54B*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 14B [Ordinary 22B] or [Proper 17B] 2015
Psalm 15

We gather to worship God and ponder: “What can we bring to the LORD?”1
We hear: “..do what is right, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”2

We gather to celebrate God and to ask: “What can we bring to the LORD?”1
We learn: “..do what is right, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”2

We gather as the people of God in this time and space, and as we examine
our lives and our relationships we are asking: “What can we bring to the LORD?”1
We listen and understand what the Lord God is saying to us, as we worship
our God: “..do what is right, to love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”2
May it always be so whenever we come to God in worship, prayer and praise. Amen.

Psalm 15
A psalm of David.

1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD?
Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?

2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right,
speaking the truth from sincere hearts.
3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbours
or speak evil of their friends.
4 Those who despise flagrant sinners,
and honour the faithful followers of the LORD,
and keep their promises even when it hurts.
5 Those who lend money without charging interest,
and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.

Such people will stand firm forever.

Prayers of Confession
Pentecost 14B [Ordinary 22B] or [Proper 17B] 2015
Psalm 15

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence
on your holy hill?...” Ever-present God, with reverent awe, we gather to offer
our worship and praise to you with our songs and prayers; and with attentive
ears to hear your word of grace and mercy to us. Yet, even as we gather here
within our own community of faith, we know that what we offer and bring to God
is not enough of a response to such wondrous love so generously poured out
by our God on all humanity and creation. Forgive us, we ask, for those times
when our worship has been inadequate, when our prayers are stilted, and when
we sing to God our thanks and praises, we lack conviction in expressing our faith.
“Day by day, dear Lord, of you three things I pray: to see you more clearly,
to love you more dearly; to follow you more nearly, day by day, by day.”3

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence
on your holy hill?...” Calling God, you call us to worship you, and we respond
in regret and remorse for our failures to be true to our commitments to you.
We start each day with the promise and hope that this day will be a day spent
in fellowship and prayer with you, O God, and yet we fail! We fail to act in love
to those people dearest to us; we fail to show compassion to our neighbour in
distress; and we fail to live up to our calling as one of God’s own beloved people.
“Day by day, dear Lord, of you three things I pray: to see you more clearly,
to love you more dearly; to follow you more nearly, day by day, by day.”3

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence
on your holy hill?...” Creating God, in humility we come to confess how much
we have sinned and neglected our responsibility for nurturing people in their
needs, and for our lack of commitment to the care of God’s glorious creation.
Forgive us our careless use of the earth’s resources; our failure to try to stem
the destruction of the fragile environment because of our lack of willingness to
become involved in such issues; and forgive us for our greedy appetite for new
and more complex “toys” that end up polluting your glorious creation. Forgive,
and renew us we pray, so that we may more faithfully worship and serve you.
“Day by day, dear Lord, of you three things I pray: to see you more clearly,
to love you more dearly; to follow you more nearly, day by day, by day.”3 Amen.

A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 14B [Ordinary 22B] or [Proper 17B] 2015
Psalm 15

“Who may worship in your sanctuary, LORD? Who may enter your presence on
your holy hill?...” These questions go further than worshippers being required to
give the secret pass-word to enable them to enter into the holy presence of God,
as especially experienced in the sacred worship space of God’s people. Imagine
if you will that as the worshipper arrived at the entrance to the sanctuary, they are
tested or questioned by the priest as to their attitude for worship. Before God, are
you blameless? Have you been truthful and always acted with integrity not only
generally, but also towards your neighbours? In your judgement, have you, been
critical of sinners and people not in a right relationship with God; and have you
honoured those people whom you think are in a right relationship with God and
who act with integrity in all things? Have you taken advantage of other people’s
vulnerability in financial matters; or offered inducements to people to do wrong?
However the would-be worshipper responded, their desire was to come be into
God’s holy presence, and to accept God’s availability that is offered to vulnerable
and failed humanity. These questions were intended to teach worshippers how and
who may enter before God – and if confession is part of that worship – with their
hope of receiving God’s merciful forgiveness – this would be a lesson well learned.

Creative pause: Would we ever go to church if we first had to answer these questions?


Professor Walter Brueggemann writes about this psalm: “...entering the holy place
brings security, for the place of the divine presence is the secure place of the rock....
The portrait of the holy place in these first psalms is as a place of refuge. God’s
presence is both demanding and life-giving. The hope of temple worship and its
encounter with the life-giving God make possible faithful and vibrant days for ancient
Israel as a community.....”4 Some authors suggest that just as there are the Ten
Commandments for daily living, so there are these ten required qualities to enable
a worshipper to enter into God’s presence; which means that the worshipper has
a whole-of-life and “life-giving” attitude to God, and to the shared worship of God.

Creative pause: Is your worship of God “life-giving” as well as comforting?


This psalm has been named as being an “entrance liturgy”, but it also suggests that
there needs to be an exit liturgy/plan when people leave the sanctuary to go back into
their daily life and living. At the conclusion of worship, we often hear or say these words:
“Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” How lightly, or otherwise, do we take these
words, as we leave the sanctuary where we have experienced God’s presence; the
comfort of being loved; to have known the joy of forgiveness; and to have “escaped”
for a short time from the hassles of life and living. Yet, if we all followed the behaviour
and attitudes suggested by Psalm 15, we would daily live in a community that recognised
and celebrated God’s presence in every part of life, and in all varieties of relationships!

Creative pause: “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord” – is that a wish or a prayer?


1 Micah 6: 6a (NLT)

2 Micah 6: 8b (NLT)

3 Attributed to St Richard of Chichester (alt)

4 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
& William H Bellinger Junior from “Psalms” Psalm 15, page 84
© 2014 Cambridge University Press

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 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:
© 2015 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year B. Used with permission.

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

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