Readings

Wednesday after the Seventh Sunday of Easter

The Collect of the Day

Seventh Sunday of Easter: The Sunday after Ascension Day

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Jackson Kemper

O God, who sent your son Jesus Christ to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that we, like your servant Jackson Kemper, may proclaim the Gospel in our own day, with courage, vision, and perseverance; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, now and for 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

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Ezek. 11:14-25

14 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 15 Mortal, your kinsfolk, your own kin, your fellow exiles, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, “They have gone far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.” 16 Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far away among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a little while in the countries where they have gone. 17 Therefore say: Thus says the Lord God: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. 18 When they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God. 22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was above them. 23 And the glory of the Lord ascended from the middle of the city, and stopped on the mountain east of the city. 24 The spirit lifted me up and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen left me. 25 And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

Heb. 7:1-17

1 This “King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him”; 2 and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” 3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. 4 See how great he is! Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils. 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their kindred, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal; in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. 11 Now if perfection had been attainable through the levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. 15 It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, 16 one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”

Luke 10:17-24

17 The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” 23 Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”