13th Sunday after Trinity 2nd Sept 2007
Collect
Almighty God, who called your Church to bear witness that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself: help us to proclaim the good news of your love, that all who hear it may be drawn to you; through him who was lifted up on the cross, and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
First reading - Proverbs 25.6-7
6) Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence
or stand in the place of the great;
7) for it is better to be told, ‘Come up here’,
than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
Please join in the Psalm refrain:
Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Second reading - Hebrews 13.1-8,15-16
Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow-prisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering.
Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?”
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
The Gospel
Gospel - Luke 14.1,7-14
1) On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7) When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable.
8) ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host;
9) and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, “Give this person your place,” and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place.
10) But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, “Friend, move up higher”; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.
11) For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’
12) He said also to the one who had invited him, ‘When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid.
13) But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
14) And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.’
Post-communion
God our creator, you feed your children with the true manna, the living bread from heaven: let this holy food sustain us through our earthly pilgrimage until we come to that place where hunger and thirst are no more; through Jesus Christ our Lord.