67A*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost - Reign of Christ the King, Year A 2017
Psalm 100

God: we come to praise you because you are the Source of life, love and hope.
“All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing – alleluia..!”¹

Nurturing God: we come as your dependent people, to worship and glorify you.
“…All who long pain and sorrow bear praise God and on him cast your care…”¹

Faithful God: we come in reverent awe because of your unfailing love; and today
we celebrate the faithfulness of the Holy One to each and every generation! Alleluia!
“…Dear mother earth who day by day, unfold blessings on our way, O praise him…!
Let all things their Creator bless and worship God in humbleness; O praise him…!
“All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing - alleluia!¹ Amen!

---

Psalm 100
A psalm of thanksgiving.

1 Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Worship the LORD with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the LORD is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the LORD is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation.

---

Prayers of Praise
After Pentecost - Reign of Christ the King, Year A 2017
Psalm 100

God! Creator, Sustainer, Renewer and Reviver: we come to praise you because
you are the Source of all life, of all love and of all hope. We gather as people who
know and acknowledge how God has blessed and guided us throughout our life—
as a faith community, but also as individuals. When we have needed renewing and
reviving through God’s grace – God has responded in love to meet our requests—
challenging and stimulating our faith; and presenting us with new ways to worship,
witness and serve God – if our eyes, our hearts and our minds are receptive to God.
“All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing – alleluia…!”¹

Nurturing God: we come to worship you as your dependent people, who are always
in need – if we but recognise it! If we truly and honestly worship and glorify you - we
need an ever-developing understanding of who and what God is and “…acknowledge
that the LORD is God! He made us, and we are his…” Yet despite our inadequacies,
what we do offer to God in praise and thankfulness is always accepted by our Gracious
God and King; especially when our need is for forgiveness and renewed faith and trust.
Holy God, we come to worship you in hope; in anticipation of blessings; and in joy!
“All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing – alleluia…!”¹

Faithful God: we come in reverent awe because of your unfailing love; and today
we celebrate the faithfulness of the Holy One to each and every generation! As we
reflect on yet another year of worship, praise, thankfulness and the blessings of God’s
forgiveness; and the daily challenge to be God’s people in a troubled world. We come
to celebrate the almighty power of God’s love for all creation; to praise God for the
amazing grace of God’s forgiveness; and to give thanks that each generation of God’s
people are precious to God; and are deemed to be worthy of all God’s merciful love.
“…Let all things their Creator bless and worship God in humbleness; O praise him…!
All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and let us sing – alleluia, alleluia!¹ Amen!

---

A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost - Reign of Christ the King, Year A 2017
Psalm 100

This celebratory Psalm opens with an authorative and urgent summons to all of the
earth! That is a very comprehensive list of inhabitants to be challenged to joyfully
and gladly worship, praise and thank God in reverent awe! “Shout with joy to the
LORD, all the earth! Worship the LORD with gladness. Come before him, singing
with joy. Acknowledge that the LORD is God...!” My resource person, Professor
Walter Brueggemann writes: “…As praise is appropriate to human community, so
praise is appropriate to the character of God, for our praise is a response to God’s
power and mercy. Nothing more can be said to God. Nothing more can be added to
God. Nonetheless God must be addressed…But address in need occurs in a context
of lyrical submission in which God is addressed not because we have need, but
simply because God is God and we are summoned to turn our lives in answer to God…
This is a God who evokes address of gratitude and awe, simply because of who God
is. Our delight and duty in praise corresponds precisely to God’s sovereignty and
compassion…”² Why should we praise and thank God? “…For the LORD is good.
His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation.”



The Westminster Shorter Catechism was written in 1646 and 47 and was created
with the purpose of bringing English and Scottish theologians to a closer conformity
and understanding; and written in the form of questions and answers to enable the
least educated of people an opportunity to learn about and start to understand their
faith. I remember having to learn a text from the Bible and an answer to a Catechism
question every week to recite to my Sunday School teachers. The first question was:
“What is the chief end of man? The answer: “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and
to enjoy him forever.”⁴ This famous answer could also create some confusion! To
glorify God puts the emphasis and focus of our living entirely on God, and how we
through our commitment to God, give over all of our life to God. Yet if we are to “enjoy”
God, that puts the focus back on us and on the blessings we receive from God; and
the way we can experience such holy joy in our living – and so we “enjoy” our God!



As I have been writing this meditation, I have also been listening to the spine-tingling,
magnificent music based on Psalm 100, sung to the tune “Old 100^th, as arranged by
Vaughan Williams for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. Depending on one’s
tradition and choices, our worship of God is enriched by the various arts; and they are
expressed in silence or song; liturgy and listening; devotion and dance; and includes
either pomp or simplicity. At our recent 175^th Church Anniversary, when we celebrated
all those years of continuous worship of God in Yarra Street, Geelong - we celebrated
with organ fanfare, lively singing, liturgical dance to the song “What a wonderful world”;
prayers and praises; giving and receiving; storytelling and the proclaimed Word. How
blessed we are to have the freedom to praise and “…glorify and to enjoy him forever.”⁴



1 From “Together in Song” #100 “All creatures of our God and King”
Based on the “Canticle of the sun” of Francis of Assisi
Words are in the Public Domain

2 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
from “Israel’s Praise” Chapter 1, page 1
© 1988 Fortress Publishing House Minneapolis MN 55440, USA

3 From “Together in Song” #59 “All people that on earth do dwell”
© Words by William Kethe (alt)
Words are in the Public Domain

4 The Westminster Shorter Catechism.
Words are in the 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 100.
Used with permission.

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: rnchristkinga_2017.pdf