48B*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 9B [Ordinary 16B] or [Proper 11B] 2018
Psalm 89: 20-37

God of unconditional love: we come to worship in response to God’s love.
“…Great is his goodness… Know that our God is LORD… he is our Maker…¹

God of unconditional grace: we come to praise in response to God’s grace.
“…sing in thanksgiving as you come before him…glorify his greatness…¹

God of unconditional tenderness: we come, rejoicing in response to God’s
faithfulness and compassionate care that is offered to all vulnerable people.
“…great is the LORD we worship, steadfast his kindness, love that knows no
ending; faithful his word is, changeless, everlasting! Praise the Almighty…¹ Amen.

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Psalm 89: 20-37
A psalm of Ethan the Ezrahite.

20 I have found my servant David.
I have anointed him with my holy oil.
21 I will steady him with my hand;
with my powerful arm I will make him strong.’
22 His enemies will not defeat him,
nor will the wicked overpower him.
23 I will beat down his adversaries before him
and destroy those who hate him.

24 My faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him,
and by my authority he will grow in power.
25 I will extend his rule over the sea, his dominion over the rivers.
26 And he will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God,
and the Rock of my salvation.’
27 I will make him my firstborn son,
the mightiest king on earth.
28 I will love him and be kind to him forever;
my covenant with him will never end.
29 I will preserve an heir for him; his throne
will be as endless as the days of heaven.

30 But if his descendants forsake my instructions
and fail to obey my regulations,
31 if they do not obey my decrees,
and fail to keep my commands,
32 then I will punish their sin with the rod,
and their disobedience with beating.

33 But I will never stop loving him
nor fail to keep my promise to him.
34 No, I will not break my covenant;
I will not take back a single word I said.
35 I have sworn an oath to David,
and in my holiness I cannot lie:
36 His dynasty will go on forever;
his kingdom will endure as the sun.
37 It will be as eternal as the moon,
my faithful witness in the sky!”       Interlude

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Prayers of Praise
After Pentecost 9B [Ordinary 16B] or [Proper 11B] 2018
Psalm 89: 20-37

God of unconditional love: we come today to worship you in response to God’s love.
Your love for us and all of creation is overwhelming in its concept; and we struggle
to understand; or sometimes we even feel that we are not worthy to accept the love
that is offered so generously to us. In faith, hope and trust in our God, we come to
worship God ; and to be reassured about this wonderful gift that is offered to us.
We can only accept and sing together: “Sing, all creation, sing to God in gladness,
joyously serve him…chanting his praises, come before his presence…Great is his
goodness… Know that our God is LORD… he is our Maker. Praise the Almighty!…¹

God of unconditional grace: we come today to praise you in response to God’s grace.
Your holy grace offered to us and all creation is overwhelming in its concept; and we
struggle to understand; or sometimes we even feel that we are not worthy to accept
the grace of God that is offered so generously to us. In faith, hope and trust in our
God, we come to praise our God; and we seek the reassurance that this wonderful
gift is indeed offered to us. Today we celebrate and “…sing in thanksgiving as you
come before him; blessing his bounty, glorify his greatness: Praise the Almighty...!”
We are indeed: “…his creatures, people he fashioned, sheep he leads to pasture…”¹

God of unconditional tenderness: we come together to worship and praise you this day—
rejoicing in response to God’s faithfulness and compassionate care that is offered to
all vulnerable people; and to all of creation. We come together now in reverent awe:
“…singing hymns of homage… great is the LORD we worship, steadfast his kindness,
love that knows no ending; faithful his word is, changeless, everlasting…!¹ In response
to God’s, love, grace and tenderness, we can only pray that we are worthy recipients of
those mercies; and that as we seek to love and serve God in all our words, thoughts and
actions, that this our sacrifice of praise and thankfulness is received and blessed by God. Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 9B [Ordinary 16B] or [Proper 11B] 2018
Psalm 89: 20-37

The lengthy Psalm 89 commences with a doxology of praise to God and a promise
to David of God’s unwavering and faithful love and support for him as monarch of
Israel. It is also an introduction and an explanation of the context for King David’s
utter trust and hope in God. “I will sing of the Lord’s unfailing love forever! Young
and old will hear of your faithfulness. Your unfailing love will last forever. Your
faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens. The Lord said, “I have made a covenant
with David, my chosen servant. I have sworn this oath to him: ‘I will establish your
descendants as kings forever; they will sit on your throne from now until eternity.’”²



Psalm 89 is a community psalm that celebrates God’s love that is timeless, faithful,
unmeasurable; and combines a song of praise and a lamenting prayer for help and
relief from danger or distress. A ‘conjunction’ is a tool that connects clauses/sentences
and which coordinates words in that same clause. In today’s selection, we have two
‘disruptive conjunctions’ and they break the flow of words in a sentence/clause using
such as the words as ‘but’ or ‘if’; that disrupt or negate the claims made in previous
sentences. “…I have found my servant David. I have anointed him with my holy oil…
But if his descendants forsake my instructions and fail to obey my regulations, if they
do not obey my decrees, and fail to keep my commands, then I will punish their sin…”
Then comes another “but”: “…But I will never stop loving him nor fail to keep my
promise to him. No, I will not break my covenant; I will not take back a single word I
said. I have sworn an oath to David, and in my holiness I cannot lie…” We give thanks
for God’s unfailing and steadfast love and faithfulness throughout all the generations!



Professor Walter Brueggemann writes about Psalm 89: “…God’s covenant with
David has been understood… in two ways. First, it is common to judge that the
Sinai covenant assures God’s fidelity to Israel on the condition of Torah obedience.
By contrast, the covenant made with David is viewed as unconditional, because
YHWH is sworn not to remove YHWH’s hesed from David…and refers to an ‘ever-
lasting covenant’, one not to be disrupted by the vagaries of history… The Davidic
monarchy dominated the life and imagination of Israel from 1000 to 587 BCE… the
monarchy is reckoned to be not simply a political achievement (which it was) but a
strategy of YHWH’s governance of the world where-by the Davidic king is YHWH’s
regent to maintain order and justice in creation…”³ Psalm 89 is part of the collection
of so-called ‘Royal Psalms’ that have to do with either, God as the Eternal King, or
they are about David’s reign as the founding king of a royal dynasty, whose reign God
guaranteed; and which was eventually completed and fulfilled in the life, ministry,
death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus – the Christ – the long promised Messiah.



1 From “Together in Song” #61
“Sing, all creation, sing to God in gladness”
© Words by James Quinn
Used with Permission, LicenSing Licence #604543

2 Psalm 89: 1-4 (NLT

3 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann & William H Bellinger Jr
from “Psalms” Psalm 89, pages 389 & 385
© 2014 Cambridge University Press

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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 89.
Used with permission.

joanstott16@gmail.com
www.thetimelesspsalms.net

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost9[16]b_2018.pdf