SUNDAYS BEFORE ADVENT
In the weeks after All Saints' Day the Church of England provision designates Sundays 'Sundays before Advent', while the Revised Common Lectionary continues with 'Propers' designated by calendar dates.

4 BEFORE ADVENT YEAR C Church of England

PROPER 26 (SUNDAY BETWEEN 30 OCTOBER AND 5 NOVEMBER YEAR C) Revised Common Lectionary

Sundays after Trinity

In Church of England provision this Sunday may be kept as All Saints' Sunday (see below) or else this provision is used.
The Revised Common Lectionary continues to provide two tracks for the First Reading and Psalms of which the Church of England provision allows only Track 2.

TRACK 1

Revised Common Lectionary only

FIRST READING Habakkuk 1.1-4; 2.1-4

A reading from the book of the prophet Habakkuk.

1 The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous - therefore judgement comes forth perverted.
1 I will stand at my watch-post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.
2 Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.
3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.
4 Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.


PSALM Psalm 119.137-144

R Your justice is an everlasting justice.

137 You are righteous, O Lord, and upright are your judgements.
138 You have issued your decrees with justice and in perfect faithfulness. R
139 My indignation has consumed me, because my enemies forget your words.
140 Your word has been tested to the uttermost, and your servant holds it dear. R
141 I am small and of little account, yet I do not forget your commandments.
142 Your justice is an everlasting justice and your law is the truth. R
143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, yet your commandments are my delight.
144 The righteousness of your decrees is everlasting; grant me understanding, that I may live. R


Or TRACK 2

FIRST READING Isaiah 1.10-18

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more;
13 bringing offerings is futile; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation - I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.


PSALM Psalm 32.1-8

R Happy are they whose sins are forgiven.

1 Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away!
2 Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, and in whose spirit there is no guile! R
3 While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long.
4 For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer. R
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my guilt.
6 I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord'; then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. R
7 Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.
8 You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. R


SECOND READING 2 Thessalonians 1.1-12

A reading from the second letter of Paul to the Thessalonians.

1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing.
4 Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.
5 This is evidence of the righteous judgement of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering.
6 For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
7 and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9 These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10 when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marvelled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
11 To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith,
12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.


GOSPEL Luke 19.1-10

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it.
2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich.
3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.
4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to pass that way.
5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.'
6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome Jesus.
7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, 'He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.'
8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.'
9 Then Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.
10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.'

ALL SAINTS' SUNDAY YEAR C
Sunday between 30 October and 5 November
(or, if this is not kept as All Saints' Sunday, 1 November itself)


FIRST READING Daniel 7.1-3, 15-18

A reading from the book of Daniel.

1 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream:
2 I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea,
3 and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.
15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me.
16 I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter:
17 'As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth.
18 But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom for ever - for ever and ever.'


PSALM Psalm 149

R My mouth, O God, shall speak of wisdom [and my heart shall meditate on understanding].

1 Alleluia! Sing to the Lord a new song; sing his praise in the congregation of the faithful.
2 Let Israel rejoice in his maker; let the children of Zion be joyful in their king.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance; let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp. R
4 For the Lord takes pleasure in his people and adorns the poor with victory.
5 Let the faithful rejoice in triumph; let them be joyful on their beds. R
6 Let the praises of God be in their throat and a two-edged sword in their hand;
7 To wreak vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples;
8 To bind their kings in chains and their nobles with links of iron;
9 To inflict on them the judgement decreed; this is glory for all his faithful people. Alleluia! R


SECOND READING Ephesians 1.11-23

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Ephesians.

11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will,
12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.
13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;
14 this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, and for this reason
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.
17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,
18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,
23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.


GOSPEL Luke 6.20-31

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

20 Jesus looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.
23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25 Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
27 But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.
29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.
30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.'

Reuben Condie Reuben Condie