Readings

  • Bible Sunday 26.10.2025
  • Collect.
  • Contemporary

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy scriptures
to be written for our learning: help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Continuous

Joel 2. 23-32

O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the Lord your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing-floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

Then afterwards I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Psalm 65 or 65. 1-8

Pointed Psalm

Praise is due to you, O / God, in / Zion :

to you that answer / prayer shall / vows be / paid.

To you shall all flesh come to con/fess their / sins :

when our misdeeds prevail against us,

    / you will / purge them a/way.

Happy are they whom you choose

    and draw to your / courts to / dwell there :

we shall be satisfied with the blessings of your house,

    / even • of your / holy / temple.

With wonders you will answer us in your righteousness,

    O God of / our sal/vation :

O hope of all the ends of the earth

    and / of the / farthest / seas.

In your strength you set / fast the / mountains :

and are / girded a/bout with / might.

You still the / raging • of the / seas :

the roaring of their waves and the / clamour / of the / peoples.

Those who dwell at the ends of the earth

    tremble / at your / marvels :

the gates of the morning and / evening / sing your / praise.

(9)You visit the / earth and / water it :

you / make it / very / plenteous.

The river of God is / full of / water :

you prepare grain for your people,

    for / so you pro/vide • for the / earth.

You drench the furrows and / smooth out the / ridges :

you soften the ground with / showers and / bless its / increase.

You crown the year / with your / goodness :

and your / paths • over/flow with / plenty.

May the pastures of the wilderness / flow with / goodness :

and the / hills be / girded with / joy.

May the meadows be clothed with / flocks of / sheep :

and the valleys stand so thick with corn

    that / they shall / laugh and / sing.

2 Timothy 4. 6-8, 16-18

As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18. 9-14

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: ‘Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax-collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.” But the tax-collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.’

or Related

Sirach 35. 12-17 or Jeremiah 14. 7-10, 19-22

Sirach 35. 12-17

Give to the Most High as he has given to you, and as generously as you can afford. For the Lord is the one who repays, and he will repay you sevenfold.

Do not offer him a bribe, for he will not accept it; and do not rely on a dishonest sacrifice; for the Lord is the judge, and with him there is no partiality. He will not show partiality to the poor; but he will listen to the prayer of one who is wronged. He will not ignore the supplication of the orphan, or the widow when she pours out her complaint.

Jeremiah 14. 7-10, 19-22

Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you. O hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveller turning aside for the night? Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!

Thus says the Lord concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the Lord does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead. We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonour your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.

Psalm 84. 1-7

Pointed Psalm

How lovely is your dwelling place, O / Lord of / hosts! :

My soul has a desire and longing to enter the courts of the Lord;

    my heart and my flesh re/joice in the / living / God.

The sparrow has found her a house

    and the swallow a nest where she may / lay her / young :

at your altars, O Lord of / hosts, my / King and my / God.

Blessed are they who / dwell in your / house :

they will / always be / praising / you.

Blessed are those whose / strength is in / you :

in whose heart / are the / highways to / Zion,

Who going through the barren valley find / there a / spring :

and the early / rains will / clothe it with / blessing.

They will go from / strength to / strength :

and ap/pear before / God in / Zion.

2 Timothy 4. 6-8, 16-18

Luke 18. 9-14

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