to that person/vision/commitment”—
and so I give it all my energy and enthusiasm to enable that attachment to
grow and bear fruit, and thus a deeper and richer relationship evolves; or a
cause is strengthened because of the time and commitment that is given to it.



“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”
In this electronic age, to “endure” means that our messages may be stored
by “someone” forever! The “faithful love” of God is timeless and persists in
its measureless generosity. However, to “endure” also has a different meaning—
we can also “endure” in a long-suffering, complaint-filled and well-rehearsed
litany of woe to anyone who will listen to us. There is nothing “hardly done by”
in the enduring nature of God’s faithful love and attachment to all God created.
The faithfulness of God and God’s love for the created world and especially
for humanity is something we have experienced and we cling to, as God’s
promises have been fulfilled in yours and my lifetime along with countless other
people. The Old Testament has many, many references to God’s faithfulness,
and God’s steadfast love, and for me, Lamentations has the greatest of promises:
“…Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this. The unfailing love of the Lord
never ends! By his mercies we have been kept from complete destruction. Great
is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day….¹ Jesus confirms this for
us all with his own words and actions as he prayed in his “High Priestly prayer.”²



1 Lamentations 3: 21-23
2 John’s Gospel prelude and prayer chapters 14-17

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Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and
Meditations are from the ‘New Living Translation’, © 1996. Copyright. All rights reserved.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189 USA.

*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:
© 2014 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year A. Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: easter1a_2014.pdf

© 2014 Joan Stott - " The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year A