Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
COLLECT
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it
cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your
goodness; 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 11:26-12:13a
When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation
for him. When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house,
and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done
displeased the LORD, and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and
said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.
The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but
one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with
him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup,
and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler
to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for
the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb, and prepared
that for the guest who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled
against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done
this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing,
and because he had no pity.” Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says
the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you
from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives
into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had
been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the
word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the
Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him
with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from
your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite
to be your wife. Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from
within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them
to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun.
For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”
David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
PSALM: Psalm 51:1-13
Miserere mei, Deus
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; *
in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
2 Wash me through and through from my wickedness *
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, *
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you only have I sinned *
and done what is evil in your sight.
5 And so you are justified when you speak *
and upright in your judgment.
6 Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, *
a sinner from my mother’s womb.
7 For behold, you look for truth deep within me, *
and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
8 Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; *
wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
9 Make me hear of joy and gladness, *
that the body you have broken may rejoice.
10 Hide your face from my sins *
and blot out all my iniquities.
11 Create in me a clean heart, O God, *
and renew a right spirit within me.
12 Cast me not away from your presence *
and take not your holy Spirit from me.
13 Give me the joy of your saving help again *
and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
THE EPISTLE A Reading from: Ephesians 4:1-16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to
which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were
called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. But each of us was
given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, “When he
ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”
(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended
into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended
far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were
that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and
teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of
Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer
be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by
people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth
in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from
whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is
equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building
itself up in love.
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 6:24-35
The next day, when the people who remained after the feeding of the five
thousand saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got
into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on
the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”
Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because
you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the
food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of
Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then
they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus
answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has
sent.” So, they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we
may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the
manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you
the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from
heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives
life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to
them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and
whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Reader: The Gospel of the Lord People: Praise to you, Lord Christ