11B*
A Call to Worship
After Epiphany 3B [Ordinary 3B] 2018
Psalm 62: 5-12

We gather to worship our God and we prayerfully ask: “Quiet my soul
in your silent Presence; gentle my soul in your stillness and peace…;”¹
Wherever and however we worship God, we prayerfully ask: “…tender my
soul in your beauty and grace; God of this moment, here in this place.”¹

Listening God: “In the silence and the stillness my heart waits for you...¹
LORD, hear our prayer: “…For you alone, God of all loving, my hearts waits.”¹

Responding God, we gather today to give thanks for God’s many mercies—
prayerfully asking: “In your Spirit, gather us; in your Spirit, open our hearts...”¹
Trustworthy God, we gather to celebrate the wonder of God’s love and care
in the past; and pray that: “…In your Spirit, O God, guide and direct our path.”¹ Amen.

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Psalm 62:5-12
For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of David.

5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.
7 My victory and honour come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
8 O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. Interlude

9 Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales, together they are lighter than a breath of air.
10 Don’t make your living by extortion or put your hope in stealing.
And if your wealth increases, don’t make it the centre of your life.

11 God has spoken plainly, and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
12 unfailing love, O LORD, is yours.
Surely you repay all people according to what they have done.

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Prayers of Petition and Trust
After Epiphany 3B [Ordinary 3B] 2018
Psalm 62: 5-12

God: whose holy presence surrounds us and upholds us, in the quiet stillness,
we come to worship you. As we gather to worship our God we prayerfully ask:
“Quiet my soul in your silent Presence; gentle my soul in your stillness and
peace…;”¹ We come, bringing with us the cares of life and the issues that
burden us; and in the quiet presence of God, we prayerfully ask: “…tender my
soul in your beauty and grace; God of this moment, here in this place.”¹ Today,
we turn our prayers for God’s merciful help for people weighed down by their
worries and problems; for people who have nowhere to go to find support or help;
and for people who are desperate for the quietness of a peaceful mind and heart.

God: whose yearning heart is forever seeking lost and lonely people; God: who is
perpetually and tenderly seeking people who suffer discrimination and neglect;
God: who is always longing for people for whom life is difficult, to be their Guide,
Shelter and Quiet Centre of peace, today we offer our prayers for all these people.
Ever-present God: “In the silence and the stillness my heart waits for you...¹ we
bring our own needs before God, asking the “…God of all loving…”¹ to hear and
answer our prayers for ourselves and for other needy people. In trust and in hope—
we come to rejoice in the God who is forever blessed; and who is forever blessing.

God: who is utterly trustworthy, we gather to celebrate the wonder of God’s love and
care in the past; and pray that: “…In your Spirit, O God, guide and direct our path.”¹
We give thanks that we worship the God who responds to our needs; that we worship
the Creator whose love for all creation is beyond our understanding; and that we
can gather to revere and worship the Holy One who understands us as no others do.
God: we gather today to give thanks for God’s many mercies, and to prayerfully ask:
“In your Spirit, gather us; in your Spirit, open our hearts...”¹ so that we may be your
true and loyal disciples present in the world, with all its pain and suffering; that we may
be your healing balm to all in need; and a symbol of God’s presence bringing peace. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Epiphany 3B [Ordinary 3B] 2018
Psalm 62: 5-12

Psalm 62 was created and sung in a relatively quiet time of King David’s rule;
but during his life he had known many times of danger and despair - as the
neighbouring nations attacked Israel; or his own people rebelled. This was despite
David’s protection of them and his trust in God to guide his leadership and rule
his people in a godly way. It is difficult to know if the first four verses of this Psalm
outlined his current situation or were reflections on his past life, but as verse 1
states: “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him…” What
a beautiful prayer to offer to God, especially as David was often under pressure.
Although it is a difficult thing for a leader, David recognised his own vulnerability,
“…Let all that I am….” thus, David sang of his complete trust in God’s guidance.



Monica Brown has written several mantras about “waiting quietly before God”
on her CD: “Quiet my soul” and the words of two of them are: “Quiet my soul in
your silent Presence; gentle my soul in your stillness and peace; tender my soul
in your beauty and grace; God of this moment, here in this place.”¹ The second
one is: “In the silence and the stillness my heart waits for you. For you alone,
God of all loving my hearts waits.”¹ It is a difficult thing to recognise our own
vulnerability, our own frailties and idiosyncrasies; however they affect us - yet
we can pray: “…Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.…”



This psalm is David’s personal testimony to his own faith community about the trust
he had in God, regardless of the circumstances of his challenging life. Professor Walter
Brueggemann writes that the “…superscription to Psalm 62 refers to Jeduthun, [the
choir director] who, along with descendants, is associated with the Temple music
and worship…”² Because of this superscription, it seemed appropriate to me include
songs about quietly waiting on God in our shared worship of God and in our personal
meditations. “In your Spirit, gather us; in your Spirit, open our hearts. In your Spirit, O
God, guide and direct our path.”¹ This is a relevant prayer as we gather to worship
God – wherever and however we meet for the shared worship of our Trustworthy God.



1 From “Quiet my soul” CD Tracks 1, 2 & 8
Words and music by Monica Brown
© 2003 Monica Brown & Emmaus Productions
Used with personal permission.

2 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
& William H Bellinger Junior from “Psalms”
Psalm 62, page 273
© 2014 Cambridge University Press

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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 help and inspiration so frequently available from the writings of Professor Walter Brueggemann and Professorial brothers Rolf and Karl Jacobson; and the resources from "The Text this Week" (Textweek).

If the Prayers and/or Meditation are used in shared worship, please provide this acknowledgement:
© 2018 Joan Stott –‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year B. Based on verses from Psalm 62.
Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: epiphany3[3]b_2018.pdf