Sunday 16 October, 2022

29th 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

*As the deer pants for the water (StF 544)
Give voice to the prophets who speak the hard word (website only)

Jeremiah 31: 27-34

Be still and know that I am God (StF 18)
God with us: Creator, Father (StF 8)
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father (StF 51)
Lord, we turn to you for mercy (StF 429)
Lord, you have my heart (StF 559)
O Love that wilt not let me go (StF 636)
Out of the depths I cry to thee, Lord God! (StF 433)
Praise to the God who clears the way (StF 183) esp.vv.1-3
Purify my heart (StF 508)
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord! (StF 186)
What shall I do my God to love? (StF 436)

Psalm 119: 97-104 

Hymns reflecting the psalmist’s theme

*As the deer pants for the water (StF 544)
Help me, O Lord, to learn the truths your word imparts (StF 501)
Teach me, my God and King, in all things thee to see (StF 668)
*We have nothing to give that didn't first come from your hand (StF 670)
Your words to me are life and health (StF 164)

2 Timothy 3: 14-4:5

A charge to keep I have (StF 658)
Called by Christ to be disciples (StF 660)
Deep in the shadows of the past (StF 463)
Jesus you ask that we forgive (website only)
Lord, you sometimes speak in wonders (StF 158)
Make us your prophets Lord (StF 665)
Powerful in making us wise to salvation (StF 160)
*We have nothing to give that didn't first come from your hand (StF 670)

Luke 18: 1-8

Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart (StF 545)
Have faith in God, my heart (StF 466)
Have you hear God's voice; has your heart been stirred? (StF 662)
Heaven shall not wait (StF 701)
Here as we kneel, here as we prayer (StF 521)
If we claim to love our neighbour (website only)
Jesus Christ is waiting (StF 251)
Love divine, all loves excelling (StF 503)
Love inspired anger (StF 253)
Pray, without ceasing, pray (StF 528)
Seek ye first the Kingdom of God (StF 254)

Alternative related readings

Genesis 32: 22-31

Bread is blessed and broken (StF 576)
Come, O thou Traveller unknown (StF 461)
I come with joy, a child of God (StF 588)
My God! I know, I feel thee mine (StF 390)
O love that wilt not let me go (StF 636)

Psalm 121

Hymns reflecting the psalmist’s theme

Father in heaven (StF 763) - a setting of the Lord's Prayer
I lift my eyes up to the mountains (StF 631)
I watch the sunrise lighting the sky (StF 469)

The Revd Phillip Poyner writes:

Perhaps a key word this week is “persistence”. Paul urges Timothy to “proclaim the message, be persistent...”. Jesus speaks of the persistent widow as an illustration of the need to “pray always and not to lose heart”. Jacob wrestles with the man until daybreak and says, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”  God’s persistent care, according to the writer of Psalm 121, means that “he who keeps watch over Israel shall neither slumber or sleep”. In Jeremiah 31 that persistent care means God does not give up but inaugurates a new covenant. In Psalm 119, the writer speaks of those who persistently endeavour to keep God’s statutes, which are always in their hearts/minds. 

“The Lord said ‘And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?’” (Luke 18:7). Sometimes for us, like Jacob, persistent prayer results in us being broken, named and blessed.