53A*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 10A [Ordinary 21A] or [Proper 16A] 2011
Psalm 124
The Lord our God is the great and glorious God!The Lord our God is our Helper and our Strength!
The Lord created all things and they are all good!
We praise, honour and bless the Lord our God!
The Lord is a saving, redeeming and renewing God.
We gather to praise the name of the Lord our God. Amen.
Prayers of Praise and Thankfulness
Pentecost 10A [Ordinary 21A] or [Proper 16A] 2011
Psalm 124
O Lord our God, we gather to praise and bless yourHoly Name! You are the God who loves, blesses and
delivers your people from the things that entrap them,
and for this we offer our thanks. Great and glorious
is our God, who created all things, and whose nature is
love and mercy; whose being is compassion and care;
and whose ways are righteous, just and unchanging.
With God walking beside us to guide us, we are very blessed.
Compassionate God, as frail and fragile human beings,
we so often become caught up and trapped in the external
trials of life through our relationships; our work or leisure;
but we also become caught up in the internal struggles
and the traps of temptation and human folly, because we
have lost our God-centred focus in life, loving and living.
With God walking beside us to guide us, we are very blessed.
God our Helper and Strength, we under-estimate our own
abilities; we attempt things beyond our capacities; we reach
out for things beyond our grasp; and we fail, time after time.
And yet, through the tender mercy of our God, we are blessed
and delivered, and our perspective on life and love is regained.
With God walking beside us to guide us, we are very blessed.
Blessed be the Lord our God, for delivering us; for healing
us; and for releasing us from all that captures us; and with
God walking beside us to guide us, we are very blessed—
because God is our Creator, Sustainer, and Renewer in all
the events of life. Honour and glory are yours, God most High. Amen.
A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 10A [Ordinary 21A] or [Proper 16A] 2011
Psalm 124
Generous and Gracious God, I have real problemswith the concept that God chooses ‘sides’ in disputes,
when all I have learned about God tells me that God’s
love and mercy is universal – freely given to all people!
Is God on my side? Or should it be – am I on God’s side?
This is not just about a personal choice of ‘sides’, it is also
a community’s choice between good and evil, virtue and vice.
| Creative pause: | Is it – God is on my side? OR Am I on God’s side? |
The external and internal things that entrap individuals
and nations usually relate to greed, selfishness, and
poor choices in priorities. We can just as easily be
devoured by self-indulgence as by torrents of flood waters;
we can also be swallowed up by pride in our achievements
as by rampant wild-fires; and we can easily be destroyed
by powerful storms as by the forces of exclusiveness.
| Creative pause: | Internal and external forces are both potentially destructive |
Blessed be the God of our ancestors, who has loved us
all, including me, and has given me the assurance that
nothing in life or death can separate me from God, not
because God is on ‘my side’, but because God is all loving;
all merciful; all forgiving; and that as my Creator, Deliverer,
Sustainer and Renewer, I can confidently journey with God.
| Creative pause: | God is all-loving, all merciful, and all forgiving. |
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: pentecost10[21]a_2011.pdf