42B*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 3B [Ordinary 10B] or [Proper 5B] 2018
Psalm 138

We come to our God in trusting hope with our personal needs and concerns.
We pray: “I give you thanks, O LORD, with all my heart; I will sing your praises…”

We come to worship our Loving God in trusting love as a community of faith.
We come “...to praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness…”

We come to our Holy God in trusting praise as individuals and as a community of
faith, and give thanks for teaching us to “…love your neighbour as you love yourself...”¹
We are blessed and encouraged by the strength God gives to us in troubled times.
We give our thanks that: “…Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble…”
We “…will sing about the LORD’s ways, for the glory of the LORD is very great…” Amen.

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Psalm 138
A psalm of David.

1 I give you thanks, O LORD, with all my heart;
I will sing your praises before the gods.
2 I bow before your holy Temple as I worship.
I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness;
for your promises are backed by all the honour of your name.
3 As soon as I pray, you answer me;
you encourage me by giving me strength.

4 Every king in all the earth will thank you, LORD,
for all of them will hear your words.
5 Yes, they will sing about the LORD’s ways,
for the glory of the LORD is very great.
6 Though the LORD is great, he cares for the humble,
but he keeps his distance from the proud.

7 Though I am surrounded by troubles,
you will protect me from the anger of my enemies.
You reach out your hand,
and the power of your right hand saves me.

8 The LORD will work out his plans for my life—
for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever.
Don’t abandon me, for you made me.

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Prayers of Praise and Petition
After Pentecost 3B [Ordinary 10B] or [Proper 5B] 2018
Psalm 138

We come to our God in trusting hope with our personal needs and concerns, aware
that we are not the focus of our worship! May we be able to concentrate and give all
the praise that is due to our Glorious God. As a community of faith and especially
as individuals we pray: “I give you thanks, O LORD, with all my heart; I will sing your
praises…” for the miracles of grace that God has so blessed us with over our lifetime.
Today we pray for people who do not have an awareness of the presence of God in their
lives; and whose spiritual growth as people is stunted because of this. We also pray for
people searching for spiritual nurturing and who do not know where to find those gifts.
May we be given a special awareness of the needs of these people; so that in hope
and trust, they can be guided into a richer and more blessed life. All praise be to God
for the universality of God’s mercy and grace; and for the generosity of God’s holy love.

We come to worship our Loving God in trusting love as a community of faith - as together
we “...praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness…” We give thanks for
God’s special love for people who are under-privileged; and who are made to feel as if
they are aliens, and therefore not acceptable in any level of society. We pray for children
denied the love and care of supportive parents; and for women who are widows and who-
for cultural, religious or social reasons - are deprived of caring relationships. We pray that
communities will open their hearts and homes in welcome to these needy and lost people.

We come to our Holy God in trusting praise as individuals and as a community of faith,
and give thanks for teaching us of the non-discriminatory love of Jesus, who initiated
a new understanding of what it means to “…love your neighbour as you love yourself...”¹
We pray today for our nearer neighbours, the people we see and meet every day; and for
the people who sit near us in church. We pray, too, for our neighbours in the wider sense—
those people who bewilder us with their different habits, language or cultural expressions.
Help us to be open to people who are ‘different’ and to be accepting of their differences;
and to learn to live in accepting and welcoming ways. The psalmist gave thanks for God’s
love for people who are humble; and may that be our attitude, rather than idolising rich or
powerful people, and longing for those same gifts for our own selfish purposes. We praise
and thank our God for the blessings and encouragement given us by God’s strength in our
troubled times; and may our lives – in whatever are their circumstances - bring glory to God. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 3B [Ordinary 10B] or [Proper 5B] 2018
Psalm 138

The tradition in which I worship has a regular pattern to the liturgy, commencing with
“Gathering in the Name of Christ”, which includes the Call to Worship, the Greeting,
Passing the Peace, Prayers of Praise, Confession and the Declaration of Forgiveness;
the next element is “The Service of the Word” with the proclamation of the Word; then
“We Respond to God’s Grace” as we make our offering and pray for people and the
world; concluding with the “Sending Forth of the people of God.” Relevant songs of
praise, thankfulness, concern for other people and challenge are included throughout.
I know a sense of order and continuity in the regular flow of the liturgy as we offer praise,
thanks, confess and are blessed with forgiveness; followed by the proclamation of the
Word; and our grateful responses for God’s goodness and the ministry and self-giving
of Jesus; and we are commissioned before we leave - renewed - to return to the world.



Professor Walter Brueggemann when commenting on Psalm 138, described the flow
of Temple worship and named Psalm 138 as a summing up of the messages of the
Psalms, as those involved in worship and meditation reflect on their own experiences
of God’s steadfast love, and the trust that those experiences encourage people to trust
in God’s loving compassion. He continues: “…YHWH is a living and acting God who
comes to deliver, and so the community is called to rehearse the narrative of liberation
for all to see and hear…Opposition to YHWH and those who worship YHWH is ever
present but so are praise and thanksgiving in this worshipping community, for YHWH
continues to hear their cries…Verses 1-3 uses the rich vocabulary of Israel’s faith and
worship; singing and praying, bowing, and giving thanks are central acts at the place of
divine presence, the ‘holy temple’…The praise and thanksgiving brought to poetic
expression in the Psalms…responds to the God who embraces pain and so calls Israel
to worship. It also testifies to the divine engagement with the world…and bears witness…”²



Psalm 138 is an intensely personal psalm/prayer by King David, and is unusual in that
the LORD God appears to be part of a council of gods, before which God’s capacity to
care and respond was illustrated to all the other ‘gods’. Those ‘gods’ were only interested
in the royal/powerful leaders of their peoples. Whereas the God of Israel was unique in
that in verse 6, the psalmist pointed out the difference between the LORD God of Israel
and the other gods. Belief in those other ‘gods’ still existed for the people of Israel, as they
had not entirely come to believe totally in One True God to the exclusion of all other ‘gods’:
David sang: “…the glory of the LORD is very great. Though in the LORD is great, he cares
for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud…” God’s actions brought a new
and different emphasis to the thinking of the Israelites, as seen by the many references to
foreigners, widows and orphans in Deuteronomy, as God introduced a new social order
and conscience: “...For the LORD your God is the great God, the mighty and awesome God,
who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that orphans and widows receive
justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing.
So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the
land of Egypt…”³ Jesus lived this message: “…love your neighbour as you love yourself...”¹



1 Luke 10: 27b (NLT)

2 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
& William H Bellinger Junior from “Psalms”
Psalm 138, pages 578/580
© 2014 Cambridge University Press

3 Deuteronomy 10: 17-19 (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 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 138.
Used with permission.

joanstott16@gmail.com
www.thetimelesspsalms.net

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost3[10]b_2018.pdf