12A*
A Call to Worship
Epiphany 4A 2011
Psalm 15

Holy God, you invite us to come to worship you.
In your Holy Presence, we discover unlimited love.

Holy God, you invite us to come to worship you.
In your Holy Presence, we discover forgiveness.

Holy God, you invite us to come to worship you.
In your Holy Presence, we discover empowerment,
joy and peace. Come, let us worship our Holy God. Amen.

---

Prayers of Petition
Epiphany 4A 2011
Psalm 15

Holy God, we long to come into your holy and sacred space,
and yet we know we are unworthy of such a blessing or honour.
We long to be in close fellowship with our God, and to offer our
praise and thankfulness for all God’s generous mercies, and yet
we are weighed down by the guilt of our habits and sinfulness.

Even though we experience a sense of reverent awe as we come
near to God, deep within us we are uncomfortable about being in
God’s holy presence. We have a yearning to worship and celebrate
our God with an upright life. We long to live a life that shows that all of
our life is lived within the conscious knowledge of God’s holy presence—
whose presence is always within and around us to bless and heal us.

Forgiving God, we take comfort in the knowledge that you are a God
whose mercy is a great as your love and holiness, and we also take
comfort in knowing that as we seek to live a renewed life, we are warmly
welcomed into God’s presence. We also receive anew, the promise that
we will be given the grace and strength to stand firm in our convictions,
and that we will know and experience God’s Holy Presence as we worship,
as we witness, and as we serve in God’s world and amongst God’s people.
Hear these our prayers of petition, and of praise to God, the Holy One. Amen.

---

A Personal Meditation
Epiphany 4A 2011
Psalm 15

Holy God, please forgive me, but I am confused by what appears
to be contradictions in your Holy Word! God’s Holy Laws tell me
that as a follower and believer in my God, I am called to love and
serve the One and only God with all of my being, my mind, my
strength, my will, my compassion and love, my intelligence, and
my experiences – every part of me that makes up my whole being.
But now I discover that your Holy Word says that only those who
are blameless may enter God’s presence and sacred spaces.



My Gracious God, I am puzzled by this dilemma! It seems that there
are things I cannot or should not do - eleven of them if I want to be
in God’s presence in the sacred spaces! If I receive a tick of approval
against each prohibited action, I might eventually discover that I
have the possibility of being considered ‘blameless’. But then, my own
pride would raise its ugly head, and I would still miss out on worship!
But I need to worship my God! I yearn to be in God’s holy presence,
to say ‘Thank you’, and to offer my gifts to God and to other people.



Maybe I have all this wrong! To be actually blameless or perfect in
God’s sight is totally beyond my human capacity, but thanks be to
God, it is not beyond God’s grace to so cleanse me, that the Holy
Spirit acts in and through my life and living! I need to learn and build
into my daily life the practice of loving God and my neighbour as myself—
then, through the inspiration and action of God’s grace, I will again be
able to come into the presence of God with joy, peace and celebration.

---

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:
© 2011 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year A. Used with permission.

jstott@netspace.net.au

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: epiphany4a_2011.pdf

© 2011 Joan Stott - " The Timeless Psalms" RCL Psalm Year A