The 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time | Sunday 20 August 2023

Today is Sunday 20 August, the 20th Sunday of Ordinary time.

The Community of Taizé sing “the Kingdom of God is justice and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Come, Lord, and open in us the gates of your kingdom.”

Today’s reading is from the Prophet Isaiah.


Isaiah 56: 1, 6 - 7


Thus says the Lord:
Maintain justice, and do what is right,
for soon my salvation will come,
and my deliverance be revealed.
And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,
and to be his servants,
all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it,
and hold fast my covenant—
these I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.

This reading belongs with a clear instruction: “Maintain justice, and do what is right”. What’s your first response to hearing this?

Next comes a promise to all who love the Lord and serve him. This means you and me. God wants to “make us joyful in his house of prayer”. How does that sound?

Picture, as this passage is read again, what would it look like if the promises here were to be fully realised.

Speak to God of the part that you might have to play in bringing about the kind of world that God is offering here.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.