[Propertalk] READINGS for the ELEVENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST

[Charles Wohlers]

The following are the readings for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, 
August 25, (Proper 16) 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.



OLD TESTAMENT: Jeremiah 1: 4 - 10 (RCL)

Jere 1:4 (NRSV) Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
6 Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am 
only a boy." 7 But the LORD said to me,
"Do not say, "I am only a boy';
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you,
8 Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
qsays the LORD."
9 Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said 
to me,
"Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant."


Isaiah 58: 9b - 14 (alt. for RCL)

Isai 58:9 (NRSV) If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
13 If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
14 then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.


Isaiah 66: 18 - 21   (Roman Catholic)

Isai 66:18 (NRSV) For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am 
coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall 
see my glory, 19 and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send 
survivors to the nations, to Tar'shish, Put, and Lud--which draw the 
bow--to Tu'bal and Ja'van, to the coastlands far away that have not 
heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among 
the nations. 20 They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations 
as an offering to the LORD, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, 
and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says 
the LORD, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean 
vessel to the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take some of them as 
priests and as Le'vites, says the LORD.


PSALM 71: 1 - 6   (RCL)

Psal 71:1 (NRSV) In you, O LORD, I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame.
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
3 Be to me a rock of refuge,
a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
5 For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.


Psalm 103: 1 - 8 (alt. for RCL)

Psal 103:1 (NRSV) Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and do not forget all his benefits--
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD works vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.


Psalm 117, Mark 16:15 (Roman Catholic)

Psal 117:1 (NRSV) Praise the LORD, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
Resp. Mark 16:15 Go to every part of the world,
and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.


NEW TESTAMENT: Hebrews 12: 18 - 29 (RCL)

Hebr 12:18 (NRSV) You have not come to something that can be touched, a 
blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound 
of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not 
another word be spoken to them. 20 (For they could not endure the order 
that was given, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be 
stoned to death." 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses 
said, "I tremble with fear.") 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to 
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable 
angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who 
are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits 
of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new 
covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the 
blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did 
not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much 
less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At 
that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once 
more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven." 27 This 
phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken--that 
is, created things--so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let 
us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with 
reverence and awe; 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.


Hebrews 12: 5 - 7, 11 - 13 (Roman Catholic)

Hebr 12:5 (NRSV) And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses 
you as children--
"My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him;
6 for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and chastises every child whom he accepts."
7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as 
children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?
11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the 
time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those 
who have been trained by it.
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 
and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be 
put out of joint, but rather be healed.


GOSPEL: Luke 13: 10 - 17 (RCL)

Luke 13:10 (NRSV) Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the 
sabbath. 11 And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had 
crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable 
to stand up straight. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and 
said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." 13 When he laid his 
hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 
14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on 
the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work 
ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the 
sabbath day." 15 But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! 
Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the 
manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16 And ought not this woman, 
a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set 
free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" 17 When he said this, all 
his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at 
all the wonderful things that he was doing.


Luke 13: 22 - 30   (Roman Catholic)

Luke 13:22 (NRSV) Jesus went through one town and village after another, 
teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, "Lord, 
will only a few be saved?" He said to them, 24 "Strive to enter through 
the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be 
able. 25 When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, 
and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, "Lord, 
open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, "I do not know where you 
come from.' 26 Then you will begin to say, "We ate and drank with you, 
and you taught in our streets.' 27 But he will say, "I do not know where 
you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!' 28 There will be 
weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob 
and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown 
out. 29 Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, 
and will eat in the kingdom of God. 30 Indeed, some are last who will be 
first, and some are first who will be last."



-- 
Chad Wohlers
chadwohl at satucket.com
Woodbury, VT   USA