52A*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 11A [Ordinary 20A] or [Proper 15A] 2017
Psalm 133

God, the Father of us all: we come to you for strength, support and hope.
We offer our praises and our thanks for the hope and joy we know in God.

God, the Mother of us all: we come to you for accepting love and patience.
We offer our songs and prayers of gratitude for the gentle patience of God.

God, the Loving Parent of us all: we come to you for forgiveness, for your
loving consistency and understanding; your unconditional love and mercy.
We offer the worship of our hearts - our minds and all of our being - to God,
who in love created us to live in harmony and peace with God and each other. Amen.

---

Psalm 133
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
A psalm of David.

1 How wonderful and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in harmony!

2 For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil
that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down
his beard and onto the border of his robe.
3 Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon
that falls on the mountains of Zion.
And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing,
even life everlasting.

---

Prayers of Petition
After Pentecost 11A [Ordinary 20A] or [Proper 15A] 2017
Psalm 133

God, the Father of us all: we come to you for strength, support, encouragement
and hope. We give thanks for those qualities that we associate with being a good
and loving father, and how we can in confidence also attribute them to God. We
pray for children of all ages who do not have the experience of a father who is loving
and lovable; and therefore have trouble understanding God to be loving and caring
about them. We pray for families where there is violence, abuse, anger and fear;
for children and fathers where there is no trust, no understanding or approval for
honest efforts; and no common ground upon which to meet, or any unity of purpose.
We offer our praises and our thanks for the hope and joy we know in God our Father.

God, the Mother of us all: we come to you for accepting love, patience, tolerance
and forgiveness. We give thanks for those qualities that we think of as being special
to the role of motherhood; and we can also confidently attribute them to the loving
and accepting God who mothers us with gentle and compassionate care. We pray
for children of all ages who do not have the experience of a mother who is loving
and lovable; and therefore have trouble understanding God to be loving and caring
about them. We pray for families with motherless children; for children, who’s only
understanding of motherhood is what they see on the television; and who do not
know the joy of being nurtured or unconditionally loved and accepted by a motherly
person. We pray for children where there is no trust, no forgiveness for mistakes—
and no opportunities for them to mature into being responsible and caring adults.
We offer our songs and prayers of gratitude for the patience of our Mothering God.

God, the Loving Parent of us all, we come to you because there are no traditional,
cultural or gender stereotypes to hinder our knowledge and experience of you as
our Parent God. We give thanks that we can come to you for forgiveness; for your
loving consistency and understanding; and for your unconditional love and mercy.
We pray for all families where forgiveness is not taught or practiced; where love is
not demonstrated every day; where selfishness is assumed relevant behaviour; and
where acceptance is only a hard-fought tug-of-war. Holy Parent, teach your damaged
children the miracle of your loving acceptance and merciful forgiveness; and be
especially near to vulnerable people of all ages. We offer to you, the worship of our
hearts, our minds and all of our being to God, the Creator and Creating Liberator, who
in love, created us to live in harmony with God, with ourselves, and with each other. Amen.

---

A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 11A [Ordinary 20A] or [Proper 15A] 2017
Psalm 133

Psalm 133 is part of the series of psalms named “Songs of the Ascents” and they
are numbered Psalms 120-134. It is believed that they were sung by pilgrims as
they made their ascent to the Temple Mount for worship of God on the three great
annual religious festivals, sacred to the people of Israel. People from the 12 tribes
of Jacob - renamed by God as Israel, hence the “people of Israel” - did not always
get along well together. This may arise because the original founding sons of the
12 tribes had four different mothers, with Rachel being Jacob’s favourite wife. We
know that Joseph of the “many coloured coat” eventually lived in Egypt, and that
Benjamin was the favoured last son; and that Levi was given the priestly role for all
future generations of the people of Israel; and that they were called the ‘Levites’.



Psalm 133 commences thus: “How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live
together in harmony…” which suggests that often the brother’s relationship was
far from “harmonious”! I assume any brotherly animosity may have flowed over into
tribal relationships; and that their pilgrimage relationships were possibly unpredictable
and frequently tense! On the occasion of the great annual religious festivals, attempts
were made to present a united front and to share together in a common festival that
honoured and celebrated God and their common spiritual roots! Whilst we may shrink
away from the concept of oil running down anyone’s beard and onto their clothing, in
the far east and at that time in history, the pouring of costly oil in that way was a sign
of greeting to a highly honoured guest. So “harmony” was as precious as that costly
oil poured out in welcome, as was the “...dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the
mountains of Zion…” bringing relief from stifling heat or new life to barren and dry soil.



“…And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting…” This ‘life
everlasting‘ was a new concept, except when in Genesis 1, God declared that each
new act of creation was “very good” or as translated to “beautiful”. Professor Walter
Brueggemann wrote in relation to that “life everlasting” concept and likened it to the
language of a “…creation blessing. The unity is as good as creation is said to be in
Genesis 1. Psalm 133 reflects Israel’s capacity to appreciate the common joys of life
and attribute them to the well-ordered generosity of Yahweh... The poem anticipates
the solidarity and harmony of all humanity as it lives without defensiveness in a creation
benevolent enough to care for all....”¹ The blessings God promised to those people of
Israel were not for their personal attendance; but their unity in worshipping God together.



1 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
from “The Message of the Psalms”
Chapter 2, page 48
©1984 Augsburg Publishing House
Minneapolis MN 55440, USA

---

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:
© 2017 Joan Stott –‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year A. Based on verses from Psalm 133.
Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost11[20]a_2017.pdf