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Proper 16
Closest to August 24 |
| Grant, we beseech thee, merciful God, that thy Church,
being gathered together in unity by thy Holy Spirit, may
manifest thy power among all peoples, to the glory of thy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and
reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, world
without end. Amen. |
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Lesson |
Isaiah 28:14-22
Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers, who rule this people
in Jerusalem! Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol we have an agreement; when the overwhelming scourge passes through it
will not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and in falsehood we
have taken shelter"; therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am laying in Zion for a
foundation a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure
foundation: `He who believes will not be in haste.' And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and
hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the
shelter." Then your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand; when the overwhelming scourge passes through you will
be beaten down by it. As often as it passes through it will take you; for morning by morning
it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be sheer terror to
understand the message. For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it, and the covering too
narrow to wrap oneself in it. For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Pera'zim, he will be wroth as in
the valley of Gibeon; to do his deed -- strange is his deed! and to work his
work -- alien is his work! Now therefore do not scoff, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have
heard a decree of destruction from the Lord GOD of hosts upon the whole
land. |
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Epistle |
Hebrews 12:18-19,22-29
Warning Against Rejecting God's Grace
For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire, and
darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers
entreat that no further messages be spoken to them. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to
a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood
that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not
escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less shall we
escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more
I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven." This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken,
as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be
shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and
awe; for our God is a consuming fire. |
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Gospel |
Luke 13:22-30
The Narrow Door
He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching, and journeying
toward Jerusalem. And some one said to him, "Lord, will those who are saved be few?" And
he said to them, "Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to
enter and will not be able. When once the householder has risen up and shut the door, you will begin
to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, `Lord, open to us.' He
will answer you, `I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, `We ate and drank in your presence, and you
taught in our streets.' But he will say, `I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart
from me, all you workers of iniquity!' There you will weep and gnash your teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac
and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves
thrust out. And men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit
at table in the kingdom of God. And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will
be last." |
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