20 September - Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost – Year A

A downloadable version of this page is available for anyone who would like to save or print it out.

The Faith Action Programme would like to thank Eco-Congregation Scotland for their thoughts on the 17th Sunday after Pentecost and throughout this Season of Creation Time.

Revised Common Lectionary material

Weekly worship material throughout Creation Time is hosted on the Eco-Congregation Scotland website and can be found, along with other resources for the Season at Eco-Congregation Scotland.

Introduction

Welcome to this year's Scottish resources for Creation Time/Season of Creation, this special season of ecumenical solidarity. Each year from 1 September to 4 October the Christian family unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. It is a special season where we celebrate God as Creator, and acknowledge Creation as God's continuing work, calling us as collaborators to love and care for all that is created. As followers of Christ from around the globe, we share a common call to care for Creation. We are part of all that God has made. Our wellbeing is interwoven with the wellbeing of the Earth.

The global theme this year is based round "Living Water" – water which sustains life, as in Ezekiel 47:9,12. These resources are based on the Revised Common Lectionary, which for the first time offers dedicated readings for Week 1 as ‘Creation in Christ'.

These resources are curated by EcoChaplain Rev David Coleman for Eco-Congregation Scotland, with guest contributors, offering notes and prayers, and thematic items in poetry and video. You're very warmly invited to explore our new webpage at https://ecocongregationscotland.org/resources/season-of-creation-2026/. The five full-length video reflections may be used in sermon slots, viewed by groups or individually.

Permission is given for devotional, not commercial use, for the material presented, and copyright remains with the writers.

Themes for this week – Summary

For the full resources for this week visit Eco-Congregation Scotland's website.

  • Exodus 16:2-15 Good leaders are the ‘meat in the sandwich' between their ill-informed people and the circumstances that dictate superficially unpopular measures.
  • Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 God is not unsupportive of Moses under such pressure, which may include toxic nostalgia. In the same way few churches are immune, so there's plenty to learn.
  • Jonah 3:10-4:11 Jonah peevishly misses out on the joy when the astounding miracle occurs of a culture making changes before disaster forces their hand. Will we remember to celebrate and voice support when our communities and leaders do make some positive environmental progress?
  • Philippians 1:21-30 Remember, like the (imprisoned) writer of Philippians, to share and be fed by the stories of encouragement and ‘good green news', which sustains others, as well as delighting in our own.
  • Matthew 20:1-16 The Gospel parable insists that ‘at the end of the day', justice is the acknowledgment of need, rather than a childish and vindictive ‘fairness'. There's seldom any good work which is not better set in context by our reliance on God's grace.

Prayers

Opening Prayer
What is it? we say!
"Bread from heaven," says God!

What's it for? we say!
"How to live," says God!

What are You? we say!
"Flesh and blood," says Christ!

Who's our neighbour? we say!
"Who isn't?" says God!

Prayer of Confession / Forgiveness
Dear God, You are more than we deserve.
So thank God deserving has little to do with it …

We have grumbled and undermined
what was offered, costly, for our survival.

We have fallen for lies of security, prosperity,
whilst fully aware of their cost to our neighbour,
our world and ourselves.

For when we saw things could be better
we criticised with impatience;
made of our words weapons
rather than tools of love.

We have thoughtlessly shared posts of hatred and harm;
not welcoming Christ in the Stranger
nor learning that love of the neighbour ,
which so schools us in loving ourselves.
Yet, knowing that all, and still more,
in Christ You choose to call anew:

"Those who come to me I will not turn away."
You forgive, and give freedom,
to change, try, and love.

Are we ready?

You always are!

So, like folk forgiven, and also forgiving
we join in Your prayer:
hope, for all You have made. Our Father …

Prayer of Thanksgiving / Gratitude
Patient and Generous God,
whom we bother with our grumbling.

We're grateful nonetheless
that You hear Creation's worthwhile cry;
We're full of thanks for manna and quails.
We're thankful that concerns can and should be raised;
Grateful that cries can be heard
from those who suffer; those who care.

Give us that most deeply discerning gratitude,
even for what's discerned – however distorted –
from those who seem ready to stone their best allies
shoot themselves in the feet
and welcome selfish tyrants
who deny the cries are there at all.

Though desperation has a cause –
we thank You we can see it, note it,
pray and act.

For every chink of puzzling hope,
thanks for the manna.
For every bite that keeps us going,
thanks for the quails.
For those who tell the truth that sets us free.
We thank You, Patient and Generous God, Amen.

Prayer for Others / Intercession
Use a selection as appropriate

Sustaining God,
above us, beneath us, within us
by whose grace
we see Your hand in all Creation
and Your face in all Your children.

We pray for peace, for justice and for joy
in the world we encounter,
the news that we hear.
That through our lives and by our prayers
Your kingdom may draw near.

Dear God, give peace,
Give justice, give healing, give joy.

So we remember the violence and the desecration of the Earth
which is common to every war;
the peoples of [ … ]
and that worldwide war which rages still,
even where human beings lay claim to peace:
that self-destructive war
of burning and polluting all our common home.

Thus we pray as well, for communities,
whose harvest for now
is oil and gas,
that the transitions
that certainly must lie ahead of them
may be just and compassionate for all.

Dear God, give peace,
Give justice, give healing, give joy.

Christ, embodied in the Church,
both local and worldwide.
We bring to You the hopes and fears
in times of transition,
asking that despite such burdens
as we may carry close to home,
we find faithfulness in the unity
for which You prayed
and share wholeheartedly
the affection and awe
of Christ for the nature which surrounded Him.

Grant Your Church courage
to fulfil Your Great Commission
of ‘Good News for Every Creature',
that they may know we are Christians
by our love for the Earth,
and by the encouragement we offer each other
to live more sustainably.

Dear God, give peace,
Give justice, give healing, give joy.

Dear God in community
We pray, as You commended us, both for those we love and care for
as also for those who choose to be our enemies.
For Your prayer was that none should be lost.

We remember those who are unwell, those in hospital, or housebound.
those whose task, today and through the night, is to care for them.

We remember those facing the stress of difficult decisions, of thresholds of life, of anniversaries, and special days.

And those things beyond the words we want to share.

[Hold a time of silence]

Dear God, give peace,
Give justice, give healing, give joy. Amen.

Closing prayer
We may have grumbled
But God has responded

God has responded
And we have been fed

Still we may wander, still we need healing
Though Christ wanders with us,
for all the world's good!

Thus enfolded and equipped for lives of love and justice
may God: Father, Son and Spirit [God, Beloved, Wild Wind]
bless us through all that lies ahead, to the End of the Age. AMEN.

Musical suggestions

God Welcomes All is the new supplement to Church Hymnary Fourth Edition. This exciting new collection features over 200 hymns and songs in a wide range of styles by writers from Scotland and around the world.

The full music and words-only versions are now available; and digital resources, including the expansion of the existing Church of Scotland music website, will be published in due course, with streaming functions and further information on each song; backing tracks; and lyric videos. God Welcomes All is available to order from https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786225573/god-welcomes-all

Our online music resource is on the Church of Scotland website; you can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship. You will also find playlists for this week and liturgical seasons and themes on the Weekly Worship and Inspire Me tabs.

  • The Compilers of God Welcomes All recognise that Creation is a major contemporary theme, and the book includes a whole section (numbers 153-165) devoted to issues of celebrating and care for Creation, climate justice, and more.
  • You can find further musical suggestions for this week in a range of styles on the Songs for Sunday blog from Trinity College Glasgow.

Reflecting on our worship practice

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, the way we worship has changed and we need to reflect on the changing or newly established patterns that emerged and continue to emerge as a result of the disruption.

We can facilitate worship for all by exploring imaginative approaches to inclusion, participation and our use of technologies in ways that suit our contexts. This is not an exhaustive list, but some things we could consider are:

  • Framing various parts of the worship service in accessible language to help worshippers understand the character and purpose of each part. This is essential for creating worship for all (intergenerational worship) that reflects your community of faith.
  • Holding spaces for reflection and encouraging prayer to be articulated in verbal and non-verbal ways, individually and in online breakout rooms.
  • In online formats the effective use of the chat function and microphone settings encourages active participation in prayer, e.g. saying the Lord's Prayer together unmuted, in a moment of ‘holy chaos'.
  • While singing in our congregations is still restricted, we can worship corporately by using antiphonal psalm readings, creeds and participative prayers.
  • Using music and the arts as part of the worship encourages the use of imagination in place of sung or spoken words.
  • Use of silence, sensory and kinaesthetic practices allow for experience and expression beyond regular audio and visual mediums.

The following questions might help you develop a habit of reflecting on how we create and deliver content and its effectiveness and impact, and then applying what we learn to develop our practice.

  • How inclusive was the worship?
    Could the worship delivery and content be described as worship for all/ intergenerational?
    Was it sensitive to different "Spiritual Styles"?
  • How was the balance between passive and active participation?
  • How were people empowered to connect with or encounter God?
    What helped this?
    What hindered this?
  • How cohesive was the worship?
    Did it function well as a whole?
    How effective was each of the individual elements in fulfilling its purpose?
  • How balanced was the worship?
    What themes/topics/doctrines/areas of Christian life were included?
  • How did the worship connect with your context/contemporary issues?
    Was it relevant in the everyday lives of those attending and in the wider parish/ community?
    How well did the worship connect with local and national issues?
    How well did the worship connect with world events/issues?
  • What have I learned that can help me next time I plan and deliver worship?

You can listen to samples of every song in the Church Hymnary 4th edition (CH4) and download a selection of recordings for use in worship in our online hymnary.

You are free to download, project, print and circulate multiple copies of any of this material for use in worship services, bible studies, parish magazines, etc., but reproduction for commercial purposes is not permitted.

Please note that the views expressed in these materials are those of the individual writer and not necessarily the official view of the Church of Scotland, which can be laid down only by the General Assembly.