Sunday Toolkit — 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, 25th October 2026

1. Encouragement

If you’re leading worship this week, here’s something worth carrying with you: you don’t need to have every answer sorted out before you step up the front. This week’s readings sit two very different women side by side, and even Richard’s own notes admit there’s real friction between them. You’re allowed to sit in that tension too, rather than tidy it away. Being seen while you lead — voice a little shaky, holding space for other people’s feelings as well as your own — is genuinely vulnerable, and it’s okay if it doesn’t feel effortless.

Whatever you bring on the day, honest and a little unpolished, will be enough. That’s not a lower bar — it’s the actual bar. Thank you for saying yes to this.

2. This Week’s Reading

Old Testament — 1 Samuel 19:11-17 — Michal. Michal is married to David, and her father, King Saul, wants David dead. When soldiers surround the house to kill him at first light, Michal helps her husband escape out a window, then buys him time by dressing up a household idol in the bed and telling the soldiers he’s sick.

“Michal let David down through the window; he fled away and escaped… Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed… When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, ‘He is sick.’” (abridged, 1 Samuel 19:12-14)

New Testament — Titus 2:1-10 — Household Roles. A letter of instructions for how different people in a household and a church should behave, so that the community looks orderly and respectable to outsiders — including a call for young women to be “submissive” to their husbands.

“Tell the older women… to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled… and to be submissive to their husbands.” (abridged, Titus 2:3-5)

3. What Richard’s Explored Before

This is genuinely new territory for Richard — a check across every one of his sermon logs and all 120 of his past sermon files turned up nothing on Michal, on 1 Samuel 19, or on Titus 2. That’s not a gap to worry about; it just means there’s no back-catalogue to lean on this time.

The liturgy resource sheets that index by date or by “Pentecost number” rather than by Bible passage weren’t able to be confidently matched to this particular Sunday this week, so rather than guess, we’ve left that one honestly unchecked — worth a look nearer the date if you have time.

As for where Richard’s head has been the last couple of weeks: he’s been sitting with a theme of who gets remembered and at what length — Hannah gets a whole song and then nearly disappears from her own story, and two women (Claudia and Prisca) get barely a line each at the end of one of Paul’s letters. This week’s Michal fits that same thread — a woman who acts decisively and then is gradually written out of her own agency as her story continues.

4. Resources

No service planning has started yet for this Sunday — it’s still a few weeks out — so there’s no “what we’re actually doing” liturgy to point you to just yet. Check back closer to the date.

Spill the Beans doesn’t have a resource written for this specific pairing of readings, and a search of the wider reference folder didn’t turn up anything else either — so there’s honestly nothing borrowed to point you to this week. That’s a genuine gap, not a missed search, and it means you and your fellow leaders have a freer hand than usual to shape this one yourselves.

5. Songs

Neither of this week’s readings has been preached at Trinity before, so there’s no usage history to lean on for a “we’ve sung this with this reading before” pick — worth saying plainly rather than pretending otherwise. Here are some songs from the congregation’s own song list that fit this week’s themes of courage, night-time decisions, and women’s voices:

Woman in the Night (TiS 661) — a hymn built entirely around women acting boldly at night in the Gospel story. It’s about as direct a match for Michal’s own night-time courage as the list offers.
There Is a Line of Women — traces a whole lineage of biblical women who acted with faith and courage. A lovely way to place Michal inside a bigger sisterhood of Scripture, rather than as a one-off.
Don’t Be Afraid — a gentle, reassuring song about courage under threat. Fits both Michal’s situation and anyone in the room who might need reassurance themselves this week.
Freedom Is Coming (ATOK 355) — a joyful South African freedom song. It leans into the “David escapes and lives” side of the story rather than the harder Titus 2 questions, which might be exactly the lift a service needs.

Worth knowing about but not from the congregation’s usual list: Bring Many Names (Brian Wren) deliberately widens the images we use for God well beyond a single household picture — a good match against Titus 2’s very narrow household model, if you want something that speaks to that tension directly.

6. Weblinks

This week’s Old Testament/New Testament pairing doesn’t have a Revised Common Lectionary equivalent, so some of the usual lectionary-specific commentary sites come back empty. These are still worth a look for general background and reflection:

7. Pop Culture

Songs to listen to in the lead-up to the service:

Cover Me Up — Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. A song about being sheltered by someone, and choosing to become someone worth sheltering in return. It’s not a literal retelling of Michal’s story, but it carries the same shape — someone deciding, without being asked twice, to put themselves between another person and danger.
Song for Zula — Phosphorescent. A love song that refuses to be caged or made small for anyone else’s comfort — a nice bit of friction to sit alongside Titus 2’s much quieter picture of what a woman should be.
Cramps — Slow Pulp. A hazy, aching, late-night sort of song — good company for the tension and secrecy running through Michal’s side of the story.
Forever, and No Time At All — Nat Bartsch. A gentle instrumental piano piece written during the composer’s early motherhood — a wordless, tender picture of home life, sitting in quiet contrast to Titus 2’s very managed one.
(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano — Sampha. A tender, personal song about home, family and what we inherit from the people who raised us — a warm note to end the week’s listening on.

From Richard’s library: Walter Brueggemann’s First and Second Samuel is a solid, readable commentary that covers Michal’s whole story, not just this week’s episode. It’s more of a background-reading commentary than a light read, but it’s honestly the best match on the shelf for this particular week, and it’s worth having open beside you while you prepare, even if you’re not the one preaching.

Film recommendation: On the Basis of Sex (2018) tells the story of the early legal career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, as she takes on a law that assumed men and women had fixed, separate household roles. It’s rated PG-13, with some mild coarse language and one tastefully handled scene implying marital intimacy — nothing that should catch anyone in your congregation off guard. It pairs well with the “whose rules, whose household” thread running through Titus 2 this week.

8. Notable Dates

A few dates worth knowing about in the ten days around this Sunday:

23 October — James, brother of Jesus. Not one of the Twelve, but the early leader of the church in Jerusalem, remembered for settling disputes fairly and for the line “faith without works is dead.” A good name to have in your back pocket if the notices ever touch on practical, hands-on faith.
24 October — United Nations Day. Marks the founding of the UN in 1945. Could sit nicely in the pastoral prayers if the service touches on peace or international justice this week.
29 October — International Day of Care and Support. A newer UN observance recognising the often-invisible work of caring for others — a lovely, gentle fit for a congregation that prays for carers and the cared-for most weeks anyway.

Just outside the window but worth having on your radar for the following Sunday: 31 October is Reformation Day, marking the church-reforming movements of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.

9. Final Word

A small, practical tip this week: when a service holds two readings in real tension with each other — like Michal’s courage sitting right next to Titus 2’s call for quiet submission — you don’t have to resolve that tension from the front. Sometimes the most honest thing a leader can do is simply name it out loud: “these two readings sit oddly together, and that’s alright.” Let the room sit with it, rather than smoothing it over for them.

Whatever you choose to do with this week’s service, may you lead it with a steady heart and a light hold on perfection. Blessings on your preparation.