Wednesday September 2 2020
Prayer
Almighty and ever faithful God,
We approach you with our prayer acknowledging that you are our God and we are your people. We bring before you our prayers for your church around the world, for those who worship you and sing your praises and for those yet to discover the joy of knowing you. For many, it is difficult to worship you when they do not ‘know’ you. Speak to their hearts we pray, so that in all times of joy or sadness, in your holy presence, no one can steal our joy especially when sorrow comes our way for you grant us courage to face every circumstance and every season of life. May your unfailing love bless your people with hope in their hearts, especially those still to come to you through your Son, Jesus Christ. May your Spirit inspire those to seek you and get to know you so that they too will sing your praises knowing the difference that you can make in their lives, in their families, in their communities all around the world for ever.
Amen
Almighty and ever faithful God,
We approach you with our prayer acknowledging that you are our God and we are your people. We bring before you our prayers for your church around the world, for those who worship you and sing your praises and for those yet to discover the joy of knowing you. For many, it is difficult to worship you when they do not ‘know’ you. Speak to their hearts we pray, so that in all times of joy or sadness, in your holy presence, no one can steal our joy especially when sorrow comes our way for you grant us courage to face every circumstance and every season of life. May your unfailing love bless your people with hope in their hearts, especially those still to come to you through your Son, Jesus Christ. May your Spirit inspire those to seek you and get to know you so that they too will sing your praises knowing the difference that you can make in their lives, in their families, in their communities all around the world for ever.
Amen
Sing to the LORD, all the world!
Worship the LORD with joy; come before him with happy songs!
Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, we are his flock.
Enter the temple gates with thanksgiving, go into its courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise him.
The LORD is good; his love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts for ever.
In reading Psalm 100, we find an exuberant enthusiastic hymn of praise which testifies to the importance of God’s presence as shepherd of his people in his ‘presence’ heralding the goodness and faithfulness of God that sets forth a theology of worship.
The psalm, without any embarrassment at all whatsoever calls the whole earth to recognise God who created and cares for his people because he is good, his love is eternal, and his faithfulness lasts forever.
Its liturgical subject is the movement into the presence of God and its theological purpose is to incorporate it into a hymn to accompany that movement of the worship of God. The result is a psalm that itself moves those who sing or read it into the presence of the Lord for praise. Unfortunately, during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are not allowed to sing in church. We recently re-opened St. Ninian’s Church for public worship and we really miss singing together. Meantime, we gain a real appreciation of the words of the hymns and, at home, we can sing until our hearts are content.
The expression of appreciation by a community whose assembly can be called religious because of its focus on God; but its symbols and rituals come from political life which point to the power to whom they entrust their lives. It could be said, therefore, to be one of the most significant areas of social action that people can take because worship is the direction of trust and obedience to a power whose will and way make a difference in life, it is always an activity with political consequences. If it makes no difference in the way those who worship set themselves in relation to others, it is not the worship that Psalm 100 speaks about.
In all human languages, people seem to organise their responses to what they experience by word pairing such as ‘good/bad’. It is knowing and understanding that the everlasting loving-kindness and enduring faithfulness of the Lord that makes our worship joyful. Whether you have had faith for a long time, are new to faith or are still searching, may you be blessed with joy as you journey and may you reach out to your local church.
Worship the LORD with joy; come before him with happy songs!
Acknowledge that the LORD is God. He made us, and we belong to him; we are his people, we are his flock.
Enter the temple gates with thanksgiving, go into its courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise him.
The LORD is good; his love is eternal and his faithfulness lasts for ever.
In reading Psalm 100, we find an exuberant enthusiastic hymn of praise which testifies to the importance of God’s presence as shepherd of his people in his ‘presence’ heralding the goodness and faithfulness of God that sets forth a theology of worship.
The psalm, without any embarrassment at all whatsoever calls the whole earth to recognise God who created and cares for his people because he is good, his love is eternal, and his faithfulness lasts forever.
Its liturgical subject is the movement into the presence of God and its theological purpose is to incorporate it into a hymn to accompany that movement of the worship of God. The result is a psalm that itself moves those who sing or read it into the presence of the Lord for praise. Unfortunately, during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are not allowed to sing in church. We recently re-opened St. Ninian’s Church for public worship and we really miss singing together. Meantime, we gain a real appreciation of the words of the hymns and, at home, we can sing until our hearts are content.
The expression of appreciation by a community whose assembly can be called religious because of its focus on God; but its symbols and rituals come from political life which point to the power to whom they entrust their lives. It could be said, therefore, to be one of the most significant areas of social action that people can take because worship is the direction of trust and obedience to a power whose will and way make a difference in life, it is always an activity with political consequences. If it makes no difference in the way those who worship set themselves in relation to others, it is not the worship that Psalm 100 speaks about.
In all human languages, people seem to organise their responses to what they experience by word pairing such as ‘good/bad’. It is knowing and understanding that the everlasting loving-kindness and enduring faithfulness of the Lord that makes our worship joyful. Whether you have had faith for a long time, are new to faith or are still searching, may you be blessed with joy as you journey and may you reach out to your local church.
© 2020 St Ninian's Parish Church.
Scottish Charity Number SC007453
Scottish Charity Number SC007453
