42C*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 3C [Ordinary 10C] or [Proper 5C} 2016
Psalm 146

We come, God of compassion, to praise and honour your Holy Name.
We come to give thanks for the tender care God offers to people at risk.

We come, God of empathy, to share in your caring for people who are lost.
We come to celebrate, because the Lord is the Hope of alienated people.

We come, God of kindness and sensitivity, to worship and revere you for
the way you demonstrate your love and faithfulness for vulnerable people.
We are joyful today, because all peoples have the opportunity for the Eternal
God to be their Helper, their Comforter, their Guide and their eternal Home. Amen.

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Psalm 146

1 Praise the LORD!
Let all that I am praise the LORD.
2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live.
I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath.

3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.

5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper,
whose hope is in the LORD their God.
6 He made heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them.
He keeps every promise forever.

7 He gives justice to the oppressed
and food to the hungry.
The LORD frees the prisoners.
8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are weighed down.
The LORD loves the godly.
9 The LORD protects the foreigners among us.
He cares for the orphans and widows,
but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.

10 The LORD will reign forever.
He will be your God, O Jerusalem, throughout the generations.
Praise the LORD!

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Prayers of Praise and Petition
After Pentecost 3C [Ordinary 10C] or [Proper 5C} 2016
Psalm 146

Generous and Gracious God, there are so many things for which we want to
praise you; for creation as a whole and its various individual expressions and
parts; for the joy of relationships that enrich our lives and which also challenge
us to grow in trust, acceptance and love; and for those issues that confront us—
to make us think, rather than simply reacting. But today, we want to praise you
for your compassion and tender care for all of your creation that is vulnerable—
but especially for your warm and gentle care of vulnerable people. These people
are so fragile from many causes, and often in circumstances beyond their control—
and so today we bring them to you and your throne of grace and mercy, asking
that you will once again show them your steadfast and unfailing love and mercy.

God of empathy and sensitivity, we come to praise you for gifting humanity with
some of the blessings of God by enabling us to show care, empathy and a level
of sensitivity in our caring for people; in our caring for creation; and for the care
you inspire within us to care and love ourselves. Today, we want to praise you
for your special care for people who are alienated, lost and bewildered. Help us
to develop those same caring capacities for people who have lost their way; for
people who have risked any security that they have known by seeking shelter in
another country, town or city, in the hope of a better life. Lord of all faith and hope—
it is our prayer that we will be enabled to truly welcome the ‘stranger’, the people
who are disadvantaged, neglected or abused; and accept them as God accepts us.

God our Comforter, Guide and Help, we come to praise you for granting us the
privilege of worshipping you this day; for enabling us to be able to rise above our
human limitations and to catch a glimpse of the Holy One; and together, to practise
the presence of our God within and around us as a community of faith. Today, we
want to praise you for gifting us with a portion of your justice and mercy; and we ask
that all our thoughts and actions are in accord with God’s love, justice and mercy. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 3C [Ordinary 10C] or [Proper 5C} 2016
Psalm 146

Today’s psalm picks up an almost timeless message as under the heading of
“Moral and Social Responsibility”, Moses in 1300-1200 BC spelt out the Laws he
had received from God regarding the care of widows, orphans, the poor and the
resident aliens who were part of their community. These Laws were repeated in
other records of the Law; throughout the Psalms at about 1000 BC when today’s
psalm states: “...He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The LORD
frees the prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those
who are weighed down. The LORD loves the godly. The LORD protects the foreigners
among us. He cares for the orphans and widows...” The trio of prophets around the
years 750 BC who took the same name of “Isaiah”, repeated this message several
times in their prophesies as they warned against the people’s godlessness, including
in chapter 61:1-2: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is upon me, for the LORD has
anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the broken
hearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed.
He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the LORD’s favour has come...”
Approximately 700 years later, Jesus repeated those words, although slightly amended,
in his ministry manifesto in Luke 4: 18-19. Almost 3000 years’ later, humanity still
has not begun to really learn our lessons on our “Moral and Social Responsibilities”.



Psalm 146 opens with these words: “Praise the LORD! Let all that I am praise the LORD.
I will praise the LORD as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying
breath…” The phrase “Let all that I am” suggests to me that the psalmist had a regular
self-assessment of his life and of his own being. However the psalmist chose to define
who he was, he wore no ‘blinkers’ during that assessment. Regardless of how he saw
himself during the ever-changing landscape of his life, he knew who and what he was
and who he could be. In those times of assessment, he obviously reflected on the words
of the Law and the Prophets, and he promised that he would: “…praise the LORD as long
as I live…” even to his last and dying breath and whether he had kept the Laws or not.



Unusually, the author continued to personally speak of his knowledge of his Lord and
God: “…But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is
in the LORD their God..... He keeps every promise forever…” The faithfulness of God
was a treasured gift to all who appreciated it; and God’s holy reign over creation is forever!

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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 scholarship and 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:
© 2016 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost3[10]c_2016.pdf