24B*
A Call to Worship
Lent 6B, Palm Sunday Year B 2018
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

Listening God: You are our God, and we praise, acclaim and revere you.
We gather to bless our God, because you hear and answer our prayers.

Responding God: You are our God, and we thank you for your care of us.
We gather to celebrate the enduring and faithful love God has for creation.

Liberating God: You are our God, and we rejoice in the knowledge of God’s
gracious acts of liberation; forgiveness of our sin; and a new start with God.
We gather to thank God for your liberating love, mercy and compassion,
that frees us from all that confines and inhibits our response to God’s love. Amen.

---

Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

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.”

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.
25 Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success.
26 Bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD.
We bless you from the house of the LORD.
27 The LORD is God, shining upon us.
Take the sacrifice and bind it with cords on the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you!
You are my God, and I will exalt you!
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

---

Prayers of Praise and Thankfulness
Lent 6B, Palm Sunday Year B 2018
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

Listening God: You are our God, and we praise, acclaim and revere you; and we
bless you because you hear and answer our prayers. We praise you and give you
thanks for the comfort you give to us; as we celebrate the good news that God
not only listens to our fears, worries and anxieties; but also to our joy-filled songs
of thanks for answered prayers. We give thanks and praise you for your constant
and never-changing love for humanity; for your love and care of all you have and
continue to create; and that you invite us to celebrate with you today, because:
“…This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it…” and that
the LORD our God is shining the light of God’s constant love upon us as we worship.

Responding God: You are our God, and we thank you for your care of us. We come
together to celebrate the enduring and faithful love God has that is expressed in so
many ways; that love that inspires people to risk reaching out to needy people; and
that love that inspires and encourages people to yearn for and search for the spiritual
blessings of meditation, prayer and withdrawing - to better know the sacred silence of
being in God’s presence away from all distractions – where God becomes more truly
their Quiet Centre. We praise and give thanks for inviting us into communion with God.

Liberating God: You are our God, and we rejoice in the knowledge of God’s gracious
acts of liberation; forgiveness of our sin; and a new start with God. We come to thank
our God for your liberating love, mercy and compassion, that frees us from all that
confines and inhibits our responses to God’s love. We give thanks that like the psalmist,
you are our God; and for all that means to us as we seek to be in a closer personal and
blessed relationship with you; which enlivens our faith and trust in our Glorious God; and
so we: “…Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever….” Amen.

---

A Personal Meditation
Lent 6B, Palm Sunday Year B 2018
Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

There are two verses in the selected verses that if taken in isolation, can differ
from the intention of the psalmist’s original prayer or song. Those two verses
are “…I thank you for answering my prayer and giving me victory!...” It is only
right to give God thanks for answered prayers, but praying for “victory” could
be misinterpreted. For some people, “victory” of any kind is the most important
thing in their physical and/or emotional life; but recognising and giving thanks
to God as the One who answers our prayers and “saves” people is very different.
As usual, when I check on the various 56 listed translations included in my
computer program, I always use the same 10 translations to guide me in my
understanding of any text. The text words: “…giving me victory…” is variously
described in those 10 translations as: “my salvation”; “my deliverer”; and “saving
me”; which gives that text a special spiritual meaning, instead of being elitist.



The second rather confusing text is “...Please, LORD, please save us. Please,
LORD, please give us success…” Professor Walter Brueggemann writes about
this verse: “…Verses 19-29 begins with a reference to the…purpose of thanks-
giving to the God who comes to deliver…this surprising rescue was an act of
YHWH to bring life out of death and to renew the right relationship with the
petitioner. The psalm then shifts to the voice of the community, where this rescue
is received as a marvellous act of hope. Verse 25 then articulates a petition on
behalf of the community; perhaps the community’s crisis is not past…which
celebrates now, even in the midst of a continuing time of trouble and petition. God
has brought light, and the response is thanksgiving…”¹ The bringing of light to
our confusion is vital to our understanding of scriptures; and how we each live.



Because of the potential confusion possible with the two selected texts from today’s
psalm, it is important in our day-to-day living to be able to discern the ‘truth’ of
what we read and hear. It is fascinating - in the light of the ‘fake news’ phenomena—
that my daily newspaper and our national broadcaster are repeatedly emphasising
the importance of their complete and absolute verification of their ‘news’; and their
claims for providing authentic reporting of proven facts - whilst also tackling ‘issues’.



1 Text by Professor Walter Brueggemann
& William H Bellinger Junior from “Psalms”
Psalm 118, page 509
© 2014 Cambridge University Press

---

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

Download/view a pdf file of this document here: palmsundayb_2018.pdf