October 2026
God’s words and laws are finer than pure gold and sweeter than honey. Today come to see how precious God’s words are and how you can taste their sweetness. (see Psalm 19)
Hymn (StF) 545, (H&P) 378 Be thou my vision
Prayers I praise you, Holy God, for the gift of your law, which guides me into a right relationship with you, with others and with all creation. For your grace, I praise you. For your love, I cherish you. For your holiness, I honour you. And for the gift of eternal life through your Son, Jesus, I worship you.
Forgive the times I have put myself first, ignoring your law of love, the times I have spoken harsh words, or failed to speak up for someone who needs support; and for those things I now bring to you in silence.
Lord, Jesus, I honour you here and now as I worship.
Help me to honour you in my life as I love and serve you.
Help me to honour you in my dealings with everyone I meet.
Help me to see, Lord, that in seeking to follow and obey your laws I bring honour to you and live well with those around me. Thank you that there can be great joy than following your law of love.
Readings Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Ten Commandments
Philippians 3: 4b-14 Paul’s testimony
Hymn (StF) 501, (H&P) 474 Help us O Lord to learn
Reflection Do you remember learning your times tables at school, or certain poems off by heart, and the basics of grammar and arithmetic? These were seen as basic learning for adult life.
Did you ever learn Psalm 23, the Apostles’ Creed (I went to a church school) and the Ten Commandments by heart? These were seen as key passages for a life of faith. Have you been to a church with the Ten Commandments written on a big panel on the wall?
Today’s Old Testament reading reminds us of what those 10 Laws are. And even in today’s secular world this ancient Jewish text, written some three thousand years ago on a middle eastern mountaintop, still resonates as a pattern for life.
Many people think they are laws for personal morality, others the way God tries to guarantee that we behave. But aren’t they more significant than that? Walter Bruggemann (a biblical scholar) sees them as the way God shows deep compassion for people.
For example: endless work is unhealthy for the body and the soul and, knowing how the people suffered under a punishing regime in Egypt, God decrees that six days are enough then rest for a day. Just as God was said to have rested after six days of creation, he responds to the people’s need for a day of rest on the Sabbath.
Do not commit adultery wasn’t for simply restraining lustful Jewish men but also a way of safeguarding women, a response to the cries of those who have been abused and cheated.
Not lying against or slandering your neighbour is a compassionate response to the cries of those who, having no money, having no influence, could easily be misrepresented without fear of challenge or prosecution.
In fact the ancient Jews called these the Ten Words, seeing them as the gracious and providential statements of a God who cared before condemning. Far from being restrictive legislation they are words of grace given to humankind by a God who responds to the cries of those who have been wronged. They were never initially rules just for personal behaviour but were also addressing the community.
Here we have a prescription designed not just for personal living but for the lifestyle of communities and society. This makes them much more penetrating and relevant than many imagine.
In today’s terms then, maybe we don’t worship physical idols carved from stone, but we have tabloids which make celebrities of those with excessive lifestyles or money.
We have many would-be millionaires who queue up weekly to play the lottery, which may be seen as a tax on the poor furnishing the pleasures of the wealthy.
And is it not stealing for wealthy nations to milk third world economies through taxes, tariffs and trade embargoes? or for privatised utilities anxious to increase returns to shareholders and pay ‘market rates’ to their chief exec to do so at the expense of a decent wage for employees or repairs to failing infrastructure affecting the public and polluting the planet?
You can take each of the Ten Commandments in turn and read them not as simple legislation for private individuals but as the gracious response of God who hears the cries of the vulnerable in today’s world. Seen in this way they become not mechanisms of control but words of hope and liberation.
And if that changes your life, you are in good company. Read again the words of Paul in Philippians chapter 3. He had kept the laws and lived a life of personal adherence, but all that did was breed in him self-righteousness and dislike of people who were different. Then one day he discovered God was not law but that God was love, and he stopped living in fear and started living positively and fondly out of love for the one who hears the cries of the poor and responds.
“God did not hate the world so much that he overruled it.
God loved the world so much that he came in person to save it.
Our lawgiver is first and always our lover.” (John Bell)
Hymn (StF) 164, (H&P) 482 Your words to me are life and health
Prayers
I praise you, Holy God, for the gift of your law, which guides us into a right relationship with you, with those around us, and with all creation.
For your grace, I praise you.
For your love, I cherish you.
For your holiness, I honour you.
And for the gift of eternal life through your Son, Jesus, I worship you.
Spend some time praying about issues that have
arisen for you as you reflected upon today’s readings.
You may also wish to dedicate your offering at this point.
Conclude with The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn (StF) 499, (H&P) 500 Great/Lord God your love has called us here
Blessing
May God, creator of the world
and creator of the life in you,
Light of the world and light in you,
Power of the world and power in you,
Send you in power to bring the light of Christ
to all creation. Amen
Most prayers (modified) and other material from Roots
Reflection insights from John Bell: States of Bliss & Yearning
Prepared by Diane Coleman