43C*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 3C [Ordinary 11C] or [Proper 6C] 2010
Psalm 5: 1-8
O Lord our God, we come to you in the morningwith our pleas and prayers – Lord, hear our cry!
We come together in the abundance of your love.
O God, we know you do not tolerate evil and sin,
so we gather this morning, seeking your guidance.
We come together in the abundance of your mercy.
O Lord our God, we gather to reverently praise you
and to humbly bow down before you in worship.
We come together in the abundance of your grace. Amen.
Prayers of Lament and Petition
Pentecost 3C [Ordinary 11C] or [Proper 6C] 2010
Psalm 5: 1-8
O Lord our God, in the freshness of the morning,we confidently bring our pleas to you. Please listen!
We come together in prayer, and to share and support
each other through this time of anxiety and anguish.
O God, help us to understand why we reacting in this
way to our experiences - to our concerns about the
injustices, the distortions, the outright lies that are
being so widely spread about God’s own people.
O Lord our God, we are passionate in our resolve to come
to you in worship; even though our hearts are wrung out
because of the injustices perpetrated against your people.
Each of us are so anguished and distressed; confused
and tired out after nights of wrestling with our concerns.
Yet O God, it is right that we have this vivid reminder of
how abhorrent to God’s nature is evil, lies and wickedness;
Our Trustworthy God, through the abundance of your love,
we gather to worship you; to bring honour to your holy name.
We come in prayer O God, asking for wisdom because you
are our hope, and we completely trust you. O God, listen and
respond to our pleas for your guidance and direction, so that
the way ahead for us is clearer. We want your reassurance and
blessing, because you alone are our Guide and our Lord! Amen.
A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 3C [Ordinary 11C] or [Proper 6C] 2010
Psalm 5: 1-8
After a very restless night, I come to you, my Lord and God.This morning – please I beg you - listen to my pleas for help
and for guidance, for blessing and reassurance! My sighs
are symptoms of my anguish, my moans and groans speak
of how confused I am! O God, I have plotted and planned
for hours about how to express my fears and my grief to you.
| Creative pause: | Listen to my cries for help and blessing! |
Any person’s reputation can be destroyed in a moment by lies,
and a lifetime’s work of good deeds and sensitive caring can be
lost by the power of a lying tongue – and yes – this has been
happening! O Lord, these maligned victims are your own people!
| Creative pause: | I am not immune from troubles. |
I know that you are a God of love and justice; and that you detest
wickedness, injustices and lies, because they are contrary to your
nature of justice, mercy and love. One good thing has come out of
all this trauma! It helps to be reminded of the pervasiveness of evil,
and for the way its influences can be so subversive and hurtful!
| Creative pause: | God’s ways are truth, justice and peace. |
O Lord my God, I understand that often evil ends up defeating
Itself; that lies come home to roost; and that the shaky house of
cards upon which wickedness was built, often falls down upon itself!
| Creative pause: | Remember to be wary of evil influences. |
Through God’s great mercy, I have been invited to come into
God’s presence, and to reverently offer my worship and praise
to God in the holy places! How blessed I am for this privilege!
O Lord my God – lead me in your right path, and be my guide
on the path ahead of me, which you have prepared for me.
| Creative pause: | God always walks with us. |
Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and
Meditations are from
‘The New Revised Standard Version’ Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the USA.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
*The additional weekly numbering is from the Revised COCU Indexing Scheme
COCU = ('Consultation on Church Union');
as it offers an easy sequential numbering
for the Revised Common Lectionary for the Church Calendar.
If any part of these Prayers and/or Meditations is used in shared worship, please provide
the following acknowledgement:
© 2010 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.
jstott@netspace.net.au
Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost3[11]c_2010.pdf