The God of Jacob, the mighty One of Israel,
chose David, the son of Jesse,
loved him, and raised him up to be a great King.
At the end of his reign,
David spoke these final words from his death bed:

The Spirit of the LORD speaks through me.
The words that roll from my tongue come from God.
A message comes from the ancient solid Rock,
from the God of Israel, saying to me:

“A true leader has a heart for justice
and exercises power with the constant awareness
of being under the eye of God.
Such a leader is as welcome as the dawn,
as popular as sunshine on the weekend,
as valuable as spring rains on the wheat fields.”

I, David, have established my dynasty on this principle,
and God has made a permanent alliance with me,
signed, sealed and delivered.
Surely then I can depend on God to stand by me
and make my hopes and dreams come true.

Leaders who shun God are a very different story.
You wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole.
They are a plague on the land, like feral blackberry vines,
which can only be dealt with by bulldozing them into a pile
and burning them on the spot.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

O LORD, keep David in mind
and give him credit for the tough times he endured.

Remember the promise he made to you, LORD.
He named you as the Mighty God of Jacob
and swore a sacred vow, saying:

“I will not go home or lay my head on the pillow;
I will not get a wink of sleep or a moment’s rest,
until I find a home for the LORD,
a place for the Mighty God of Jacob to live.”

We have heard the call to worship you, LORD.
We will make our pilgrimage to your home
like David did when he brought your sacred Ark
from the Field of Yaarim
to the place where we now kneel in worship.

Come, LORD, and settle into your new home,
move into the Temple with your mighty Ark.
May your priests be instantly recognizable by their passion for justice;
may your faithful people erupt with shouts of joy.

Be true to the word you gave to your servant, David,
don’t turn your back on your chosen leader.
You, LORD, gave a guarantee to David, saying,
“I will see to it that one of your own sons inherits your throne.
And after that, if your sons are faithful to our alliance
and stick to the ways I teach them,
then their sons too will inherit your throne,
one after the other for ever and ever.”

You, LORD, have chosen Zion,
identified it as the place you wish to live.
You said of it:

“This is where I will settle permanently,
I’ll put down roots because I love it here.
I’ll see that there is always plenty of food here,
and even the poor will have more than enough to eat.
Salvation will be like a badge of office for Zion’s priests,
and faithful crowds will roar their appreciation.
Here I will consolidate David’s power;
I have chosen him and put his name up in lights.
I will have his enemies run out of town,
while his reputation will shine brighter and brighter.”

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Greetings and best wishes. May the One who is and who was and who is yet to come be generous to you and give you peace. May the seven spirits who gather around heaven’s throne do likewise for you. And so too may Jesus Christ. He is the key witness whose testimony will not be silenced, no matter what. He is the first one to have been reborn from the grave. He is the one to whom everyone who holds power on earth must answer.

All glory and power to Jesus Christ,
for he loves us.
He cut us loose from our sins,
even spilling his own blood to get it done.

He made us citizens of a new global domain
and priests in the service of his God and Father.
All glory and power to Jesus Christ,
from now to forever. So say all of us!

Be on the watch - he’s on his way!
Rolling in on the clouds - no one will fail to see him.
Even those who cut him down will have to look,
and the sight of him will cause weeping and wailing
from every race and nation on earth.

That’s the long and the short of it, and so say all of us!

“I’m the first and the last; the be all and end all,” says the Lord God, the invincible one, who is and who was and who is yet to come.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Faced with the request to have Jesus executed, Pilate went back into his headquarters and interviewed Jesus again. “Do you see yourself as the King of the Jews?” he asked.

Jesus replied, saying, “Is that your own question or has someone else been wording you up?”

“Give me a break,” Pilate retorted, “I’m obviously not one of the Jews, am I? It wasn’t my people who had you dragged in here. It was your mob, your own race, your own religious leaders. What in the world have you done?”

Jesus answered, “My reign is not tied to this world. If my power base depended on this world, those who have given their allegiance to me would be fighting tooth and nail to keep me out of the hands of that mob. But it’s not like that. My reign is not tied to this world.”

Pilate latched on to that: “So you are claiming to be a king then?”

“You’re the one who’s putting the ‘king’ label on me,” Jesus replied. “If you want to know what I’m on about, what I was born into the world for, it’s this: I’m the key witness whose job it is to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Everyone who has given their allegiance to the truth responds to my voice.”

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prior to the revision of the Lectionary in 1992, the 1st reading and the psalm that responded to it were chosen to link thematically with the gospel reading. After hearing the critique of those who said that the Hebrew Scriptures, from which the first reading is usually chosen, should be allowed to speak with their own voice rather than just add support to the gospel reading, the Lectionary was revised so that during Ordinary Time, the 1st reading runs in its own semi-continuous series, working through various books of the Hebrew Bible. The older themed series continues to be available as an alternative.

The weekly prayers offered here at LaughingBird Resources are based on the four readings above, and do not draw on the themed 1st reading and psalm.

Before my very eyes,
thrones were set up,
and down sat One who has ruled since the dawn of time.
He was dressed in white robes, bright as snow,
and had a head of hair like clean wool.

His throne was an explosion of fire
and its wheels were raging flames.
A torrent of fire poured forth where ever he went
and spread in all directions.
An army of servants answered his every call,
and a squillion more stood to attention, awaiting his word.
The royal commission began,
and the books were laid open.

The vision continued as I watched into the night.
I saw the arrival of one who appeared to be human
surrounded by clouds from the sky.
He approached the One who has ruled since the dawn of time
and his entrance was formally announced.

He was installed as king
and given great glory and authority,
so that the people of every race and nation and language
would gladly serve him.
His term of office is forever,
it will never come to an end.
His reign as king
will never be overthrown.

©2012 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

LORD, you are the great ruler.
Majesty enfolds you like a royal robe
and strength radiates from you.

You have fixed the world firmly in its place.
Your throne is immovable, LORD;
ever was and ever shall be.

Surging floods have risen, O LORD,
surging up with a mighty roar;
engulfing everything in thunderous sound.

You are more impressive than the surging waters,
more powerful than the crashing waves;
you are number one in all the universe, LORD!

Whatever you say is set in stone.
The place you live, O LORD, is clearly sacred;
its holiness will outlast time.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you are the One who was, and is, and is to come,
and you reign over all from beginning to end.

You created the earth and its inhabitants,
and chose gifted men and women to lead your people,
exalting those who rule with justice and humility.

In faithfulness to your servant, David,
you sent your child, Jesus Christ, into the world
to testify to the truth and shepherd your people.
Though he was accused of treason before Pilate
and executed by his own nation,
he was the first born from the dead,
raised by your power
to free us from sin and make us your holy people.
You gave him glory and dominion forever,
and he rules over all
with an authority that comes, not from this world,
but from you, our God and our Rock.

Therefore with .....

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

We give thanks for your Son, Jesus Christ,
who you sent into the world
to testify to the truth and shepherd your people.
Raising him from the dead,
you gave him glory and dominion,
and set him to rule over all forever.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you are the One who was, and is, and is to come,
and you reign over all from beginning to end.

You created the earth and its inhabitants,
and chose gifted men and women to lead your people,
exalting those who rule with justice and humility.

In faithfulness to your servant, David,
you sent your child, Jesus Christ, into the world
to testify to the truth and shepherd your people.
Though he was accused of treason before Pilate
and executed by his own nation,
he was the first born from the dead,
raised by your power
to free us from sin and make us your holy people.
You gave him glory and dominion forever,
and he rules over all
with an authority that comes, not from this world,
but from you, our God and our Rock.

Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

©2003 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Jesus Christ, the ruler of all the earth,
loves us and, at the cost of his own blood,
freed us from our sins,
making us citizens of his realm
and priests forever in the service of God.

Sisters and Brothers,
  your sins are forgiven;
    be at peace.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Go out as faithful witnesses to the one who reigns forever.
Look to Christ as your shepherd and your ruler,
and listen for his voice.
Clothe yourselves in righteousness
and make every place a place to worship God.

And may God strengthen you and fulfil your dreams;
May Christ Jesus be the rising sun that lightens your days;
and may the Holy Spirit speak to you and through you
    with words of grace and peace.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
   In the name of Christ. Amen.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net