46C*
A Call to Worship
After Pentecost 7C [Ordinary 14C] or [Proper 9C] 2016
Psalm 30

O Lord our God, we joyfully come to worship and praise you for all your blessings.
We come, because we cannot be stop thanking God for answering all our prayers.

We come to sing God’s praises; and we delight in celebrating all God’s goodness.
We come, because we cannot be stop praising God for listening to our cries for help.

We come to praise and revere God’s holy presence here with us; and to give our
thanks to our responsive and responding God; and for all God’s gracious mercies.
We come, because we cannot be stop celebrating God’s holy presence here with
us, and we give our thanks for the blessed heritage of our faith in our Listening God. 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 and Praise
After Pentecost 7C [Ordinary 14C] or [Proper 9C] 2016
Psalm 30

O Lord our God, we joyfully come to worship, thank and praise you for your many
blessings, and for the way your holy ways brings wonderful blessings upon us—
even though we are often unworthy of such generosity. The Psalmist sang to God:
“I will exalt you...” as he struggled for appropriate words to express his desire to
lift God’s-Own-Being above all creation and all concepts of greatness. Like the
psalmist, we are often lost for words to express our grateful thanks to God; and to
offer prayers or songs of praise that that are relevant to our situation. We give thanks
to our God for those times when it has been impossible to keep quiet because God
has favoured us - when we are bubbling over with joy because of God’s goodness.

Like the psalmist, we admit that our faith journey is not always smooth sailing, and
we have faltered when we arrogantly thought we knew what was best for us, or for
our loved ones. We give thanks that we can learn from these lessons; and pray that
we will be guided to follow in God’s ways, even as we rejoice in God’s holy presence
with us. We praise and give our humble thanks to our responsive and responding God.

We come to sing God’s praises; and to delight in being together to celebrate the way
that God has listened and heard our prayers, especially when we were distressed or
anxious. We give thanks for the way God’s holy presence sustains us in those times
of crisis; and how God answers our prayers – even if not always in the way that we
expected. We remember many anxious and long nights; and we praise our Good God
that so often: “...joy comes with the morning...” Now, this very moment, we come to
worship the Lord, because God has “...turned our mourning into joyful dancing and ...
taken away our my clothes of mourning and clothed us with joy...” Thanks be to God! Amen.

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A Personal Meditation
After Pentecost 7C [Ordinary 14C] or [Proper 9C] 2016
Psalm 30

Have you ever noticed that some churches/chapels have a special ‘feel’ about
them that makes them seem a more sacred or holy place than many other similar
buildings? It is almost as if the prayers and faithfulness of their past members
still lingers in the atmosphere, adding a spiritual, holy richness to what may be a
very simple and plainly styled place of worship. I have fond memories of a little
weather-board church/chapel in England that would maybe hold up to 20 people,
but those members must have been very special, as that little place of worship
almost vibrated with their past and present experiences of being in God’s presence.



The psalmist of Psalm 30, obviously had a very special relationship with God, and
worshipped God “in spirit and in truth”, even though the concept then in those pre-
Temple days was that God lived exclusively in or near the travelling Tent of Meeting
or “Tabernacle”; which is an English word for the Hebrew word which literally meant
God’s “dwelling place”. Those difficult times when the people of Israel could only
worship God near the Tabernacle were when their relationship with God faltered after
they started worshipping an idol instead of God! Then the psalmist made the shattering
discovery that he could not experience or even ‘feel’ God’s presence in or near the
Tabernacle. He said: “...you turned away from me, and I was shattered... Hear me,
LORD, and have mercy on me. Help me, O LORD.’” The Psalmist realised his own sin,
and so he tearfully said: “.... I cried out to you, O LORD. I begged the Lord for mercy...”



How does one rediscover the ‘feeling’ of God’s holy presence in a church/chapel, or a
place where God’s presence is regularly very ‘real’ to you? Eventually, the psalmist
discovered with great joy that God’s presence was vibrantly real again for him when
he worshipped God in the Tabernacle. What do you do when you have lost the joy and
peace of God’s often disturbing presence when you enter your special sacred space?
Is there something that you do or say to try to put things right between you and God, or
do you simply pray and wait on God’s forgiveness? Will it help you to talk with a trusted
mentor or minister about your lack of any encounters with God? ? We only know that the
psalmist sang: “...You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away
my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not
be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever!” May this be your joyous discovery!

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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 scholarship and 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:
© 2016 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.

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

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