32A*
A Call to Worship
Easter 2A 2014
Psalm 16

Generous God, we come today to worship, to celebrate and to praise you!
God, the Source of all goodness, be for us this day our Overflowing Cup.

Eternal God, we come today to give thanks for your gracious guidance.
God, our Beginning and End, be for us this day our Refuge and Comfort.

Pilgrim’s God, we come today to proclaim the wonder of God’s presence!
God, the Giver of all joy, be for us this day the Pathway to “enjoying”1 God’s
“presence and the pleasures of living with” our Unshakeable God forever. Amen.



Psalm 16
A psalm of David.

1 Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Master!
All the good things I have are from you."
3 The godly people in the land are my true heroes!
I take pleasure in them!
4 Those who chase after other gods will be filled with sorrow.
I will not take part in their sacrifices
or even speak the names of their gods.
5 LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.
You guard all that is mine.
6 The land you have given me is a pleasant land.
What a wonderful inheritance!
7 I will bless the LORD who guides me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I know the LORD is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.
9 No wonder my heart is filled with joy,
and my mouth shouts his praises!
My body rests in safety.
10 For you will not leave my soul among the dead
or allow your godly one to rot in the grave.
11 You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures
of living with you forever.


Prayers of Trust and Thankfulness
Easter 2A 2014
Psalm 16

Generous God, we come today to worship, to celebrate, and to praise
you for all the good things in life that you give to us individually and
collectively! We come as individuals to offer our personal thanks to the
God who blesses individuals and communities, and we each echo the
Psalmist: “...All the good things I have are from you. The godly people
in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them...”
Each of us has
been blessed by people who love and serve you, and our lives have been
greatly enriched by their faithfulness and commitment to you; as their main
mission in life is praying for their faith community and for the wider Church.
These godly people have influenced us, and because of their faithfulness
in prayer, we celebrate your goodness this day, and we give thanks that
people do pray for each of us that we may be guided and blessed by God.
It is “...no wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises!”

Eternal God, we come today to give thanks for your gracious guidance.
Time after time we have called on God for guidance as we struggle to
discern the way forward, where we can faithfully worship and serve our
God in reverent and relevant ways. Trustworthy God, we give thanks for
our heritage of faith; for the many men and women who have guided us
from our youth, and who have taught us, through many structured and
unstructured lessons, about living a life committed to God. May we in turn
be teachers and guides to the next generations of the children you bless
us with. Pilgrim’s God, we know there will be times of deep disappointment
and even heartache because of life’s events; but today, be for each one
of us the steadfast Rock; the Loving Liberator; and our Ever-present Guide—
whose love and grace prepares us for any tough and difficult times ahead.
“I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.”

Encouraging God, we come today to proclaim the wonder of God’s presence!
Oh, the joy of having complete confidence in our God! “I know the Lord is
always with me.... No wonder my heart is filled with joy, and my mouth shouts
his praises!
May we not only use our voices to praise our God, but may our
daily living and our eventual dying “speak” clearly of God’s love faithfully lived
as a testimony of God’s eternal goodness and mercy to each of us – always.
“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence ...” Amen.


A Personal Meditation
Easter 2A 2014
Psalm 16

It seems to me that Psalm 16 is a song about a life of struggle, and that
life was not always easy for the author, but through it he learned to have
complete trust in God. He praised God and gave thanks for the secure
relationship he had with God, and he gave thanks for their national legacy
of his homeland. “The land you have given me is a pleasant land...”; but
he also celebrated “The godly people in the land are my true heroes!” whom
he sincerely and honestly proclaimed as being life-saving and life-renewing!
He knew of the powerlessness that came with rejection, isolation and the
disconnectedness from one’s loved ones or peers. He gave thanks that
he was not “left to rot in the grave”; or as other translations call it: the “Pit”,
“Hell”, “Sheol”, the “Abyss” and the “Power of death”.
At a difficult time in
my life, I really experienced that “pit” with its loneliness and its separation
from all that have been important to life and living. And yet, in that hellhole
I discovered, mainly through the prayer-ministry of my friends, that God was
there too. Those godly people were, and indeed still are, my true heroes.

Creative pause: Who are the godly people who are your true heroes?


I bless the Lord God who does indeed guide me; and in the stillness of the
night hours, I know God is especially near to me, and for this I give thanks—
because it is at night that fears and anxieties can become exaggerated
and a sense of perspective can become distorted. It is in the confidence of
God’s abiding presence that peace and rest comes, and the issues of the
day ahead can be left until then. It is also in the night hours that I gain a deep
sense of wonder as I watch the stars and the moon as they cross the vast
expanses of the night sky. When I remember that their beauty is from the
same Source who created me and my “little world” - I am in awe of my God!

Creative pause: I am in awe of my God!


The Psalmist exclaimed: "You are my Master! All the good things I have are
from you...."
Varying translations of this verse suggest that the Psalmist is
really saying: “I am as nothing/no good/of no value without God!”; whilst the
translation from “The Message” simply states: “I say to God, ‘Be my Lord!’
Without you, nothing makes sense...”
2 However God is recognised or named,
the Psalmist aligns himself with all of humanity with his understanding of his
own poverty of being without God as the central focus of his life, of God being
his “Still Centre”. Many books, articles and even art describe “a still point in a
turning world”
; but when I was in the “pit”, my inner focus narrowed down until
there was only my two daughters, me and God – and that was when I learned
that God was my “Still and Quiet Centre”. Without those traumatic experiences
perhaps I would never have made that discovery! Many of the Psalms share
“pit” experiences, and almost all of them end up with a song of thanksgiving and
praise to God. I join with the Psalmist to declare with confidence: “....You will
show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures...”


Creative pause: My prayer is: “Grant us the joy of your presence ...”


1 “The Shorter Catechism”
Question 1 “What is humanity’s chief end or goal?”
Answer: “To glorify God and to enjoy God forever....”

2 Psalm 16: 2 – “The Message”
As published by NavPress in English:
The Bible in Contemporary Language
© 2002 by Eugene Peterson. USA
Copyright. All rights reserved.



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: easter2a_2014.pdf