The Old Testament Lesson
The Old Testament Lesson for today is taken from Jeremiah 11:1-20
The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. You shall say to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Cursed be anyone who does not heed the words of this covenant, which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron-smelter, saying, Listen to my voice, and do all that I command you. So shall you be my people, and I will be your God, that I may perform the oath that I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered, "So be it, LORD." And the LORD said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your ancestors when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of an evil will. So I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not. And the LORD said to me: Conspiracy exists among the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old, who refused to heed my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors. Therefore, thus says the LORD, assuredly I am going to bring disaster upon them that they cannot escape; though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they will never save them in the time of their trouble. For your gods have become as many as your towns, O Judah; and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal. As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done vile deeds? Can vows and sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult? The LORD once called you, "A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit" but with the roar of a great tempest he will set fire to it, and its branches will be consumed. The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal. It was the LORD who made it known to me, and I knew; then you showed me their evil deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. And I did not know it was against me that they devised schemes, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered!" But you, O LORD of hosts, who judge righteously, who try the heart and the mind, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
The Epistle Lesson
The Epistle Lesson for today is taken from Romans 6:1-11
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
The Holy Gospel Lesson
The Holy Gospel is written in John 8:33-47
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?" Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father's presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father." They answered him, "Abraham is our father." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does." They said to him, "We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God."
Here ends the Gospel lesson for today
Glory be to Thee ,O Christ!
Morning Psalms
Psalm 88 Domine, Deus
1 O LORD, my God, my Savior, by day and night I cry to you.
2 Let my prayer enter into your presence; incline your ear to my lamentation.
3 For I am full of trouble; my life is at the brink of the grave.
4 I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; I have become like one who has no strength;
5 Lost among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave,
6 Whom you remember no more, for they are cut off from your hand.
7 You have laid me in the depths of the Pit, in dark places, and in the abyss.
8 Your anger weighs upon me heavily, and all your great waves overwhelm me.
9 You have put my friends far from me; you have made me to be abhorred by them; I am in prison and cannot get free.
10 My sight has failed me because of trouble; LORD, I have called upon you daily; I have stretched out my hands to you.
11 Do you work wonders for the dead? will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?
12 Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? your faithfulness in the land of destruction?
13 Will your wonders be known in the dark? or your righteousness in the country where all is forgotten?
14 But as for me, O LORD, I cry to you for help; in the morning my prayer comes before you.
15 LORD, why have you rejected me? why have you hidden your face from me?
16 Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the point of death; I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.
17 Your blazing anger has swept over me; your terrors have destroyed me;
18 They surround me all day long like a flood; they encompass me on every side.
19 My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, and darkness is my only companion.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 91 Qui habitat
1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, abides under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 He shall say to the LORD, "You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust."
3 He shall deliver you from the snare of the hunter and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with his pinions, and you shall find refuge under his wings; his faithfulness shall be a shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid of any terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day;
6 Of the plague that stalks in the darkness, nor of the sickness that lays waste at mid-day.
7 A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you.
8 Your eyes have only to behold to see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD your refuge, and the Most High your habitation,
10 There shall no evil happen to you, neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.
11 For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
12 They shall bear you in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and the adder; you shall trample the young lion and the serpent under your feet.
14 Because he is bound to me in love, therefore will I deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my Name.
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I am with him in trouble; I will rescue him and bring him to honor.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
Psalm 92 Bonum est confiteri
1 It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;
2 To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning and of your faithfulness in the night season;
3 On the psaltery, and on the lyre, and to the melody of the harp.
4 For you have made me glad by your acts, O LORD; and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands.
5 LORD, how great are your works! your thoughts are very deep.
6 The dullard does not know, nor does the fool understand, that though the wicked grow like weeds, and all the workers of iniquity flourish,
7 They flourish only to be destroyed for ever; but you, O LORD, are exalted for evermore.
8 For lo, your enemies, O LORD, lo, your enemies shall perish, and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.
9 But my horn you have exalted like the horns of wild bulls; I am anointed with fresh oil.
10 My eyes also gloat over my enemies, and my ears rejoice to hear the doom of the wicked who rise up against me.
11 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.
12 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God;
13 They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be green and succulent;
14 That they may show how upright the LORD is, my Rock, in whom there is no fault.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.
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