The 24th Sunday after Trinity
While in college working toward my religion degree, I studied under a professor who was also an Anglican priest. He introduced our Christian worship class to the rhythms and the schedules of the church year. I’d grown up in a Reformed church, so the terms Advent, Lent, and Ordinary Time were already familiar to me.
But the merging of daily readings of Scripture with written prayers was new. Once I learned how these readings and prayers corresponded with the seasons observed in the church year, my prayer life started to rest on a stable foundation that provided me with the depth and diversity I needed to grow in relationship with God while also engaging in ministry.
The calendar tells us the month of October is the tenth month of the year. It is the season of harvest, changing colors in the leaves, longer hours of night, and cooler days. The calendar also tells us there is something like 65 days until Christmas and nearly three months left of the year.
According to the church year, October is near the end of the year. Already in November, the last Sunday of the previous church year is observed as Christ the King Sunday, and a new year will begin on the first Sunday of December.
Starting this week, as the current church year comes to a close, I am going to observe the church year on my blog. Each weekend I will write a new post specifying where we are in the church year while also including the Scripture readings and prayers designated for that particular Sunday.
Each week of the church year adds another scene to a vibrant and complex story. As you observe the church year, you may begin to see how God uses the rhythm and changing of the seasons to impart grace into your life, supply answers to prayers, and reveal more of himself.
This centuries-old practice of observing the church year is filled with adventure as we listen to our Heavenly Father and recognize his movement in our lives.
Each blog post will look similar to an order of worship we might follow on a Sunday morning during a church service. This is because we as disciples need the regular feeding from the Word, the cleansing of sin, and the opportunity to praise. At the bottom of each post, I will cite the resources I used for the various prayers. These resources come from my own library as a worship leader.
Use these posts as a way to enhance your own personal worship or devotional time, or draw on them for resources to incorporate into Sunday morning worship services.
Please join me in the next months as we observe the church year opening our lives to worship prayer.
The 24th Sunday after Trinity. (I will explain more next summer what the significance is of the term Trinity and also about the reason for numbering the Sundays following it).
Call to Prayer
Dear God, I come to worship you today.
I come to pray and to listen.
You always hear me. Help me to hear you.
Prayer of Confession
Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from your ways like lost sheep.
We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts.
We have offended against your holy laws.
We have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have don those things which we ought not to have done; and apart from your grace, there is no health in us.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
Spare all those who confess their faults.
Restore all those who are penitent, according to your promises declared to all people in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may now live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of your holy Name. Amen.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.
Venite
O come, let us sing unto the Lord;
Let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving
And show ourselves glad in him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the depths of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land.
O come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Psalm 95:1-7
Psalm: Psalm 84
Gloria Patri
Glory be to the Father, and to the son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen
Scripture Readings
Old Testament: Jeremiah 14:1-10, 19-22
New Testament: 2 Timothy 4:6-18
Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
Canticle
Te Deum Laudamus (We Praise You , O God)
We praise you, O God; we acclaim you as Lord;
All creation worships you, the Father everlasting.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, the cherubim and seraphim, sing endless praise;
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you. The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you: Father, of majesty unbounded, your true and only Son, worthy of all praise, and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.
You, Christ, are the king of glory, the eternal Son of the Father.
When you took our flesh to set us free you humbly chose the Virgin’s womb.
You overcame the sting of death and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God’s right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come to be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
Bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saints to glory everlasting.
Intercession
For the Unity of All Christian People
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace to take to heart the grave dangers we are in through our many divisions. Deliver you Church from all enmity and prejudice, and everything that hinders us from godly union. As there is one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so make us all to be of one heart and of one mind, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and love, that with one voice we may give you praise, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in everlasting glory. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your Name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen
Benediction
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore.
Sources
The Book of Common Prayer. (Huntington Beach, CA: Anglican Liturgy Press, 2019).
The Worship Sourcebook. (Kalamazoo, MI: Faith Alive Christian Resources, 2004).
Worship the Lord, The Liturgy of the Reformed Church in America. (Reformed Church Press, 2005).
