Sunday 20 August, 2023
20th 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.
23 August is marked by UNESCO as a day to remember the slave trade and its abolition. Two hymn writers who campaigned against the slave trade were John Greenleaf Whittier and James Montgomery. John Campbell is a contemporary writer who has addressed the legacies of the transatlantic slave trade and modern day injustice and racism. Read about Wesley, Wilberforce and the battle against slavery, which points to other resources, including the United Reformed Church’s Legacies of Slavery archive. As part of StF’s support for Walking with Micah, David Field places John Wesley’s opposition to slavery in the context of his evangelistic mission.
Genesis 45: 1-15
Brother, sister, let me serve you (StF 611)
God! When human bonds are broken (StF 649)
I come with joy, a child a God (StF 588)
Jesus, Lord, we look to thee (StF 686)
Let us build a house where love can dwell (StF 409)
Lord, we come to ask your healing (StF 652)
O Holy Spirit, Lord of grace (StF 392)
Psalm 133
Hymns echoing the psalmist’s theme
All praise to our redeeming Lord (StF 608)
Come, my table is a meeting place (StF 581)
Thanks for friends who keep on loving (StF 619)
Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32
I'm accepted, I'm forgiven (StF 427)
In the darkness of the still night (StF 109)
Lord have mercy (StF 751)
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world (StF 790)
There's a wideness in God’s mercy (StF 416)
You showed us mercy when we were in darkness (StF 488)
Matthew 15: (10-20) 21-28
Empty, broken, here I stand, Kyrie eleison (StF 421)
Father, whose everlasting love (StF 320)
God of forgiveness, your people you freed (StF 425)
In Christ there is no east or west (StF 685)
My heart is full of Christ (StF 506)
My song is love unknown (StF 277)
We come today to celebrate (website only)
We do not presume to come to this table (StF 601)
Alternative related readings:
Isaiah 56: 1, 6-8
Great is our redeeming Lord (StF 683)
*It is God who holds the nations in the hollow of his hand (StF 705)
O God of Bethel, by whose hand (StF 475)
Only by grace can we enter (StF 565)
Show me how to stand for justice (StF 713)
The kingdom of God is justice and joy (StF 255)
We come from the mountains, the valleys and plains (StF 417)
Psalm 67
Hymns echoing the psalmist’s theme
*It is God who holds the nations in the hollow of his hand (StF 705)
Lord of life, we come to you (StF 651)
You call us out to praise you (website only)