Year A - Proper 25 (23 Oct - 29 Oct)

Top Previous Next

VERSION: 8 May 2002

SUNDAY BETWEEN 23 AND 29 OCT (PROPER 25), YEAR A

In 2002: 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, 27 Oct

In 2005: 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, 23 Oct

In 2008: 24th Sunday after Pentecost, 26 Oct

In 2011: 19th Sunday after Pentecost, 23 Oct

In 2014: 20th Sunday after Pentecost, 26 Oct

- - -

Note: For explanations and suggestions on the various resources provided, see the documents 'General notes and resources' and 'Time after Pentecost' in the 'General and seasonal' folder.

REFORMATION DAY

If Reformation Day is not celebrated on 31 October, it may be celebrated today (except where Proper 25 falls on 23 or 24 October), in which case the propers for Reformation Day are used rather than those given below.

LITURGY

SENTENCE

See the document 'General notes and resources', under 'Sentence', in the 'General and seasonal' folder for suggestions on using a Sentence.

The Lord says to my Lord,

'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool'.

(Ps 110:1 NRSV)

OR

God says to us:

'I am the Lord your God'. (Lev 19:16)

OR, use one of the general Sentences in the document 'General notes and resources', under 'Sentence', in the 'General and seasonal' folder.

INVITATION TO CONFESSION

The congregation may be invited to confess their sins as follows.

Friends in Christ:

When the Lord said to his people,

'You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy',

he gave us both a command and a promise.

We have not obeyed his command to live as holy people,

so let us come before our Father in heaven

to confess our sin

and to ask him to forgive us and keep us holy,

for the sake of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

OR

Friends in Christ:

Jesus said: 'You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart,

and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

And you shall love your neighbour as yourself.'

We have not fulfilled this commandment,

so let us come before our Father in heaven

to confess our sin

and to ask him to forgive us

for the sake of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

PRAYER OF THE DAY (COLLECT)

Traditional

O God, our refuge and strength,

the author of all godliness:

Be ready to hear

the devout prayers of your church;

and grant that what we ask in faith

we may fully obtain;

through your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

OR, modernised traditional

Lord God, our refuge and strength,

and the source of all true devotion,

listen to the devout prayers of your church.

Let us fully obtain

what we pray for in faith.

We ask this through your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

OR, alternative

(Let us pray for healing. [silence])

Almighty and merciful God,

your Son showed your love

by healing the sick and making them whole.

Look with compassion on our broken world,

and make us whole by his healing power,

so that we also may show your love to others.

We ask this through your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

OR, new

(Let us pray that we love God and our neighbour. [silence])

Thank you, everliving God,

for giving us your only Son.

Move us to love you with all our heart,

soul, mind, and strength,

and to love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

FIRST READING AND PSALM

Note: There are two sets of first readings (with accompanying Psalms) given for the Sundays after Pentecost: (a) a new semi-continuous set, and (b) a set related thematically to the gospels (as in the earlier form of the lectionary). It is intended that either one of these two sets be used throughout and that they not be mixed.

1a

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 The death of Moses

Psalm 90:1-6,13-17

Antiphon:

Teach us to number our days (, that we may gain a heart of wisdom). (Ps 90:12 NKJV)

OR, 1b

Leviticus 19:1,2,15-18 Be holy as the Lord is holy

Psalm 1

Antiphon:

Our delight is in the law of the Lord. (Ps 1:2a NRSV)

SECOND READING

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 Paul does not speak to please people

ALLELUIA VERSE (John 14:23 NRSV)

Alleluia, alleluia.

(Jesus said: ) 'Those who love me will keep my word,

and my Father will love them,

and we will come to them and make our home with them.'

Alleluia.

GOSPEL

Matthew 22:34-46 The great commandment

(If using NRSV, substitute 'Jesus' for 'he' in v 34)

PRAYER AFTER THE GOSPEL

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Thank you, Jesus, for coming as Lord

and showing us God's love.

Teach us to love God and our neighbour.

Amen.

OFFERING PRAYER

Thank you, Lord, for sending your Son Jesus to us

and for all that he has brought us.

As you have loved us so much,

help us to love you more than anything else,

and our neighbour as ourselves,

and to live lives of service.

Amen.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

Call to prayer

God has gathered us together to be his holy people. Let us pray that we may love him with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind, and let us pray for our neighbour as we pray for ourselves.

The regular response, OR:

God, you are our soul's desire.

Hear the prayers of our hearts.

Suggested intercessions

Concluding prayer

Lord, only you can satisfy our needs and the needs of all people. We commit ourselves and our neighbours into your loving care, trusting that you will continue to provide everything we need from day to day. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

PREFACE

It is indeed right and good,

Lord God, holy Father,

that we should at all times and in all places

give thanks to you,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(On this day)*

he overcame death by his resurrection

and opened up for us

the way to eternal life with you.

And so, with angels and archangels,

and with all the company of heaven,

we adore and praise your glorious name:

* The words 'on this day' are used only on Sundays.

COMMUNION INVITATION

For a choice of communion invitations, see the document 'General notes and resources', under 'Communion invitation', in the 'General and seasonal' folder.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

See the service order for a standard post-communion prayer. Alternatively, use the third prayer of the day (as listed above) at this point. It may be modified as follows.

Almighty and merciful God,

you have given us the healing body of Christ

in the breaking of the bread.

Look with compassion on our broken world,

and make us whole by his healing power,

so that we also may show your love to others.

We ask this through your Son,

Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and forever.

Amen.

DISMISSAL

Go in peace. Love the Lord your God above all things, and love your neighbour as yourself.

Thanks be to God. OR In the name of Christ. Amen.

HYMNS AND SONGS

FOR THE READINGS

Please note:        * =        Modernised version available

      G3, G4 . . . =        Guitar chords available in the Music Package 3, 4 . . .

      GS =        Guitar chords in the Supplement to LH

First reading (a): Deuteronomy 34:1-12

LHS

AT

TIS

First reading (b): Leviticus 19:1,2,15-18

LHS

AT

TIS

Second reading: 1Thessalonians 2:1-8

LHS

AT

TIS

Gospel: Matthew 22:34-46

LHS

AT

TIS

PSALM 90:1-6,13-17

For musical settings of Psalm 90:1-6,13-17, see Music Packages 3 and 6.

The hymn 'O God, our help in ages past' (LH 556, TIS 47) is a paraphrase of Psalm 90:1-6. The following paraphrase of Psalm 90:1-6,13-17 may be sung to any well-known 8.7.8.7D tune, such as Hyfrydol (LH 349, TIS 233), Friend (LH 426), or Austria (LH 458, TIS 93). If reproducing this version, please put 'Words (c) David Sch¸tz' at the beginning or the end of the psalm.

Lord, throughout all generations

you have been our dwelling place,

long before the birth of mountains,

long before the world was made,

you were God then, now and ever,

everlasting still the same,

but one word returns us mortals

back to dust from whence we came.

For a thousand years of history

are as nothing in your sight,

they're like yesterday now passing,

like an hour in the night;

they are swept away on waking

like a dream at break of day,

they're like grass that grows in morning,

and in evening fades away.

Turn, O Lord, and have compassion!

How long will your people wait?

Fill our hunger in the morning

with your steadfast love and grace,

so that we may rise rejoicing

and be glad through all our days.

For as long as we have suffered,

give us joy and happiness.

Let the work of your salvation

be made plain in human sight;

show your people and their children

the great splendour of your might.

Let your blessing and your favour

be on us, O Lord our God:

bless our passing small achievements

with your everlasting word.

PSALM 1

For musical settings of Psalm 1, see Music Packages 3, 5, 6, 7 and 9. For a hymn version, see TIS 1 Happy are they who walk in God's wise way.

The Iona collection Psalms of Patience, Protest and Praise contains a metrical version of Psalm 1 (p 4).

Note that the Iona Community is willing to allow a church or worship assembly to reproduce the words only of a song from these publications on a service sheet or overhead transparency that is to be used once only on a non-commercial basis, provided that the title of the song and the name of the copyright holder is clearly shown.

The following metrical paraphrase of Psalm 1 by David Sch¸tz may be sung to the tune Ellers (LH 514). If reproducing this version, please put 'Words (c) David Sch¸tz' at the beginning or the end of the psalm.

Happy are they whose love is in God's law,

those who do not walk in ungodly ways,

those who don't stand among the sinful crowd,

those who refuse to sit with those who scoff.

They meditate on God's law day and night.

They are like trees that grow beside a stream;

they will bear fruit at every harvest time,

they will not die, but thrive in all they do.

But the ungodly - they are not like this!

They are like chaff that scatters in the wind.

They cannot stand before the Lord their judge

in the assembly of God's righteous ones.

All those will perish who walk in the path

of the ungodly, following their way.

But the Lord knows the way of all his saints,

who love his law and live in righteousness.

NOTES ON THE READINGS

See the document 'General notes and resources', under 'Notes on the readings', in the 'General and seasonal' folder.

DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12: The death of Moses is described in the same intimate terms as his constant relationship with God through all the years of leadership. Although not permitted to enter the promised land because of disobedience to the Lord's instruction at Meribah in the wilderness of Zin, he was given this comprehensive view of the land from Mount Nebo. Thus the Lord's guarantee of the completion of this vast superhuman project is personally given. His burial place unknown, Moses's epitaph in verses 9-12 underscores the mighty things God accomplished through this human agent whose life imparted more determinative acts in the unfolding of God's plans for the ultimate salvation of the world than any other prophet. It was fitting that he together with Elijah should appear with our Lord at his transfiguration.

LEVITICUS 19:1-2,15-18: In this chapter, an enlargement on the ten commandments demonstrates that the sincere love of God above all things results in a meticulous care for the rights of one's neighbour. The ethical side of God's commandments can never be reduced to 'near enough' or 'don't be too particular'.

1 THESSALONIANS 2:1-8: In the heathen world at the time of the early church, there were many religious charlatans who played greedily on people's spiritual search in order to make money. Some of Paul's enemies accused him in his absence of doing this. This section shows how a genuine preacher of the word of Christ cares deeply about his serious responsibility to God for delivering the truth of the word, and for the wellbeing of those whom he lovingly reaches.

MATTHEW 22:34-36: Jesus' enemies try here to entrap him with a legalistic question, the answer to which should surely get him into trouble with somebody! He simply reminds them that the whole law of God, as well as each individual law, is dead without 'love to God and neighbour' lying behind and within it. A second question, put this time by Jesus, challenges the Pharisees with the identity of the Messiah. The idea that King David's son (Psalm 110:1) could also be King David's God had not occurred to them. The inference that Jesus was both leaves them without argument but determined to move from argument into force.

VISUAL

VISUALS FOR THE READINGS

Pictures or visual symbols could be displayed on banners or the overhead screen during the readings. For instance, during the reading of the alternative first reading (1b) and the gospel, a symbol/picture of a heart with a cross on it (symbol of love), perhaps superimposed on tablets of the Ten Commandments, could be displayed.

DRAMA

'MEGA DRAMA'

See a drama for the day in Mega Drama resources (Openbook Publishers), originally included in these worship resources when they were released on disks.

DRAMATISING THE READINGS

The readings can be read by more than one person to make the dramatic meaning of the text clearer. For instance, the gospel could be read by four readers: narrator (the pastor), teacher of law, Jesus, Pharisee.

CHILDREN

'COME AND SEE JESUS'

The Come and See Jesus curriculum published by Openbook Publishers has a wealth of material and ideas that may be adapted for use in worship. Please note that a new edition of this material is currently available for the Revised Common Lectionary.

This week's story is 'Elijah and the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:16-45)'. Material for this story may be found in:

Original Edition, Year B, Semester 2, 24 Pentecost

OR

Revised RCL Edition, Year A, Semester 2, Proper 25.