35C*
A Call to Worship
Easter 5C 2016
Psalm 148

We come to praise our God, to celebrate all things that God saw was “good”.
“...Let every created thing give praise to the LORD, for he issued his command...”

We come to praise our God, in response to God’s gloriously creative activities.
“...He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked...”

We come to praise our God, to share together in the joyful self-abandonment of
praising our God, because our focus and emphasis is entirely and only on God!
“...Let them all praise the name of the LORD. For his name is very great; his
glory towers over the earth and heaven! ...Praise the LORD! ...Praise the LORD!” Amen.

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Psalm 148

1 Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
2 Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
3 Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
4 Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapours high above the clouds!
5 Let every created thing give praise to the LORD,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
His decree will never be revoked.

7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you creatures of the ocean depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and clouds, wind and weather that obey him,
9 mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
10 wild animals and all livestock, small scurrying animals and birds,
11 kings of the earth and all people, rulers and judges of the earth,
12 young men and young women, old men and children.

13 Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
14 He has made his people strong, honouring his faithful ones—
the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the LORD!

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Prayers of Praise
Easter 5C 2016
Psalm 148

We come to praise our God, to celebrate all things that God saw was “good”
and all that God continues to see as “good” in creation and in people. We offer
our praises to God for all that we see each day and night as being “good”, even
though we do not have the same powers of wisdom, generosity or discernment
as does God. We offer God our praises for the commands God gave that brought
into being so many wonderful things in our world; for the beauty we see around
and above us every moment in which we have the discernment to see them; for
the many variations in species, all of which delight our eyes, ears and our minds;
and for the grandeur and power of the various forces in nature that add variety to
our experiences of life - the mighty oceans and rivers, the mountains and valleys,
and the tiny and fragile creatures and things that add wonder and awe to our lives.
“...Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command..”

We come to praise our God, in response to God’s gloriously creative activities
and to give thanks for the ways we discover new evidences of God’s amazing
capacities in creation; for the many new scientific discoveries that assist in the
health and well-being of our world and all its creatures; and we continue to be
amazed at the new discoveries made about outer space of new galaxies and stars—
all because our Great Creating God shares with us insights into God’s-Own-Self.
“...He set them in place forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked...”

We come to praise our God, as we share together in the joyful self-abandonment
of being able to praise our God, and for the spontaneous responses we have to
such wonders and awe-inspiring miracles in God’s great and continuing creation.
In this moment in our worship of God, we seek to focus entirely and only on our
God because even now, we are “...lost in wonder, love and praise”¹ of our God.
“...Let them all praise the name of the Lord. For his name is very great; his
glory towers over the earth and heaven! ...Praise the Lord! ...Praise the Lord!” Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Easter 5C 2016
Psalm 148

This is a psalm of praise to God, beginning and ending with the demand that every
element of creation, and especially all people, are invited and encouraged to sing or
shout their praises and adoration in offerings to God, YHWH or Jehovah: “...Praise
the LORD!” or sing/shout “Hallelujah”, “Alleluia”, “Magnify” or “Hosanna”. A “Call to
Worship” is a summons to come before God with our praises, our confessions, our
thankfulness and our petitions; but primarily it is a calling for people to come and
recognise God’s presence and God’s mighty acts in creation; and for the gift of mercy,
forgiveness and liberation from all that continues to entrap us. The purpose for praising
God in Psalm 148 is two-fold, firstly: “...Let every created thing give praise to the
LORD, for he issued his command, and they came into being. He set them in place
forever and ever. His decree will never be revoked.”; and secondly: “...For his name
is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven! He has made his people
strong, honouring his faithful ones—the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise
the LORD!” In this psalm, Israel was not responding to God with bad memories of sin,
and oppression; about their deliverance from danger, sickness, hunger, or disease;
or about the plight of orphans, widows or the resident aliens. Instead, Israel was
dreaming about and celebrating God’s glorious expressions of God’s-Own-Self, as
revealed in the transforming power of God’s great creative powers and capacities—
and the possibility, or even the reality - of an even holier and more perfect creation.



Professor Walter Brueggemann writes about praise: “...‘World-making’ is done by
God. That is foundational to Israel’s praise.... Praise is not a response to a world
already fixed and settled, but it is a responsive and obedient participation in a world
yet to be decreed and in process of being decreed through this liturgical act....”²
Psalm 148 is a song by which our praises of God stimulate, magnifying, grow, expand
or increase the already mighty powers of the Lord our God! We can stimulate God’s
creative forces by our shared awareness and expressions of the powers of God to
transform people; all because of our recognition of God’s powers over all creation!



Elsewhere Brueggemann writes: “....Israel’s most characteristic utterance in worship is
praise, the exuberant rhetorical act of gladly ceding one’s life and the life of the world
over to YHWH in joyous self-abandonment...”³ He also states that in Psalm 148, there
is a summons and a reason for that summons where the Creating God is praised by
all peoples; the cosmos; and the heavenly beings are recruited to join humanity’s
praises for their Creating God. The all inclusive nature of the praising by all things in
creation and in the heavens bears witness to the holy splendour of the God who was
and is being addressed and praised. Humanity’s response is well spelt out in Psalm 117:
“Praise the LORD, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For his unfailing
love for us is powerful; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the LORD!”



1 From “Together in Song” #217
“Love divine, all loves excelling”
Words by Charles Wesley (alt)
Words in the Public Domain

2 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
from “Israel’s Praise” Chapter 1, page 11
© 1988 Fortress Publishing House
Minneapolis MN 55440, USA

3 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
from “Worship in Ancient Israel – An Essential Guide” Chapter 4, page 43
© 2005 Abingdon Press 201 Eighth Avenue South, Nashville TN 37202-0801 USA

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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 scholarship and 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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