31B*
A Call to Worship
Easter Day 1B 2018
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Holy God, in all our sinfulness, we come together to worship and praise you.
With thankful hearts, minds and beings: we rejoice in God’s generous love.

Eternal God, in our human weakness, we come to give thanks for our God.
With thankful hearts and minds: we exult in God’s enabling, strong right arm.

Welcoming God, in our isolation and insulation, we come to celebrate the
empowerment God gives to us - especially when we feel very vulnerable.
With delight, we come together to receive God’s blessings; God’s merciful
forgiveness; and to rejoice because: “…God’s faithful love endures forever…” Amen.



Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let all Israel repeat: “His faithful love endures forever.”

14 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.
15 Songs of joy and victory are sung in the camp of the godly.
The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!
16 The strong right arm of the LORD is raised in triumph.
The strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things!

17 I will not die; instead, I will live to tell what the LORD has done.
18 The LORD has punished me severely, but he did not let me die.

19 Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the LORD.
20 These gates lead to the presence of the LORD, and the godly enter there.
21 I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory!
22 The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.
23 This is the LORD’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.

24 This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.


Prayers of Trust and Thankfulness
Easter Day 1B 2018
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

Holy God, with hearts and minds filled with God’s generous love, we respond to
that accepting love, even with all our sinfulness. On this holy day, we gather as
your people to worship and praise you, rejoicing in that enduring love God has for
all creation. We give thanks for the trust you gift to us, so that in faith and hope, we
can go forward in your name. We give thanks for the signs and symbols you have
given to us a guideposts for our living as your people. We know that through our sin
we have failed you, ourselves and our brothers and sisters with our less than ideal
worship, witness and service; and that we have come to worship and praise you with
divided loyalties, because we are not prepared to let go of familiar things. We give
thanks that the gates are always open to enable us to come into God’s presence in
prayer; and to worship you quietly – or with a joy-filled community of faithful people.

Eternal God, in our human weakness, we come to give thanks for our God, whose
“…strong right arm of the LORD has done glorious things..!” At our most vulnerable—
you have come to us, gifting us with strength, courage, and above all - hope and trust
in you and your Holy Word. We give thanks for the way you gave your people signs
and symbols to help them understand the deeply spiritual blessings with which you
enriched their faith journeys. We give thanks for your rainbows that are still a promise
to us of the many things you give to us to enable us to go forward, amidst all the
temptations that so insidiously creep into our minds and hearts. We celebrate the
hope and trust you inspire within us which is a blessing to us – and we thank you.

Welcoming God, in our isolation and insulation, we come to celebrate the gracious
empowerment that God gives to us; and it is with delight, we come together to receive
God’s blessings; God’s merciful forgiveness; and to rejoice because: “…God’s faithful
love endures forever…”
We give thanks that today you continue to give us your signs
and symbols of your faithful and enduring love for us, which finds an echoing love for
God deep within us; and even if we only “…love the LORD and little and want to love
him more…”
1 God blesses that love and makes it a holy and living reality within us.
We gather to: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever…” Amen.


A Personal Meditation
Easter Day 1B 2018
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

During Lent, my “Worship on Thursday” group has been reflecting on the various
Covenants God initiated with humanity and creation; and the way these were
expressed with signs and symbols. In Lent 1B, the sign of God’s involvement was
through a new Covenantal relationship with the created world; and the symbol of
that Covenant was the new relevance of the rainbow. In Lent 2B, God initiated a
Covenant with newly named Abraham and Sarah - a sign for them being a new
and deeply personal relationship with God. The relevant symbol was circumcision—
a common practice in many countries, but it was a private and personal symbol for
the men of Israel of their personal relationship with God. In Lent 3B, the Covenant
made at Sinai that was gifted by God was a deeply spiritual relationship with the
people of Israel, and that symbol was the Sabbath, when the people of Israel also
rested on the seventh day, and in reverent awe, they worshipped the God of their
ancestors - in the faith Abraham and Sarah; Noah; and all their various forebears.

Creative pause: What signs and symbols make God’s presence real for you?


In Lent 4B, the emphasis changed to the on-going travels of the people of Israel on
their way to their new homeland, and Moses’ disgust with them as they whined and
complained about their travelling difficulties, and longed for the more regimented life
of Egypt. Moses discussed this with God, and the people were plagued with snakes—
but if they looked up at the God-initiated sign of the snake on a staff, they were immune
from the snakes. The symbol of this event was given in the New Testament when Jesus
announced that he would be the symbol people were to look up to, after he too was
lifted up. In Lent 5B, God initiated a new Covenant in which people would have deep
within them the truth of God’s commitment to Israel: “…I will put my instructions deep
within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my
people…”
2 Linked with this was the New Testament symbol of our new relationship
with Jesus as “God-with-us” in the world. In Lent 6B on Palm Sunday, we have the sign
of the “suffering servant” in Isaiah 50: 4-9a; with the symbol of God’s commitment was
Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem riding in peace on a humble donkey, rather than on a war-
horse; thus fulfilling the prophesy: “…Don’t be afraid, people of Jerusalem. Look, your
King is coming, riding on a donkey’s colt….”
3 Was Jesus Isaiah’s “Prince of Peace”?

Creative pause: What symbol would you name for Palm and Passion Sunday?


Continuing with the theme of signs and symbols, Psalm 118 has Old and New Testament
links of God’s Holy Presence being seen and recognised as the continuing emphasis on
God’s Covenantal love for creation, humanity and Israel. For me, the relevant “sign” as is
shown in verse 1 of today’s Psalm: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful
love endures forever…”
The sign for Palm Sunday is also linked with Easter Sunday’s
Psalm: “…Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD...;4 and as the psalmist sang
about the open gates that “…lead to the presence of the LORD, and the godly enter there…”
How do we describe and know who are “godly” people - are they the ones described in a
Holy Communion liturgy as people: “…who love the LORD a little and want to love him more…”?1

Creative pause: Do you “love the LORD a little and want to love him more”?1


1 A prayer from an old Holy Communion liturgy

2 Jeremiah 31: 31-34 (NLT)

3 John 12: 25 (NLT)

4 Psalm 118: 26a (NLT)



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 118.
Used with permission.


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

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