The Third Sunday in Lent
THE COLLECT
Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves:
Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be
defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil
thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus 3:1-15
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he
led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he
looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I
must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”
When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the
bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer!
Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy
ground.” He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to
look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who
are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know
their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to
bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk
and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to
me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. So come, I will send you to
Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God,
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He
said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you:
when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this
mountain.” But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them,
‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his
name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He
said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of
your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has
sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
PSALM Psalm 63:1-8
1 O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a barren and dry land
where there is no water.
2 Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *
that I might behold your power and your glory.
3 For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *
my lips shall give you praise.
4 So will I bless you as long as I live *
and lift up my hands in your Name.
5 My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
6 When I remember you upon my bed, *
and meditate on you in the night watches.
7 For you have been my helper, *
and under the shadow of your wings, I will rejoice.
8 My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.
EPISTLE 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were
all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into
Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all
drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that
followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased
with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these
things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.
Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat
down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” We must not indulge in
sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a
single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were
destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were
destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an
example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the
ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not
fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is
faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the
testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Reader: The Word of the Lord People: Thanks be to God
THE GOSPEL of our Lord Jesus Christ according to:
Luke 13:1-9 People: Glory to You Lord Christ
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you
think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were worse sinners
than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all
perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of
Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the
others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all
perish just as they did.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree
planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So,
he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit
on this fig tree, and still, I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the
soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and
put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can
cut it down.’”
Reader: The Gospel of the Lord People: Praise to you, Lord Christ