4th Sunday before Advent 4th November 2007
Collect
Almighty and eternal God, you have kindled the flame of love in the hearts of the saints: grant to us the same faith and power of love, that, as we rejoice in their triumphs, we may be sustained by their example and fellowship; 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 - Isaiah 1.10-18
10) Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! 11What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD;I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts;I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.
12) When you come to appear before me,who asked this from your hand? Trample my courts no more;
13) bringing offerings is futile;incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation – I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14) Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,I am weary of bearing them.
15) When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16) Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17) learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
18) Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD:
though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Please join in the Psalm refrain:
Forgive me, O Lord, the guilt of my sin
Second reading - 2 Thessalonians 1.1-12
1) Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2) Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3) We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing.
4) Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.
5) This is evidence of the righteous judgement of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering.
6) For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
7) and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
8) in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
9) These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
10) when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marvelled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
11) To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith,
12) so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Gospel
Gospel - Luke 19.1-10
1) Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it.
2) A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich.
3) He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature.
4) So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was going to pass that way.
5) When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’
6) So he hurried down and was happy to welcome Jesus.
7) All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’
8) Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’
9) Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.
10) For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’
Post-communion
Lord of heaven, in this eucharist you have brought us near to an innumerable company of angels and to the spirits of the saints made perfect: as in this food of our earthly pilgrimage we have shared their fellowship, so may we come to share their joy in heaven; through Jesus Christ our Lord.