65B*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 24B [Ordinary 32B] or [Proper 27B] 2015
Psalm 127

Welcoming God, you invite us to come and spend time “at home” with you.
Through God’s grace and mercy, we are accepted into God’s family of love.

Encouraging God, you call us to a purposeful life in a God-centred community.
Through God’s pattern for human life at creation, may we live a well-balanced
life of worship of God; witness to God; and of service to God and to humanity.

Gracious God, you call us and have given us a pattern for fulfilled living through
being in a close relationship “at home” with you; and with your glorious creation.
Through God’s infinite wisdom and faithfulness, you call us to meet with you in
worship, where we can learn and experience your steadfast love and forgiveness;
and you show how we can be “at home”, resting within God’s accepting embrace. Amen.

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Psalm 127
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
A psalm of Solomon.

1 Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the LORD protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good.

2 It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning
until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.
3 Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.
4 Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.
5 How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!
He will not be put to shame
when he confronts his accusers at the city gates.

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Prayers of Trust and Thankfulness
Pentecost 24B [Ordinary 32B] or [Proper 27B] 2015
Psalm 127

Welcoming God, we gather together in trust and thankfulness for the way you
bless us by welcoming us into your holy presence, where with reverent awe,
we can be in fellowship with you within your accepting presence. We give thanks
for the blessings of being part of a fellowship of trust and acceptance within a
faith community and for what it teaches us about God’s trustworthiness and of
God’s acceptance of us, whatever has been our situation in life. We give thanks
that through God’s grace and mercy, there is forgiveness and renewal of faith,
even if we have let others down within that fellowship of gracious acceptance.

Patient God, we give thanks for the biblical witness that teaches us of God’s
generous and gracious patience with those ancient people of God; and that we
can learn so much from that witness about God’s faithfulness and mercy. We
give thanks for God’s pattern for human life within creation, and that God created
needs within us that can only be met in and through God. We give thanks for the
spiritual insights that we discover through the lives and ministries of other people;
and through conversation with them or with others who knew them; and through
the study of other people’s experiences in their faith journey through their writings.

Encouraging God, you call us to live a purposeful life in a God-centred community
where through God’s grace and mercy, we can live a well-balanced life of worship
of God; witness to God; and of service to God and to humanity. Through God’s
infinite wisdom and faithfulness, we are called to meet with you in worship, where
we can experience and learn of your steadfast love and forgiveness; where we can
take risks in God’s name as we try to improve the lives of people diminished by their
rabid ambitions and narrowed focus on life; and to show them by example how you
call us all to live a God-centred life “at home” resting within God’s accepting embrace.
May God’s mercy, peace and grace become the norm in our living for and with God. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 24B [Ordinary 32B] or [Proper 27B] 2015
Psalm 127

Throughout many of Professor Walter Brueggemann’s books, videos and
You-Tubes of his lectures, sermon and addresses, he addresses people’s life
as either being “oriented, disoriented or re-oriented”. He writes: “...The human
organism struggles to maintain some kind of equilibrium in his or her life. The
sense of holistic orientation, of being ‘at home’, is a gift that is given...Human
experience includes those dangerous and difficult times of dislocation and
disorientation when the sky does fall and the world does indeed come to an end...
The times of disorientation are those when persons are driven to extremities of
emotion, of integrating capacity, and of language. In the company of Isaiah,
(Isaiah 6:5) we are ‘undone’...”¹ Being “at home” with oneself, with one’s family,
friends and neighbours are certainly amongst life’s richest blessings! There is
no need for pretence; and no need for “anxiously working” – or as a workaholic.
What a wonderful promise was given here: “…God gives rest to his loved ones…”
as “rest” implies being quietly “at home” with oneself, with God, and with others.



Brueggemann suggests that the Psalms of “orientation” are usually those where
there are no emergencies and life is smooth-sailing; that our worship of God is
faithfully lived out daily in a trusting relationship with God; and that Psalm 127 fits
into that category. This God-centred life “...of those who enjoy a serene location
of their lives and are characterised by a sense of orderliness, goodness and reliability
of life. Thus they might be especially represented in creation psalms that reflect the
coherence of life...”¹ Psalm 127 centres on our relationship with God, and in the
lived wisdom of the author, the psalm advocates that without God at its centre - our
family life; our place in the community; and in our daily work are an exercise in futility!



This psalm may also be about God’s overall plan for humanity as based on the creation
story of Genesis 2, when after the creation of the cosmos, the earth and everything in it
was completed: “...On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested
from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was
the day when he rested from all his work of creation…”² Through God’s grace, we humans
have been given a pattern for living where we take the time to relax and enjoy our daily life
and our family life when “…God gives rest to his loved ones…” As an “Ascent Psalm”, this
psalm encouraged the setting aside of time within the family planning to ensure a pilgrimage
to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship God; thus tying that family’s life to the faith of their
parents, and fulfilling their particular part in the ongoing story of faithful worship of God. In
the paternalistic times of the psalms, the gift of sons was treasured because that usually
meant the continuation of that family’s name and influence; and the potential linking up with
another like-minded family in marriage – thus - you are blessed with a well-oriented family life.



1 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
“The Psalms and the Life of Faith”
Chapter 1, page 10-11
©1995 Augsburg Publishing House
Minneapolis MN 55440, USA

2 Genesis 2: 2-4 (NLT)

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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 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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