45B*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 5B [Ordinary 13B] or [Proper 8B] 2015
Psalm 30

Listening God, we come to give thanks for your listening presence with us.
We have called to you, O God, even when we thought you were out of reach.

Liberating God, we come to give thanks for way you transform difficult times
with your merciful grace, into times of celebration of God’s abiding presence.
Involved God, we come to give thanks for the way you respond to our needs.

Trustworthy God, we come with hope and faith to you and bring to you our fears
that tie us up in knots, so that we become isolated and alone with all our worries.
Understanding God, you know we imprison ourselves with our real or imagined
problems, and we give thanks that you are able to free and redirect us in our living.
Amen.

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Psalm 30
A psalm of David. A song for the dedication of the Temple.

1 I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me.
You refused to let my enemies triumph over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.
3 You brought me up from the grave, O LORD.
You kept me from falling into the pit of death.

4 Sing to the LORD, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime!
Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.

6 When I was prosperous, I said, “Nothing can stop me now!”
7 Your favour, O LORD, made me as secure as a mountain.
Then you turned away from me, and I was shattered.
8 I cried out to you, O LORD. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying,
9 “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave?
Can my dust praise you? Can it tell of your faithfulness?
10 Hear me, LORD, and have mercy on me. Help me, O LORD.”

11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
12 that I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!

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Prayers of Thankfulness
Pentecost 5B [Ordinary 13B] or [Proper 8B] 2015
Psalm 30

Listening God, we come to you in worship with thankful hearts and minds, because
when we called on you, your listened and heard our prayers; and we give thanks for
your listening presence with us. However, sometimes we have called on our God for
help, for peace or for blessings; but you seem far away from us, and we do not know
if you have heard our prayers; yet we still keep praying and asking God for guidance,
help and blessings to fall upon us. We give thanks for the faith and trust you give to
us as a gift to strengthen us, especially when we have been unfaithful to you because
of our arrogance, when we believed ourselves to be above the failings of other people.

Liberating God, we come to give thanks to you for the way you have been involved with
us in significant ways, and when we have experienced your abiding presence with us—
and we have celebrated that blessing. We have been blessed by your merciful grace
that has transformed our difficult and troubled times; and you have given us new hope
and new insights into the closeness of our relationship with God. We come now to give
you our thanks for the way you have responded to our needs and answered our prayers.

Trustworthy and Faithful God, we come to give thanks for your gifts of faith and hope;
and for the courage to step out into the future with the knowledge that you will travel
with us, and that even if we stumble and fall or have times of doubts or fears, you
will be there to pick us up and set us again on the right path that leads us home to you.
We know we are only human, and that at times our expectations are unrealistic, but you
keep us grounded within your Holy Presence, and that helps to prevent us from being
imprisoned by our ambitions or pride; which only lead to disappointment and failures.
Generous God, through your grace you help us to free ourselves from those things that
limit us from being who you created us to be and become, and we give you our thanks. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 5B [Ordinary 13B] or [Proper 8B] 2015
Psalm 30

Psalm 30: 9a reads “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave?” but other
translations refer the “grave” as the “pit” or “Sheol” - a place of death. Again, other
Biblical texts refer to it as a cistern, as when Joseph was thrown into a well/cistern
by his brothers (Genesis 37:24). In ancient times, cisterns were used to store water,
and were usually pear shaped and often up to 20 feet deep, with a narrow opening
of only two to three feet; and were usually carved out of solid rock, or lined with
stones and a sealing substance to retain the stored water. One gruesome purpose
was for the cistern to be a final prison, where the captive was left to die of thirst or
hunger. One of the side effects and beliefs associated with these places of torture
and terror was that whilst in a pit/cistern, God could not penetrate that space, so the
victim was denied any contact with God to pray, praise or ask God for forgiveness
and help. Another painful association was that the pit was also known as the place
for the “forgotten”, where a person was removed from all life and totally powerless.



With this explanation of the “pit”, there is added pain in these words of the Psalmist:
“... ‘Can my dust praise you? Can it tell of your faithfulness? Hear me, LORD, and
have mercy on me. Help me, O LORD.’....” If God was indeed absent from him,
even the dust of a captive’s body had no opportunity to plead to God for mercy
or forgiveness, so he died believing his sins were unforgiven! Then suddenly, the
mood of the psalm changed, and mourning clothes were tossed aside and joyful
dancing was shared in by all involved. The ex-victim could “...sing praises to you
[God] and not be silent...” as before, when in the pit/cistern! It is no wonder that the
Psalmist sang so wholeheartedly: “...I will exalt you, LORD, for you rescued me. You
refused to let my enemies triumph over me. O LORD my God, I cried to you for help,
and you restored my health.... O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever...!”



Transformation within a personal experience is the theme of this psalm, brought about
by the faithful and steadfast love of God, demonstrated by God’s direct involvement with
the victim, and that awful experience being resolved in such as way that God was
specifically thanked and people blessed as a result. The ex-victim was released from
a dire situation; and all he could do was make a confession “...I will give you thanks
forever...! “Giving thanks” is very different to “praising God”, with the “thanks” usually
for a quite specific response to a critical issue, and certainly much more than simply
being grateful! However, “praising God” is usually more general as the Being of God’s
-Own-Self is being honoured and/or revered. This psalm is noted as being by David for:
“A song for the dedication of the Temple.” Within the context of worship and sacrificial
confession, the memory of that transforming action by God to liberate the captive victim
was recalled and celebrated, so that each person present could personally identify with it.

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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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