24C*
A Call to Worship
Palm Sunday, Lent 6C 2016
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

We gather to worship God because you are our God, and so we thank you.
“...This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it….”

We gather to worship God because you are our God, and so we acclaim you.
“...This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it….”

We gather to worship and praise God because you are our God; and because
God’s faithful and steadfast love for God’s creation endures forever and ever.
“...This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it….” as
we enter this sacred space set aside to worship God, and to give God our thanks. Amen.

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Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let all Israel repeat: “His faithful love endures forever.”

19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter,
and I will go in and thank the LORD.
20 These gates lead to the presence of the LORD,
and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory!
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.

24 This is the day the LORD has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Please, LORD, please save us.
Please, LORD, please give us success.
26 Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD.
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27 The LORD is God, shining upon us.
Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you!
You are my God, and I will exalt you!
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

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Prayers of Thankfulness
Palm Sunday, Lent 6C 2016
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

We gather to worship God because you are our God, and so we thank you because:
“...This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it….” Today, this
very day, is God’s gift to us all so that we can spend the day giving thanks and praising
God for the beauty of this day. Whatever are the issues and challenges for this day, its
possibilities are endless; whatever are our hopes for this day, and how those hopes
evolve may be beyond our control; and whatever are our plans for this day, there will
be always be opportunities for us to offer God our worship, our witness and our service.
May we so live this day, that God’s Name is honoured through all our words and actions.

We gather to worship God because you are our God, and so we thank you because:
“...This is the hour the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it….” whether
it is the hour of morning, afternoon, evening or night, this is the hour God has gifted
to us to fill with love and joy; to fill with hope and compassion; and especially for us to
fill this moment with generous acts of justice, outreach, peace and peacemaking. May
we each live this hour, that God’s Name is honoured through all our words and actions.

We gather to worship God because you are our God, and so we thank you because:
“...This is the moment the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it….” as we
personally react and respond to God’s faithful and steadfast love for God’s creation. As
individuals and as a community of faith, we are called on to react and respond with love
for and towards all whom we meet, even if that love is only a shadow of the enduring
love God has for humanity and all of creation – even the challenging parts and activities
that are all part of God’s wise creation! In this precious moment, we each give our thanks
that God’s enduring love and faithfulness for humanity and creation is always expressed
through God’s mercy, justice and compassion – and may we carry that same response
into every part of our life and living. May we each live and love this precious and fleeting
moment in such a way that God’s Name is honoured through all our words and actions. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Palm Sunday, Lent 6C 2016
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

When I became engaged and then was married, I assumed that my deep love for
my husband would continue on throughout my life. Then, when my daughters
were born, I discovered that love had a flexible quality that stretched and grew;
along with the many kinds of love I experienced for my parents, siblings and friends.
I knew love as being a quality that seemed to have no limits or boundaries. Then
after 14 years of marriage, I unexpectedly discovered that love needed nurturing
and to be fed to continue in its growth and depth. Then, after seven years of being
separated, I obtained a divorce, having learned that just as my wise counsellor had
taught me, love needed to be nurtured and given space to grow, if it was to live.
How different and limitless is God’s enduring love! Because God is the creator of
‘love’ and its nurturer, its source and sustaining power, its beginning without an end!



There is a Hebrew Biblical word variously known as Hesed/Chesed/Heced that
does not translate well into English, and the nearest and best translation needs a
collection of words such as ‘God’s steadfast love’; ‘God’s unfailing love’; ‘God’s
faithfulness’; God’s mercy’; ‘God’s grace’ and often also, ‘God’s loyalty’. It is God’s
Hesed for the people of Israel that made them such a special race of people; but,
note that Hesed is only used or relevant when there was/is an acknowledged and
committed dual relationship between God and the people of Israel. When they
disobeyed God’s laws, the situation of God’s Hesed altered, and in Biblical thought:
“God’s face or ears were turned away from the people of Israel”. Hesed is never
used to describe any general kind or thoughtful actions or words offered by anyone.



In Deuteronomy 26 there is the formula for showing our love and thanks to God by
offering our worship and thanks, as explained by Professor Walter Brueggemann:
“…Israel had a regular liturgical procedure whereby it gave public, dramatic testimony
that its life and well-being were free gifts of YHWH who responded attentively and
powerfully to Israel’s need. The act of thanks is public and material….. The incident
evoking gratitude may be personal and intimate. But the depth of gratitude felt required
that the gratitude go public, to gather the entire community in expressions of thanks;
the particular occasion of thanks is thereby transposed into a great jubilee event of
solidarity, joy and well-being as Israel characteristically extrapolates [extends] great
theological claims from the concreteness of its life…..in the end thanks is the primal
ingredient of Israel’s worship. It is a bodily, verbal and public declaration that life is a
gift and that all of life, in Israel and in all creation, is gladly dependent upon and derived
from YHWH’s extravagant, generous, reliable self-giving…”¹ In Deuteronomy 7: 7-9
Moses explained to the recalcitrant and belligerent people of Israel the reason for God’s
loving actions towards them thus: “The LORD did not set his heart on you and choose
you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of
all nations! Rather, it was simply that the LORD loves you, and he was keeping the oath
he had sworn to your ancestors…. Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is
indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations
and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands….”



1 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
from “Worship in Ancient Israel – An Essential Guide”
Chapter 4, pages 57/8 © 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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