Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
COLLECT
O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong,
nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our
ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things
eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
OLD TESTAMENT: 2 Samuel 11:1-15
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab
with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and
besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one
afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof
of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman
was very beautiful. David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was
reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”
So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her.
(Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her
house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”
So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah
to David. When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people
fared, and how the war was going. Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to
your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there
followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the entrance of the
king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.
When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to
Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your
house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths;
and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field;
shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As
you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.” Then David said to
Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So,
Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day, David invited him to
eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went
out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to
his house. In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand
of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest
fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and
die.”
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
PSALM: Psalm 14
Dixit insipiens
1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” *
All are corrupt and commit abominable acts; there is none who does
any good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven upon us all, *
to see if there is any who is wise, if there is one who seeks after God.
3 Every one has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad; *
there is none who does good; no, not one.
4 Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers *
who eat up my people like bread and do not call upon the LORD?
5 See how they tremble with fear, *
because God is in the company of the righteous.
6 Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted, *
but the LORD is their refuge.
7 Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come out of Zion! *
when the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice
and Israel be glad.
THE EPISTLE A Reading from: Ephesians 3:14-21
I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on
earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may
grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his
Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being
rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to
comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and
depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you
may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at
work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or
imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
GOSPEL HYMN: “O Love of God” (Jesus Christ our Lord) pg. 455
- O Love of God, how strong and true, e-ter-nal and yet ev-er new; un-com-
pre-hend-ed and un-bought, be-yond all know-ledge and all thought. - O wide-em-brac-ing, wondrous Love, we read thee in the sky a-bove, we
read thee in the earth be-low, in the seas that swell and streams that flow. - We read thee best in him who came to bear for us the cross of shame, sent
by the Fa-ther from on high, our life to live, our death to die. - We read thy power to bless and save e’en in the dark-ness of the grave;
still more in re-sur-rec-tion light, we read the full-ness of thy night.
The Holy GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus Christ according to:
John 6:1-21
Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.
A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing
for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw
a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy
bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what
he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy
enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew,
Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley
loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said,
“Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so,
they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when
he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also, the
fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples,
“Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So, they
gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those
who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he
had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the
world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force
to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening
came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea
to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea
became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about
three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat,
and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they
wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land
toward which they were going.
Reader: The Gospel of the Lord People: Praise to you, Lord Chris