Readings

Friday 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.

    Psalms

    102

    Domine, exaudiBCP p. 731

    1Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come before you; *hide not your face from me in the day of my trouble.

    2Incline your ear to me; *when I call, make haste to answer me,

    3For my days drift away like smoke, *and my bones are hot as burning coals.

    4My heart is smitten like grass and withered, *so that I forget to eat my bread.

    5Because of the voice of my groaning *I am but skin and bones.

    6I have become like a vulture in the wilderness, *like an owl among the ruins.

    7I lie awake and groan; *I am like a sparrow, lonely on a house-top.

    8My enemies revile me all day long, *and those who scoff at me have taken an oath against me.

    9For I have eaten ashes for bread *and mingled my drink with weeping.

    10Because of your indignation and wrath *you have lifted me up and thrown me away.

    11My days pass away like a shadow, *and I wither like the grass.

    12But you, O Lord, endure for ever, *and your Name from age to age.

    13You will arise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to have mercy upon her; *indeed, the appointed time has come.

    14For your servants love her very rubble, *and are moved to pity even for her dust.

    15The nations shall fear your Name, O Lord, *and all the kings of the earth your glory.

    16For the Lord will build up Zion, *and his glory will appear.

    17He will look with favor on the prayer of the homeless; *he will not despise their plea.

    18Let this be written for a future generation, *so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord.

    19For the Lord looked down from his holy place on high; *from the heavens he beheld the earth;

    20That he might hear the groan of the captive *and set free those condemned to die;

    21That they may declare in Zion the Name of the Lord, *and his praise in Jerusalem;

    22When the peoples are gathered together, *and the kingdoms also, to serve the Lord.

    23He has brought down my strength before my time; *he has shortened the number of my days;

    24And I said, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; *your years endure throughout all generations.

    25In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, *and the heavens are the work of your hands;

    26They shall perish, but you will endure; they all shall wear out like a garment; *as clothing you will change them, and they shall be changed;

    27But you are always the same, *and your years will never end.

    28The children of your servants shall continue, *and their offspring shall stand fast in your sight.”

    Daily Office Readings

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    Eph. 5:1-20

    1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. 3 But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. 5 Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be associated with them. 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

    Matt. 9:9-17

    9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. 10 And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” 14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

    Jer. 31:27-34

    27 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. 28 And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. 29 In those days they shall no longer say: “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.” 30 But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge. 31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.