39A*
A Call to Worship
Day of Pentecost, Year A 2017
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b

Life-giving God, we join with you in celebrating the miracles of creation.
We give thanks for God’s great joy in the variety and colours of creation.

Life-renewing God, we join with you in delighting in the beauty of creation.
We give thanks for God’s generosity in sharing these blessings with us all.

Life-empowering God, we join with you as we respond to the extravagant glories
of God’s creating powers, as we share in all the wonders of our God’s creation.
We give thanks for the creative gifts God has gifted and shared with us, so
that we, too, can bring honour and glory to God’s Holy and Creative Name. Amen.

Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b

24 O LORD, what a variety of things you have made!
In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind,
both large and small.
26 See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan,
which you made to play in the sea.
27 They all depend on you to give them food as they need it.
28 When you supply it, they gather it.
You open your hand to feed them, and they are richly satisfied.

29 But if you turn away from them, they panic.
When you take away their breath, they die and turn again to dust.
30 When you give them your breath, life is created,
and you renew the face of the earth.

31 May the glory of the LORD continue forever!
The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made!
32 The earth trembles at his glance;
the mountains smoke at his touch.

33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live.
I will praise my God to my last breath!
34 May all my thoughts be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the LORD.

35b Let all that I am praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

Prayers of Praise
Day of Pentecost, Year A 2017
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b

Life-giving God, we join with you in celebrating the miracles of your creativity and
creation, The psalmist assures us that: “...The LORD takes pleasure in all he has
made...” and we add our praises and thanks to God for the glory of all creation with
its variety of shapes, sizes and colours. We praise our God for the insights that we gain
from God’s creativity, as it inspires our own creativity and our partnerships with God.
We also praise our God for the uniqueness of the many expressions in God’s works
of creation, and especially that there is no duplication in human beings, and that we
are each distinctively special to God. So today, Extravagant God, we come to praise
you to sing, praise and to pray: “All things praise you, LORD most high, heaven and earth,
and sea and sky; all were for your glory made, that you greatness thus displayed…”1

Life-renewing God, we join with you in delighting in the beauty of creation and we praise
and bless you for sharing all the beauty of God’s-Own-Being with us as it is expressed
through creation. Life-giving Breath of God, we praise you for daring to give yourself to
us in ways that we can understand, appreciate and accept; and yet also for still being
such a wondrous Mystery that we long to explore and to personally know. We join with
the psalmist in praying: “...May the glory of the LORD continue forever..!” as that is one
more way we can worship, celebrate and offer praises for God’s involvement with us.

Life-empowering God, we join with you as we respond to the extravagant glories of
God’s creating powers, as we share in the wonders of creation that are not limited to
one sphere, region or peoples. We give our praises that our Creating God is in all things;
through all things; for all things; and yet who is also utterly beyond all things. May all
our thoughts, actions, perspectives and objectives be pleasing to God, as together we
rejoice in the LORD. May all that we are and all that we have, give praise to our God. Amen.

A Personal Meditation
Day of Pentecost, Year A 2017
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b

My elder grandson has been travelling the world for several years, and each day
I receive on Instagram, photos of his current exploration. As a student of history, his
photos celebrate the seemingly timeless cultures of the human race; and the many
enduring glories of creation. Many of the photos of buildings relate to humanity’s faith
in God in its various expressions; and in architecture, art and creativity of many kinds.
Each day, this highlights for me the diversity of creation through its cultures, traditions
and its peoples and their attitudes to God; and even to life itself. The psalmist sang of
the certainties of life and death “...When you take away their breath, they die and turn
again to dust. When you give them your breath, life is created, and you renew the
face of the earth…” Psalm 104 is a celebration of life in its many expressions, created
by a loving and generous God, whose diverse creativity is inspirational and amazing!

Creative pause: “...May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD…”


I find it fascinating that the land-loving and ocean-fearing people of Israel could include
in a song of praise to God and to sing along with their psalmist about one of their greatest
fears. “...Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and
small. See the ships sailing along, and Leviathan, which you made to play in the sea...” Did
they face their worst fears about the ocean that they thought was crowded with fish and sea
creatures, including the biggest of nightmare monsters – “...Leviathan, which you made to
play in the sea...”; and having faced those fears, could still celebrate the diversity of God’s
creative activities? Rather than Leviathan being ‘the elephant in the room’, the people of
Israel incorporated their fears into in their songs of praises to God! Are we as faithful at that?

Creative pause: Do you face your fears in your prayers and praises of God?


The old saying: “Nothing is more certain than death and taxes” hints at a bigger truth—
that life, living and dying are a constantly evolving theme and activity across all of creation.
Psalm 104 is a song about the timelessness of creation and its Creating God, as it moves
beyond the ‘me first’ concept and ‘my’ importance in the great scheme of things; to rejoice
in the wonder and glory of God’s creation and taking a ageless approach to the life of the
universe which was not created for my or even our benefit. Was all of creation simply about
God’s extravagant splendour and a demonstration to all creation the infinite capacity of God?
We join with the psalmist: “...May the glory of the LORD continue forever! The LORD takes
pleasure in all he has made. May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD...”!

Creative pause: “...The LORD takes pleasure in all he has made...”!


1 From “Together in Song” #148
“All things praise you, LORD most high”
Words by George William Conder (alt)
Words are in Public Domain.

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:
© 2017 Joan Stott –‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year A. Based on verses from Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b.
Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecosta_2017.pdf