Sunday, 11 October 2020

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings are laid out as for the continuous form of the lectionary. Alternative related readings (OT and psalm only) are below. Hymns marked with an asterisk (*) are suggested for more than one reading.

General

Eternal God, your love’s tremendous glory (StF 3)
For all he came, for all he lived (website only)
Listen for God (website only)
Lord, we turn to you for mercy (StF 429)

Exodus 32: 1-14

A charge to keep I have (StF 658)
*God of forgiveness, your people you freed (StF 425)
Jesus calls us!  O'er the tumult (StF 250)
Lord, we turn to you for mercy (StF 429)
O, the love of my Lord is the essence of all that I love (StF 431)
Praise, my soul, the King of heaven (StF 83)
Who can sound the depths of sorrow (StF 723)
Your ceaseless, unexhausted love (StF 438)

Psalm 106: 1-6, 19-23

Hymns echoing the psalmist’s theme

Father, we have sinned (StF 422)
Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King (StF 77)
*God of forgiveness, your people you freed (StF 425)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases (StF 66)

Philippians 4: 1-9

As your family, Lord, see us here (Kum by yah) (StF 571)
Christ from whom all blessings flow (StF 676) communion hymn
Come and let us sweetly join (StF 646)
Come, you thankful people come (StF 123)
Dear Lord and Father of mankind forgive our foolish ways (StF 495)
For the beauty of the earth (StF 102)
In the Lord I'll be ever thankful (StF 776)
Now thank we all our God (StF 81)
What a friend we have in Jesus (StF 531)

Matthew 22: 1-14

Bread is blessed and broken (StF 576) communion hymn
Come, sinners to the gospel feast (StF 401)
Day of judgment! Day of wonder! (StF 732)
Go to the world! Go to all the earth (StF 402)
I the Lord of sea and sky (StF 663)
Let us build a house where love can dwell (StF 409)
The Church of Christ, in every age (StF 415)
The kingdom of God is justice and joy (StF 255)
There is a new heaven; there is a new earth (StF 738)
Up to your table, Lord, you call us (StF 599) communion hymn
Where can we find you, Lord Jesus our Master? (StF 672)
Your hand, O God, has guided your flock, from age to age (StF 692) (esp. v.2)

Alternative related readings:

Isaiah 25: 1-9

A safe stronghold our God is still (StF 632)
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah (StF 465)
I’ll praise my Maker while I’ve breath (StF 79)
Joy to the World, the Lord is come! (StF 330)
O God, our help in ages past (StF 132)
Sing for God’s glory that colours the dawn of creation (StF 116)
The trumpets sound, the angels sing (StF 35)

Psalm 23

Hymns echoing the psalmist’s theme

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (StF 626)
The King of Love my shepherd is (StF 479)
The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want (StF 480)
The Lord's my Shepherd, I'll not want (StF 481)
When circumstances make my life too hard to understand (StF 641)

The Revd Phillip Poyner writes:

Henry McKeating (Companion to the Revised Common Lectionary, Vol 6) writes of the Gospel: “The meaning of the story. . .  is fairly clear. It links easily with. . . the Gospel readings for the two previous Sundays. The people to whom God’s salvation was first made known have refused it. It will now be offered to others. Verses 11-14. . . may simply be [Matthew’s] way of insisting that. . . there is still such a thing as divine judgement and that nothing contained in this parable should delude us into thinking that God has forgotten about it.”  McKeating also writes of the Isaiah reading that it “links with the Gospel reading more directly for it provides an example of the expectation of an eschatological feast. . . and, notably, it is ‘for all peoples’.”  

In the Philippians reading, Paul reminds us that a Gospel available to all implies a Christian community that will i) together rejoice in the Lord and ii) will hold people of differing backgrounds and personalities in harmony. Euodia and Syntyche could be compared with Aaron, who fails spectacularly in agreeing to make gold idols. The community of faith is maintained by fallible people, and that fallibility needs to be exposed occasionally. However, leaders are still needed despite their faults.