Readings

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

The Collect of the Day

Proper 17

The Sunday closest to August 31

Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

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Psalm

45

Eructavit cor meumBCP p. 647

1My heart is stirring with a noble song; let me recite what I have fashioned for the king; *my tongue shall be the pen of a skilled writer.

2You are the fairest of men; *grace flows from your lips, because God has blessed you for ever.

7Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever, *a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom; you love righteousness and hate iniquity.

8Therefore God, your God, has anointed you *with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

9All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia, *and the music of strings from ivory palaces makes you glad.

10Kings’ daughters stand among the ladies of the court; *on your right hand is the queen, adorned with the gold of Ophir.

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Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

1 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ 6 He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honours me with their lips,    but their hearts are far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me,    teaching human precepts as doctrines.” 8 You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’ 14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’ 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’

James 1:17-27

17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures. 19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. 21 Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24 for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing. 26 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Song of Solomon 2:8-13