11th Sunday after Trinity 19th August 2007
Collect
O God, you declare your almighty power most chiefly in showing mercy and pity: mercifully grant to us such a measure of your grace, that we, running the way of your commandments, may receive your gracious promises, and be made partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
First reading - Jeremiah 23.23-29
23) Am I a God near by, says the LORD, and not a God far off?
24) Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the LORD.
25) I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
26) How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back - those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart?
27) They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.
28) Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the LORD.
29) Is not my word like fire, says the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?
Please join in the Psalm refrain:
How lovely is your dwelling place.
Second reading - Hebrews 11.29-12.2
29) By faith the people of Israel passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.
30) By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.
31) By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.
32) And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets –
33) who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
34) quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
35) Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection.
36) Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
37) They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented –
38) of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39) Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,
40) since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.
1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,
2) looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.
The Gospel
Gospel - Luke 12.49-56
Jesus said to his disciples:
49) ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
50) I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!
51) Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!
52) From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three;
53) they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
54) He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens.
55) And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens.
56) You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Post-communion
Lord of all mercy, we your faithful people have celebrated that one true sacrifice which takes away our sins and brings pardon and peace: by our communion keep us firm on the foundation of the gospel and preserve us from all sin; through Jesus Christ our Lord.