Daily Readings: September 23, 2022

Friday after the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Ember Day

Morning	Evening
Psalm 88	Psalm 91 Psalm 92
Esther 8:1-8,15-17 Acts 19:21-41 Luke 4:31-37

The Collect of the Day

Proper 20

The Sunday closest to September 21

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

15. For the Ministry (Ember Days)

I. For those to be ordained

Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, in your divine providence you have appointed various orders in your Church: Give your grace, we humbly pray, to all who are [now] called to any office and ministry for your people; and so fill them with the truth of your doctrine and clothe them with holiness of life, that they may faithfully serve before you, to the glory of your great Name and for the benefit of your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

15. For the Ministry (Ember Days)

II. For the choice of fit persons for the ministry

O God, you led your holy apostles to ordain ministers in every place: Grant that your Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, may choose suitable persons for the ministry of Word and Sacrament, and may uphold them in their work for the extension of your kingdom; through him who is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

15. For the Ministry (Ember Days)

III. For all Christians in their vocation

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Psalms

88

Domine, DeusBCP p. 712

¹O Lord, my God, my Savior, *by day and night I cry to you.

²Let my prayer enter into your presence; *incline your ear to my lamentation.

³For I am full of trouble; *my life is at the brink of the grave.

⁴I am counted among those who go down to the Pit; *I have become like one who has no strength;

⁵Lost among the dead, *like the slain who lie in the grave,

⁶Whom you remember no more, *for they are cut off from your hand.

⁷You have laid me in the depths of the Pit, *in dark places, and in the abyss.

⁸Your anger weighs upon me heavily, *and all your great waves overwhelm me.

⁹You have put my friends far from me; you have made me to be abhorred by them; *I am in prison and cannot get free.

¹⁰My sight has failed me because of trouble; *Lord, I have called upon you daily; I have stretched out my hands to you.

¹¹Do you work wonders for the dead? *will those who have died stand up and give you thanks?

¹²Will your loving-kindness be declared in the grave? *your faithfulness in the land of destruction?

¹³Will your wonders be known in the dark? *or your righteousness in the country where all is forgotten?

¹⁴But as for me, O Lord, I cry to you for help; *in the morning my prayer comes before you.

¹⁵Lord, why have you rejected me? *why have you hidden your face from me?

¹⁶Ever since my youth, I have been wretched and at the point of death; *I have borne your terrors with a troubled mind.

¹⁷Your blazing anger has swept over me; *your terrors have destroyed me;

¹⁸They surround me all day long like a flood; *they encompass me on every side.

¹⁹My friend and my neighbor you have put away from me, *and darkness is my only companion.

Daily Office Readings

²¹Now after these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia, and then to go on to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.” ²²So he sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed for some time longer in Asia. ²³About that time no little disturbance broke out concerning the Way. ²⁴A man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the artisans. ²⁵These he gathered together, with the workers of the same trade, and said, “Men, you know that we get our wealth from this business. ²⁶You also see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost the whole of Asia this Paul has persuaded and drawn away a considerable number of people by saying that gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be scorned, and she will be deprived of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.” ²⁸When they heard this, they were enraged and shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹The city was filled with the confusion; and people rushed together to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s travel companions. ³⁰Paul wished to go into the crowd, but the disciples would not let him; ³¹even some officials of the province of Asia, who were friendly to him, sent him a message urging him not to venture into the theater. ³²Meanwhile, some were shouting one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³Some of the crowd gave instructions to Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. And Alexander motioned for silence and tried to make a defense before the people. ³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours all of them shouted in unison, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ³⁵But when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who is there that does not know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the statue that fell from heaven? ³⁶Since these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷You have brought these men here who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the artisans with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls; let them bring charges there against one another. ³⁹If there is anything further you want to know, it must be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰For we are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.