Sunday 19 October 2025
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)
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)
A prayer that we might be instruments of God's praise
Ow, Fadda! Eternal Creator, the story of our relationship as revealed in Scripture with you begins with a hymn; a hymn of creation. Thank you for the reminder that chaos and darkness give way to order and beauty.
Thank you, God, that the rhythms of music are written deep in our spirits. Yet because “guilty feet have got no rhythm” we too often feel like we might never dance again the way we danced with you. We come to you now in the language of one prison programme, Changing Tunes, asking you to change, to shift the narrative of hopelessness often running around in our head.
Make us once again instruments of praise; instruments of worship! Retune us, glue our cracked pots with gold like in Kintsugi master craft; make us more valuable than we recognise. Although we may feel fit for the rubbish pile, you see us. You greet us – sawbona! You see… our past, our heritage, our people and you smile. Sit with us as we learn to sing again, show us how to sing in harmony with you. Nature’s harmony. Yes, Fadda. Amen.
Leon Dundas, Managing Chaplain at HMP Exeter
A prayer for purity of heart and strength of purpose - Alternative Prayer
Grant us, O Lord, purity of heart and strength of purpose, that no passion may hinder us from knowing your will and no weakness from doing it. In your light we may see light clearly, and in your service find perfect freedom; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
St Augustine of Hippo (354-430)
Sunday 19 October 2025
"And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (v. 8b)