62B*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 23B [Ordinary 30B] or [Proper 25B] 2018
Psalm 126

Healing God, we come to joyfully celebrate the miracle of your compassion.
God blesses and heals us beyond our wildest dreams, and we give thanks!

Renewing God, we come together to praise our God for our many blessings.
God renews and restores us – much more than we could ever dared to hope.

Liberating God, we come in awed wonder at our God’s merciful deliverance
from all that limits us in our loving, worship, witness and service in your name.
God frees and unburdens us from our fears, so much more than we thought
was ever possible! “…the LORD has done amazing things for us! what joy..!” Amen.

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Psalm 126
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

1 When the LORD brought back his exiles to Jerusalem,
it was like a dream!
2 We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.
And the other nations said, “What amazing things the LORD has done for them.”
3 Yes, the LORD has done amazing things for us! What joy!
4 Restore our fortunes, LORD, as streams renew the desert.
5 Those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.
6 They weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest.

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Prayers of Praise and Thankfulness
After Pentecost 23B [Ordinary 30B] or [Proper 25B] 2018
Psalm 126

Healing God, we come to joyfully celebrate the miracle of your compassion; for the
way God blesses and heals us is beyond our wildest dreams; and we give to God
our praises and our thanks! We also celebrate the sense of home-coming when we
meet with our Delivering God; because that is our true and holy home; and nothing
can change the tender love God has for us. With joy, we celebrate our home-coming,
as forgiven of our confessed sin, we are forever welcome into God’s trustworthy heart.

Renewing God, we come together to praise our God for our many blessings; for the
way God renews and restores us, especially when we feel disappointed in the way
we have failed in our commitment to God. Generous God, your accepting love is so
much more than we dared to hope for; and we give you our thanks and praises, as we
rest secure and at peace within God’s welcoming arms. Even as we are restored and
and renewed, we still need the reassurance of God’s constant love and mercy; and of
all God’s ancient promises that remain true today, and in all the tomorrows to come.

Liberating God, we come in awed wonder at our God’s merciful deliverance of us from
all that limits us in our loving, worship, witness and service in your name. We remember
with pain and regret, those times when our love, our living and our life seemed to be dry
and barren as a desert; and we never dared to hope that the refreshing springs of God’s
love would bring us new life and a renewed and vibrant faith in our Renewing God. Thanks
be to God, we are once again free from the burdens of our fears, so much more than
we thought was ever possible! “…the LORD has done amazing things for us! what joy..!” Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 23B [Ordinary 30B] or [Proper 25B] 2018
Psalm 126

The prophet Jeremiah had been instructed by God to not pray, lament or even mourn
the fate of the Israelite people as they experienced exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 7:16,
11:14, 14:11). The prophet was told by God that as punishment, God would refuse to
hear their cries. The people of Israel, through their own choice to ignore their covenant
relationship with God; the unfaithfulness and sin of their religious leaders; they were
overrun by neighbouring armies of Egypt to the south; and Babylon to the north, working
together. They had falsely believed that as long as the Temple stood in Jerusalem, all
would be well; but it was destroyed - along with all of Jerusalem. There is clearly a very
close connection between today’s Psalm and the Old Testament reading from Jeremiah.



Whilst in captivity, the people of Israel lost the right to celebrate, or to experience any
emotional outpourings at all. Then, just when it looked like Israel would be totally extinct
as a nation; God promised the people a new beginning and their hopes was reborn.
When the prophet said later on that they could return - their joy knew no boundaries!
“…Now this is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Israel. Shout for the greatest of
nations! Shout out with praise and joy: ‘Save your people, O LORD, the remnant of Israel!’
For I will bring them from the north and from the distant corners of the earth. I will not
forget the blind and lame, the expectant mothers and women in labour. A great company
will return! Tears of joy will stream down their faces, and I will lead them home with
great care. They will walk beside quiet streams and on smooth paths where they will
not stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my oldest child…” (Jeremiah 31: 7-9)
Ephraim was one of Jacob’s sons, but unlike his other sons who each had a tribe named
after them; Joseph had two tribes - Ephraim and Manasseh; which became lost in history.



According to Brueggemann, the psalmist set three stages of Israel’s celebrations. Stage 1:
“…it was like a dream..!” – Just too good to be true! But is that not the way God acts to
forgive, renew and restore humanity when all hope seems lost? Stage 2: was their joy-filled
celebrations as they praised God: “…We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy...”
Stage 3: was the restoration of the Temple: “…the other nations said, ‘What amazing things the LORD has done for them... What joy’” Those awestruck nations spontaneously marveled
at God’s gracious goodness and mercy towards Israel’s people! The astounding reversal
of their life as an agricultural nation was recognised, when they planted with little or no hope
of a crop; yet that they harvested in joy and thankfulness is a spiritual example of how God
can and does create new opportunities out of our failures; creating a new dawning out of devastation.

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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 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:
© 2018 Joan Stott –‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year B. Based on verses from Psalm 126.
Used with permission.

joanstott16@gmail.com
www.thetimelesspsalms.net

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost23[30]b_2018.pdf