[Propertalk] READINGS for the THIRTEENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost 
(Proper 18), Sept. 7, according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal 
(ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common 
Worship) lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New Revised Standard 
Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the ECUSA, Canadian and 
C of E lectionaries are identical to the RCL for this day. Throughout 
Pentecost the alternate RCL Psalm would normally be used with the alternate 
RCL O. T. reading. Note also that the Canadian RCL does not have the 
alternative readings.



OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 12: 1 - 14 (RCL)

Exod 12:1 (NRSV) The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 2 
This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first 
month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on 
the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for 
each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall 
join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided in 
proportion to the number of people who eat of it. 5 Your lamb shall be 
without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the 
goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the 
whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 
They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the 
lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the lamb that 
same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread 
and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted 
over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner organs. 10 You shall let none 
of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you 
shall burn. 11 This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals 
on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly. 
It is the passover of the LORD. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt 
that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, 
both human beings and animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute 
judgments: I am the LORD. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses 
where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague 
shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as 
a festival to the LORD; throughout your generations you shall observe it as 
a perpetual ordinance.


Ezekiel 33: 7 - 9   (Roman Catholic)
Ezekiel 33: 7 - 11   (alt. for RCL)

Ezek 33:1 (NRSV) The word of the LORD came to me: 2 O Mortal, speak to your 
people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of 
the land take one of their number as their sentinel; 3 and if the sentinel 
sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the 
people; 4 then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet do not take warning, 
and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood shall be upon their own 
heads. 5 They heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; their 
blood shall be upon themselves. But if they had taken warning, they would 
have saved their lives. 6 But if the sentinel sees the sword coming and does 
not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes 
and takes any of them, they are taken away in their iniquity, but their 
blood I will require at the sentinel's hand.
7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever 
you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 8 If I 
say to the wicked, "O wicked ones, you shall surely die," and you do not 
speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in 
their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. 9 But if you 
warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their 
ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your 
life.
10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: "Our 
transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of 
them; how then can we live?" 11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I 
have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from 
their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will 
you die, O house of Israel?


PSALM 149   (RCL)

Psal 149:1 (NRSV) Praise the LORD!
Sing to the LORD a new song,
his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2 Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3 Let them praise his name with dancing,
making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
he adorns the humble with victory.
5 Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy on their couches.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats
and two-edged swords in their hands,
7 to execute vengeance on the nations
and punishment on the peoples,
8 to bind their kings with fetters
and their nobles with chains of iron,
9 to execute on them the judgment decreed.
This is glory for all his faithful ones.
Praise the LORD!


Psalm 119: 33 - 40   (alt. for RCL)

Psal 119:33 (NRSV) Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
35 Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
36 Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
give me life in your ways.
38 Confirm to your servant your promise,
which is for those who fear you.
39 Turn away the disgrace that I dread,
for your ordinances are good.
40 See, I have longed for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life.


Psalm 95: 1 - 2, 6 - 9 (Roman Catholic)

Psal 95:1 (NRSV) O come, let us sing to the LORD;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

6 O come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice!
8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Mer'ibah,
as on the day at Mas'sah in the wilderness,
9 when your ancestors tested me,
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.


NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 13: 8 - 14   (RCL)
                                    Romans 13: 8 - 10   (Roman Catholic)

Roma 13:8 (NRSV)  Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the 
one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, "You shall 
not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall 
not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love 
your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, 
love is the fulfilling of the law.
11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you 
to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became 
believers; 12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside 
the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us live 
honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery 
and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its 
desires.


GOSPEL: Matthew 18: 15 - 20 (all)

Matt 18:15 (NRSV) "If another member of the church sins against you, go and 
point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to 
you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one 
or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the 
evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to 
them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to 
the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and 
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell 
you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done 
for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my 
name, I am there among them."

Chad Wohlers
Woodbury, VT USA
chadwohl at satucket.com