50C*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 10C [Ordinary 18C] or [Proper 13C] 2010
Psalm 107: 1-9, 43
O Lord our God, we gather as your people, joinedtogether by our common experiences of God’s care.
We give thanks for God’s enduring love for us all,
and for the gift of our faith in you as our Saving God.
We gather O God, as your people to share our stories
of your past blessings and generous mercies.
We give thanks for God’s enduring mercy and
for God’s timeless involvement with all of creation.
We gather as God’s people to rejoice in the way God
has cared for and sheltered so many scattered peoples.
We give thanks for God’s enduring grace to countless
generations. Praise be to the name of our Holy God. Amen.
Prayers of Thanks and Confession
Pentecost 10C [Ordinary 18C] or [Proper 13C] 2010
Psalm 107: 1-9, 43
In praise and thankfulness, we gather together to worship God!With reverent joy, we meet to celebrate the wonders of God’s
enduring love, and to give thanks for the faithful and nurturing
care God has shown to so many succeeding generations.
There is an expectation of us as part of our commitment to God, that
we will want to share our experiences on our faith journey, and to tell
how we have been so blessed by God’s generous love and mercy.
Forgive us, Holy God, for failing to meet these expectations, and for
our lack of knowledge and confidence to speak to other people about
the issues of faith and belief in God. God, forgive us when we fail to
understand our need to have a faith in God, and how that faith relates
to our daily life and relationships. O God, have mercy on us for this failure.
Compassionate God, we give thanks that, even though we have
foolishly wandered into desert-like emotional chaos with its pain
of separation and isolation; or we have experienced physical
exhaustion and mental misery or depression; yet your enduring
love and forgiving mercy was always there – waiting to bring hope,
peace and joy into our fragile, desolate and bewildered existence.
O Lord our God, forgive us when we long for new experiences, that
end up with us separated us from you; when your truth and wisdom
is overlooked in our quest for novelty and the greedy quest for new ‘things’.
We pray that you will restore us to yourself and your healing mercies.
Forgiving God, we thank you that your enduring love heals us and
welcomes us back into the blessedness of God’s shalom. Give us,
we pray, guidance and acceptance when the blessings we receive
from God are not quite what we expected or requested; and to still
trust in God’s infinite wisdom and understanding of all our needs.
Declaration of Forgiveness
Hear the good news:When we are lost and rejected - God still loves us.
When we are empty - God will fill us.
When we are distressed and bewildered -
God will give us the gift of shalom.
When we turn to God - we are welcomed home.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 10C [Ordinary 18C] or [Proper 13C] 2010
Psalm 107: 1-9, 43
The Psalmist says: ‘Let the redeemed of the LORD say so….,’Am I one of the ‘redeemed’? What was I, or am I Redeemed from?
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from
trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from
the west, from the north and from the south….. then they cried out….”*
| Creative pause: | What does it mean to be ‘redeemed’? |
Those ‘redeemed’ people trusted in God for their daily strength.
They waited patiently for God’s word to them; they trusted God
to lead them into the right path, and when lost, broken or vulnerable—
they turned to God for guidance and help, and were received into
God’s embrace, into God’s shalom. God blessed and redeemed them.
| Creative pause: | Is it old-fashioned to talk about being ‘redeemed’? |
I know I am one of the people who wandered off to do my own things;
who thought I knew it all; who thought that disaster only happened to
other people, but never to me! In my quest to ‘improve’ myself I became
confused and lost in dark and deserted places, in the wilderness of fear
and uncertainty. I cried out to God for liberation from my fears, and I
was healed of my foolishness in thinking that I was unacceptable to God.
| Creative pause: | I cried out to God in my pain and confusion. |
God has turned me around and given me the gift of shalom, God’s
peace and joy; and so as a ‘redeemed’ person, I am saying so—
loudly and with joy! I give thanks to God for God’s enduring love and
for anew vision of life lived within God’s loving embrace and care.
| Creative pause: | Yes! God has healed and blessed me. |
*Psalm 107: 2-3 (NRSV)
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:
© 2010 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.
jstott@netspace.net.au
Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost10[18]c_2010.pdf