TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—Proper 25

October 23, 2022

AS WE GATHER
After church, after school, or after work, each day concludes with the comfort, relief, and peace of going home. Our daily experience is a picture of our spiritual journey. After the toil and trouble, the challenges and the joys, and perhaps the sufferings and disappointments of our lives, the Christian looks forward to the comfort, relief, and peace of going home to our heavenly, eternal home. This hope and goal, however, is only for those who humbly confess their sin and receive eternal life as it is, namely, a gift of God provided by the saving work of Jesus Christ.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Genesis 4:1-15
(Cain and Abel)

EPISTLE READING: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
(The crown of righteousness)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 18:9-17
(The Pharisee and the Tax Collector)

NINETEETH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
(Proper 24)

October 16, 2022

AS WE GATHER
We have journeyed almost to the end of the long green season of Sundays after Pentecost. As with every long journey, it is easy to grow weary. The Scripture readings for today call upon us to be persistent in faith and persistent in prayer. In order to reinforce the value of persistent prayer, Jesus told a story about an unfair judge and a woman who refused to give up. God is not an enemy whom we must win over, but the God whose grace and mercy have given us life and salvation in Jesus Christ. Because we know the power of His grace we are moved not to give up but to be persistent in faith and prayer.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Genesis 32:22-30
(Jacob wrestles one who turns out to be God.)

EPISTLE READING: 2 Timothy 3:14—4:5
(St. Paul encourages a young pastor to persist in sound teaching and faithful preaching.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 18:1-8
(Jesus tells a parable of an unjust judge and a woman who persists until she receives justice.)

THANKSGIVING DAY

October 9, 2022

AS WE GATHER
The observance of A Day of Thanksgiving is the celebration of a national holiday that is closely linked with some form of religious experience. Thankfulness needs to go somewhere . . . to someone beyond an individual person. The reality of God’s grateful people expressing thanks to Him goes all the way back to the very beginnings of time itself. The biblical record has many accounts of people speaking words of thanksgiving to God. Many psalms are expressions of thanksgiving to the Lord. The letters of St. Paul are filled with expressions of thanks to God as well. Although individual thanksgiving is important, thankfulness finds fullest expression when God’s people are gathered together for the purpose of giving Him their thanks and praise. A day of Thanksgiving helps to bring about that most-appropriate gathering for worship.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Ruth 1:1-19a
(Ruth comes from Moab to Bethlehem.)

EPISTLE READING: 2 Timothy 2:1-13
(As a soldier of Jesus Christ.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 17:11-19
(One leper shows gratitude to Jesus.)

SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
(PROPER 22)

October 2, 2022

AS WE GATHER
“Our Lord is the Lord who serves. Jesus Christ came into the flesh not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many—The Lord’s service calls forth our service—in sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to Him and in loving service to one another” (Lutheran Service Book, p. viii). It is very tempting for us to look for recognition or reward for our serving the Lord or serving one another. Jesus teaches us in today’s Gospel reading that a true servant heart will say “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.” It is indeed our duty (and our delight) to “thank and praise, serve and obey” our gracious God.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
(The prophet prays for God’s deliverance.)

EPISTLE READING: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
(Paul urges Timothy to be faithful to the Gospel entrusted to him.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 17:1-10 (Jesus offers guidelines for Christian living.)

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ (PROPER 21)

September 25, 2022

AS WE GATHER
In Ephesians 4, St. Paul says that God gave the gifts of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians. 4:12-13). In today’s Epistle reading, Paul reminds those who have leadership positions in the Church that there are high expectations and serious responsibilities for those who would be leaders in the Church. Today we thank God for faithful leaders.

Bible Readings:

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Amos 6:1-7
(The prophet warns of the punishment coming for those who live a life of luxury while ignoring God’s will.)

EPISTLE READING: 1 Timothy 3:1-13 (Paul reminds those who would be pastors that this is a noble task with special and specific requirements.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 16:19-31 (Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and poor Lazarus.)

FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST ~ Proper 20

September 18, 2022

AS WE GATHER
We find ourselves caught between competing loyalties all the time. It is a gut-wrenching position, torn between two people, two causes, two goals. Yet we also deceive ourselves into thinking that we can bridge the gap, reconcile the divergent paths, and give our heart to the world while reserving a part of it for the Lord. When the conflict is between mammon (money) and the Kingdom of God, there is more than painful choice at stake. If we choose the kingdom of the moment with its fleeting pleasures and momentary glories, we forsake what is God’s eternal gift. Today, the Lord calls us to take seriously the choices. He beckons us to live in the world but not be of the world, to choose the eternal over the moment, and the true treasure of grace over earthly treasure.

BIBLE READINGS:

FIRST READING: Amos 8:4-7
(The Lord will remember the sins of those who do not repent.)

EPISTLE READING: 1Timothy 2:1-15
(For there is one God and one mediator, Jesus Christ the Lord.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 16:1-15 (Jesus tells us that you cannot serve God and money.)

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
(Proper 19)

September 11, 2022

AS WE GATHER
“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Because all people are sinners, His salvation is for all regardless of any differences or circumstances in life. This proclamation is still Christ’s main mission through His Church—our mission as His Church. The Pharisees limited the invitation to only “certain types” of people. In doing so they not only betrayed the grace and love of God but they also missed His joy. In today’s worship the emphasis is on the joy of God’s mission. “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame “for the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2b). We pray today that we may follow Christ and join in His mission, “rejoicing in the way that leads to eternal life” (Collect).

Bible Readings:

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Ezekiel 34:11-24
(The Lord searches and seeks the lost.)

EPISTLE READING: 1 Timothy 1:12-17
(The mercy of God’s perfect patience)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 15:1-10
(The joy of restoring the lost)

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—
PROPER 18

September 4, 2022

AS WE GATHER
Jesus was born to walk the lonely path of the cross. Many people walked with Jesus as He journeyed to that cross but many of them did not stay with Him. Today, we are called to see how our Lord walked in our path to the cross so that we might walk with Him in faith—not some meandering stroll but the walk of disciples who follow the Lord Jesus, where He has forged the way. We also pray that we may not wander away but endure to eternal life.

Bible Readings

FIRST READING: Deuteronomy 30:15–20
(The Lord calls upon His people to walk in His ways and keep His Word.)

EPISTLE READING: Philemon 1–21
(Paul’s letter commending the slave Onesimus back to his master not only as a slave but as a brother in the Lord.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 14:25-35 (Jesus speaks of the cost of discipleship and calls on those who would follow Him to deny themselves and take up the cross.)

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—PROPER 17

August 28, 2022

AS WE GATHER
“For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). We are urged to a path of humility, not thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought and thinking of others before us. With this very purpose, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and reveals the character of God’s patient and powerful love. We are invited to follow Christ’s own example and to be people of such love and humility that God is glorified and the mercy of God is exalted.

Bible Readings

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Proverbs 25:2–10
(In pride you will be put to shame.)

EPISTLE READING: Hebrews 13:1–17
(Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 14:1–14
(Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.)

ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST—
PROPER 16

August 21, 2022

AS WE GATHER
Jesus is full of surprises. He says and does things differently than we might expect from God. Many will seek to enter the narrow door of the kingdom but will not be able. God’s discipline of His children is an expression of His deep love for us. Some who are last will become first, and some who are first will find themselves last. How strange. The way of Jesus is the way of the cross, of suffering, discipline, and of being last. Divine strength is made perfect in human weakness. Grace unexpected is delivered in Word and Sacrament and through Jesus’ own presence with us in our sufferings. Thank You, God, for grace unexpected and overflowing.

Bible Readings

FIRST READING: Isaiah 66:18–23 (The sign set among the nations.)

EPISTLE READING: Hebrews 12:4–24
(God disciplines those He loves by His Word that we may enter and dwell in the eternal joys of Mount Zion.)

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 13:22–30 (Strive to enter the narrow door.)