44C*
A Call to Worship
Pentecost 4C [Ordinary 12C] [Proper 7C] 2010
Psalms 42 and 43
O Lord our God, we long for your presence,we come in worship, yearning for your blessing.
You, O God, are our Refuge, and our Safe Haven.
O Lord, you are our Rock, so why are we discouraged?
Why do we seem so lost and without any special focus?
Even in the shadows of life, you are the Source of our hope.
As we worship you, send out your light and truth to us,
O God, so that we will be guided to your peace and love.
We put our trust in God, and we will praise our God. Amen.
Prayers of Petition
Pentecost 4C [Ordinary 12C] [Proper 7C] 2010
Psalms 42 and 43
O Lord our God, you are our Strength and our Hope and today wecome to you with a deep thirst within us, a longing that we cannot
resolve by ourselves, and that nothing in this world seems to satisfy.
We have a need, a restless, deeply imbedded yearning for something.
We come to you O God, with a desperate longing to receive from
you the freshness of your living waters, your energising powers,
to revive, restore and enliven our spirits. We can even taste our tears!
Holy God, we cherish the precious memories of past occasions—
of wonderful and inspirational worship in your sanctuary when we
praised the God of our ancestors; where we experienced the near
presence and holiness of God! Those cherished memories only make
us more despondent. We are bereft, and abandoned by our own God!
O Lord our God, our once-vibrant faith in God seems to have vanished!
Yet, that cannot be right! You are unchanging! We must have been the ones
who have changed! We were the one’s lacking in hope, trust and faith!
We were the ones who closed our eyes to the near presence of God!
Suddenly, understanding and faith returns as we realise that our faith
in God still remains, it never really left us - we had turned our eyes, and
our hearts away from God. God was never ever absent! Joy fills us again!
O Lord our Unchanging God, we do trust in you, knowing that you are there
to guide us on the path that leads to life - where the abundant love of God
dwells, and where there is no darkness – only the light of God’s presence.
So, why were we so discouraged? Why were we so depressed and sad?
We will once again sing our songs of praise to God, and with joy, we will
seek to follow in the paths God has chosen for us as God’s own loved ones. Amen.
A Personal Meditation
Pentecost 4C [Ordinary 12C] [Proper 7C] 2010
Psalms 42 and 43
O Lord my God, in despair I come to you. I am empty, bereftof all that was once dear to me, my hope and my faith; and
the place I had where I could make a meaningful contribution,
and to share the news of your love! I am depressed! I am alone!
| Creative pause: | I am bewildered and confused by these losses. |
Empowering God, how I long for the living waters that flow from
you which always refreshed and renewed me, and now, all I can
taste are my own salty tears – tears of regret and remorse; and if
I was honest - tears of self-indulgence as I wallow in my misery!
| Creative pause: | I am so tired of crying. |
How I long for the good old days, when I could joyfully worship you
within the fellowship of my community and family; when together
we shared an understanding of the centrality of God in our lives,
in our relationships, in our work. Now I am alone and forgotten
| Creative pause: | I long for a repeat of past blessings. |
O God, now I the butt of jokes; the victim of scorn because of
my past commitment to you! They ask me: ‘Now where is your precious
God?’ I remember when God was once the centre of my entire life!
Help me O God – please restore in me again a life that is balanced!
| Creative pause: | Without God as my core value - I am unbalanced. |
What a wonderful God it is that I worship – yes – that I still worship!
My mind searches for your truth, your peace – to guide and bless me!
My soul yearns for you – it is as if it rests within a dry and dusty place,
and can only be revived and restored in the cool waters of your love.
| Creative pause: | My God is present within me – I know it! |
Why was I so discouraged? Why so depressed? Why was I so sad?
Why this emptiness within me? Remember? God has never ever left me.
God is the Source of my joy and my hope, the centre of my spinning world—
always guiding me, always taking me by the hand to help and direct me—
always loving me, always restoring me in the cool waters of God’s presence.
| Creative pause: | God really is the centre of my spinning world. |
Acknowledgements:
Unless stated otherwise, all Bible readings and extracts used in these weekly Prayers and
Meditations are from
‘The New Revised Standard Version’ Copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the USA.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
*The additional weekly numbering is from the Revised COCU Indexing Scheme
COCU = ('Consultation on Church Union');
as it offers an easy sequential numbering
for the Revised Common Lectionary for the Church Calendar.
If any part of these Prayers and/or Meditations is used in shared worship, please provide
the following acknowledgement:
© 2010 Joan Stott – ‘The Timeless Psalms’ RCL Psalms Year C. Used with permission.
jstott@netspace.net.au
Download/view a pdf file of this document here: pentecost4[12]c_2010.pdf