65A*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 23A [Ordinary 32A] or [Proper 27A] 2017
Psalm 78: 1-7

We come to pray for spiritual purity: “Almighty God, to whom all hearts
are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden…”:¹
“...cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit…”¹

We come to pray for personal purity: “Almighty God, to whom all hearts
are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden…”¹
“...that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name…”¹

We come to pray for community purity: “Almighty God, to whom all hearts
are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hidden…”¹
"Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit
that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Jesus Christ our LORD”¹ to the eternal glory of God’s Holy Name. Amen.

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Psalm 78: 1-7
A psalm of Asaph.

1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell
the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD,
about his power and his mighty wonders.

5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.

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Prayers of Confession and Petition
After Pentecost 23A [Ordinary 32A] or [Proper 27A] 2017
Psalm 78: 1-7

We come together to worship the God whose glorious deeds have been visible
expressions of God’s-Own-Self, and of the love God has for all of creation. We
praise and glorify God’s Holy Name, even as we make our confessions to our God.
“Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom
no secrets are hidden, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of
your Holy Spirit…”¹ Listening God, we confess that we have often hidden the
secrets of our hearts and minds from others; and we have even tried to hide them
from you, by pretending that we are better than our own reality. We confess that
we have failed the next generation by not sharing with them our own mistakes.
Bless us O God, so that we may more “…perfectly love you and worthily magnify
your holy name; through Jesus Christ our LORD, through Jesus Christ our LORD”¹

We come together to praise the God whose glorious deeds have been visible
expressions of God’s-Own-Self, and of the love God has for people, especially
those people with special needs and who are so vulnerable, because of their
circumstances. May these your needy people, find comfort from their knowledge
of God’s past acts of compassion and care. Today, we pray especially for
people who because of their situation in life, are unable to gather for worship,
but who must be content with their private prayers. Grant to them your blessings
and peace. We confess to you about the limitations we place on our compassion;
and how uncaring we have been even when we knew there were special needs.
Bless us O God, so that we may more “…perfectly love you and worthily magnify
your holy name; through Jesus Christ our LORD, through Jesus Christ our LORD”¹

We come together to celebrate the God whose glorious deeds have been visible
expressions of God’s-Own-Self, and of the grace and mercy God has bestowed
on all those people who regret and confess their separation from God. We confess
that it is much easier to go our own way, than listening for God’s guidance and
blessing; yet that individuality takes us further away from God’s Holy Presence.
We have always known through history that God’s way is the best way for living
and loving; but we can be so stubborn! Forgive and renew us we pray, God of
new beginnings, so that we may more “…perfectly love you and worthily magnify
your holy name; through Jesus Christ our LORD, through Jesus Christ our LORD”¹ Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 23A [Ordinary 32A] or [Proper 27A] 2017
Psalm 78: 1-7

Psalm 78 is another historical or “memory” psalm that the people of Israel used in
community worship, as part of their celebrations of God’s goodness to Israel; and as
a reminder of the harsh realities of Israel’s past failures to be faithful to God and to
God’s gracious Covenant, through which they had been so blessed. The memory
of those failures were to be part the daily tradition of a father repeating those stories
to their sons. “...We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next
generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD, about his power and his mighty
wonders...” God .... commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the
next generation might know them - even the children not yet born - and they in turn
will teach their own children...” I remember my childhood story times when those same
miracles of God’s grace were repeated to me; and which I later told to my children.



In his book “From whom no secrets are hid” Professor Walter Brueggemann writes:
“....The faith of ancient Israel .... ‘story’ consisted of stylised recital of pivotal events
from Israel’s past that eventually received ... canonical form. The ‘story’ consisted
of remembered happenings in which YHWH was affirmed to be the key character
and agent who acted on behalf of Israel in transformative ways. Because these events
are awe-evoking, ... they are regarded at ‘wonders’ that exhibit the faithful power of
God that is beyond any power known to us. .... Israel came to have a ...recital of
[these] miracles by which it lived and which gave definition both to its God and to its
own community ....The result is a mix of divine generosity and Israelite resistance...”²
If we ever chose to follow the example of the psalmists, and recorded our blessings
and failures for the benefit of future generations, do you think it would make much of
a difference to them and their personal or corporate decision making? Would we ever
dare to include those long-ago memories - good and bad - in our worship services?



When I was ‘in office’ in one of my earlier roles, I introduced ‘faith sharing’ as part
of our board meeting processes; and encouraged ‘one-on-one’ sharing of their faith
and life experiences since they had last met, which impacted positively or negatively
on their faith journey. That may be a process that is now considered too personal or
an invasion of privacy; but I believed then that the choice of what to share belonged
to the individual; and they were each encouraged to respect the other person’s privacy.
I believe that talking about one’s own faith journey can become a ‘dying art’; and that
it needs to be rediscovered, as the discipline of evaluating one’s own faith is important.



1 “Uniting in Worship” “The Collect for Purity”
“Alternative Service 1980, Church of England”
© 1988, Page 235 The Uniting Church in Australia
Assembly Commission on Liturgy.
Published by the Joint Board of Christian Education
Melbourne Australia

2 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
from “From whom no secrets are hid”
Chapter 15, pages 133, 137
© 2014 Westminster/John Knox Press
Louisville Kentucky USA

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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:
© 2017 Joan Stott –‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year A. Based on verses from Psalm 78.
Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost23[32]a_2017.pdf