Readings

Daily OfficeHoly EucharistHoly Days

Wednesday after the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

    MorningEvening

    The Collect of the Day

    Proper 21

    The Sunday closest to September 28

    O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

    Psalms

    101

    Misericordiam ed judiciumBCP p. 730

    1I will sing of mercy and justice; *to you, O Lord, will I sing praises.

    2I will strive to follow a blameless course; oh, when will you come to me? *I will walk with sincerity of heart within my house.

    3I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; *I hate the doers of evil deeds; they shall not remain with me.

    4A crooked heart shall be far from me; *I will not know evil.

    5Those who in secret slander their neighbors I will destroy; *those who have a haughty look and a proud heart I cannot abide.

    6My eyes are upon the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me, *and only those who lead a blameless life shall be my servants.

    7Those who act deceitfully shall not dwell in my house, *and those who tell lies shall not continue in my sight.

    8I will soon destroy all the wicked in the land, *that I may root out all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

    109

    Deus, laudemBCP p. 750

    1Hold not your tongue, O God of my praise; *for the mouth of the wicked, the mouth of the deceitful, is opened against me.

    2They speak to me with a lying tongue; *they encompass me with hateful words and fight against me without a cause.

    3Despite my love, they accuse me; *but as for me, I pray for them.

    4They repay evil for good, *and hatred for my love.

    5Set a wicked man against him, *and let an accuser stand at his right hand.

    6When he is judged, let him be found guilty, *and let his appeal be in vain.

    7Let his days be few, *and let another take his office.

    8Let his children be fatherless, *and his wife become a widow.

    9Let his children be waifs and beggars; *let them be driven from the ruins of their homes.

    10Let the creditor seize everything he has; *let strangers plunder his gains.

    11Let there be no one to show him kindness, *and none to pity his fatherless children.

    12Let his descendants be destroyed, *and his name be blotted out in the next generation.

    13Let the wickedness of his fathers be remembered before the Lord, *and his mother’s sin not be blotted out;

    14Let their sin be always before the Lord; *but let him root out their names from the earth;

    15Because he did not remember to show mercy, *but persecuted the poor and needy and sought to kill the brokenhearted.

    16He loved cursing, let it come upon him; *he took no delight in blessing, let it depart from him.

    17He put on cursing like a garment, *let it soak into his body like water and into his bones like oil;

    18Let it be to him like the cloak which he wraps around himself, *and like the belt that he wears continually.

    19Let this be the recompense from the Lord to my accusers, *and to those who speak evil against me.

    20But you, O Lord my God, oh, deal with me according to your Name; *for your tender mercy’s sake, deliver me.

    21For I am poor and needy, *and my heart is wounded within me.

    22I have faded away like a shadow when it lengthens; *I am shaken off like a locust.

    23My knees are weak through fasting, *and my flesh is wasted and gaunt.

    24I have become a reproach to them; *they see and shake their heads.

    25Help me, O Lord my God; *save me for your mercy’s sake.

    26Let them know that this is your hand, *that you, O Lord, have done it.

    27They may curse, but you will bless; *let those who rise up against me be put to shame, and your servant will rejoice.

    28Let my accusers be clothed with disgrace *and wrap themselves in their shame as in a cloak.

    29I will give great thanks to the Lord with my mouth; *in the midst of the multitude will I praise him;

    30Because he stands at the right hand of the needy, *to save his life from those who would condemn him.

    Daily Office Readings

    Hosea 4:11-19

    A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Hosea.

    11 whoredom. Wine and new wine take away the understanding. 12 My people consult a piece of wood, and their divining rod gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have played the whore, forsaking their God. 13 They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and make offerings upon the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the whore, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. 14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with whores, and sacrifice with temple prostitutes; thus a people without understanding comes to ruin. 15 Though you play the whore, O Israel, do not let Judah become guilty. Do not enter into Gilgal, or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.” 16 Like a stubborn heifer, Israel is stubborn; can the Lord now feed them like a lamb in a broad pasture? 17 Ephraim is joined to idols— let him alone. 18 When their drinking is ended, they indulge in sexual orgies; they love lewdness more than their glory. 19 A wind has wrapped them in its wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their altars.

    Acts 21:15-26

    A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

    15 After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. 16 Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay. 17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us warmly. 18 The next day Paul went with us to visit James; and all the elders were present. 19 After greeting them, he related one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. 20 When they heard it, they praised God. Then they said to him, “You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. 21 They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. 22 What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. 23 So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. 24 Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. 25 But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.” 26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having purified himself, he entered the temple with them, making public the completion of the days of purification when the sacrifice would be made for each of them.

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    Luke 5:27-39

    27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him. 29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32 I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” 33 Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink. 34 Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise the new will be torn, and the piece from the new will not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine, but says, ‘The old is good.’”