43B*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 4B [Ordinary 11B] or [Proper 6B] 2018
Psalm 20

Author of our faith: we come to give thanks, praise and to worship your Name!
We come to worship the God who is our Beginning, Fulfilment and Completion.

Origin of our trust: may our reverent prayers and songs honour your Holy Name.
We come to praise and thank the God who is forever faithful, loyal and trustworthy.

Source of our hope, and the answer to all our fears, struggles and our anxieties—
we come to offer you the worship of our being – our heart, soul, mind and strength.
We come in reverent awe of God, who is all powerful, all truth and filled with grace—
to offer the fruits of our worship, our witness and our service in God’s Holy Name. Amen.

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Psalm 20

1 In times of trouble, may the LORD answer your cry.
May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.
2 May he send you help from his sanctuary
and strengthen you from Jerusalem.
3 May he remember all your gifts
and look favourably on your burnt offerings.    Interlude

4 May he grant your heart’s desires
and make all your plans succeed.
5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory
and raise a victory banner in the name of our God.
May the LORD answer all your prayers.

6 Now I know that the LORD rescues his anointed king.
He will answer him from his holy heaven
and rescue him by his great power.
7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses,
but we boast in the name of the LORD our God.

8 Those nations will fall down and collapse,
but we will rise up and stand firm.
9 Give victory to our king, O LORD!
Answer our cry for help.

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Prayers of Petition and Trust
After Pentecost 4B [Ordinary 11B] or [Proper 6B] 2018
Psalm 20

Author of our faith: we come today to give thanks, praise and to worship your Name!
We come as a community of faith to worship the God of all creation; who is also our
Beginning, Fulfilment and Completion; and who inspires within each of us the hope and
faith to leave all our concerns with the God whom we trust to deal with life’s issues, as
is best for God’s plan for all creation. We come because the Holy One also gives our
lives meaning and balance in our relationships; and we want to share with others their
own experiences of God in their lives. But we come primarily because we want to and
need to respond to God’s invitation to “be still”¹ before our Holy God in reverent awe.

Origin of our trust: may our gathering together for reverent reflection, meditation, prayers
and songs bring honour your Holy Name. Help us, we pray, to learn what it truly means
to “be still”¹ before our Holy God; so that we may take that learned experience within us
into our daily living. We also come to praise and thank the God who is forever faithful, loyal
and trustworthy. We pray for people who are in times of anxiety, distress or fear; because
of irresponsible behaviour of their leaders; because of stresses created by their employers;
or through uncertainty because of health issues. We pray for all the leaders of nations and communities;
that justice, fairness and equality may not simply be dreams, but latent reality.

Source of our hope, and the answer to all our fears, struggles and our anxieties, we come
to offer you the worship of our being, our heart, soul, mind and strength. We know that
before our God we are as nothing, but the Holy One is also a loving and Compassionate
God, who has gifted us with so many things, including the ability to love. Therefore, today,
we come in reverent awe of God, who is all powerful, all truth and filled with grace - to offer
to God the fruits of our worship, our witness and our service given in God’s Holy Name. We
pray that what we offer to God may be blessed, and so be a blessing to and for other people. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 4B [Ordinary 11B] or [Proper 6B] 2018
Psalm 20

Psalm 20 seems to be a psalm that highlights the “Name” of God in many formats—
yet which all add to the reality and diversity of God’s-Own-Self and God’s attributes.
Initially, and then repeatedly, the name “the LORD” is used; and then next is the very
ancient title of the “God of Jacob”. This is followed by the places where worship of that
“Name” is fulfilled – in Jerusalem at the Temple. The next Name is “our God” before
outlining the “great power” of “the LORD”; and the psalmist boasts “…in the name of
the LORD our God…” and finally naming “O LORD”. The psalmist names the Holy One
to whom they were pleading for answers – and it was “answers” that they want from
God as they prayed, interceded, or begged God to bless and save their king, described
as the LORD’s “anointed” king. This suggests that by his anointing, that God favoured
and supported David as king of God’s chosen people, and would grant him success.



How easy it is to claim that God is on “our side” in any dispute, whether large or small
in its context. Almost inevitably, people with convictions will claim that they are right in
any conflict; or that they are being traumatised, irreparably damaged or diminished by
the attitudes or actions of their ‘enemy’. In Psalm 20, the psalmist claimed that the
“anointing” of King David was at God’s command; did that mean that all David did and said
on behalf of the people was done with God’s blessing? Or was the prayer/psalm a genuine
call on God as a statement of faith in God’s ability to maintain their role as the people of
Israel - God’s elected people; and of their reigning king? Yet the conflict in question was
war, and how did war and the Temple worship of God go hand-in-hand? Was the link
because of David’s complete faith and trust in God to guide and bless his role as king?



Despite the prayers for David’s safety and success in battle, the psalmist recognised the
ultimate powers of God over the world and the people and nations whom God created.
The prayer/psalm is offered in the confident hope and expectation that God would act.
The psalmist used the familiar words when there is a dispute – “we” and “them”. The
difference in this case is that the “we” people had the promises of God behind their calls,
prayers and the faith convictions that only God could raise them up; and keep their king
safe, because “…we boast in the name of the LORD our God…we will rise up and stand
firm…” However brilliant King David was as a soldier, the psalmist acknowledged that
instead of David being their national saviour, God was their Saviour; and King David the
one saved. In the face of the many conflicts we daily read or hear about, how firm are our
convictions in the faithfulness and mercy of our God to any of conflict’s “winners” and “losers”?



1 Psalm 46:10a (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 20.
Used with permission.

joanstott16@gmail.com
www.thetimelesspsalms.net

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost4[11]b_2018.pdf