31B*
A Call to Worship
Easter Day Year B 2012
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Give thanks to God, because God’s goodness
and faithful love endures always and for ever.
This is the Lord’s Day, the day God made,
together we will rejoice and be glad in it.


We gather to sing our praises to God, whose
strength and power has become our song.
This is the Lord’s Day, the day God made,
together, we will celebrate and give thanks.


We give thanks that the gateways to God are
always open in invitation to all who seek God.
This is the Lord’s Day, the day God made,
together, we will praise and give glory to our God. Amen.



Prayers of Thankfulness
Easter Day Year B 2012
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Welcoming God, we come with deep thanks in our hearts
for the way you invite us into your presence and into your
enduring love that is timeless, and forever available to us.
The people of Israel knew from their long experience of
God’s mercy and grace, that God’s love did indeed endure
for ever; as they had personally learned about it from their
oral history, and then through the writings of ancient historians.

Glorious God, we give thanks for such a wonderful heritage,
as we, too, have learned about the enduring love of God through
our own oral and written histories, as these stories have been
passed down via our forebears. Their living stories of faithfulness
to God and their courage in repeating and living out their stories
of faith and faithfulness ring just as true to us as those of the
patriarchs and matriarchs of Biblical times. We give thanks that
these people of bygone days always told their stories honestly,
and did not gloss over their times of fear or doubts. We give
thanks that they always emphasised that entry to God’s presence
was through the open gate of God’s merciful love and grace.

Holy God, on this day of celebration and joy, we give thanks that
the strong right arm of God has triumphed, and that God has
indeed done glorious things! Songs of joy and praise will ring out
around the world over the victory that God has won for all time. Amen.


A Personal Meditation
Easter Day Year B 2012
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

It is a great joy to me to be in a congregation of faithful
people who need no encouragement to share their faith
in their Glorious God, and who faithfully live out their trust
in God day by day with ever-increasing joy, as they reach
the age of full maturity in faith and life. They gather together
confidently and are filled with the glorious hope of God’s
enduring love, because that has been their daily living reality.

Creative pause: Their faith in God is a daily living reality.


I am so privileged to hear their witness as they say: “The Lord
is my strength and my song, and he has become my victory!”
Their songs of joy and victory over evil, pain and death are
sung in their homes, and in their community life and outreach,
as they share the good news of God’s victory over death and
suffering, and God’s victory over all that separates us from God.
May this message be their joyful song until their very last breath.

Creative pause: May they sing this song until their last breath.


Holy God, with this wonderful exposure to faithfulness, may I too
be faithful in my worship, witness and service; and may I too always
sing of God’s enduring love that defeats all evil, and which points
the way through the open gate into the fellowship of the redeemed.

Creative pause: The open gate to the fellowship of the redeemed.



Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and Meditations are from
‘The New Revised Standard Version’ Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

*The additional weekly numbering is from the Revised COCU Indexing Scheme
COCU = ('Consultation on Church Union'); as it offers an easy sequential numbering
for the Revised Common Lectionary for the Church Calendar.

If any part of these Prayers and/or Meditations is used in shared worship, please provide
the following acknowledgement:
© 2012 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year B. Used with permission.

jstott@netspace.net.au

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