Scriptures for June 18

Here are the scripture readings for this upcoming Sunday.

Suggestion: Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it (some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection).

You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.

If you would like to comment on these scriptures or have some on-line conversation about them, please click the "comments" button below.


June 18, 2006
2 Pentecost, (Proper 6) Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Psalm 92:1-4,12-15
2 Corinthians 5:6-10,(11-13),14-17
Mark 4:26-34

Ezekiel 17:22-24

Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty
top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one
from the topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a
high and lofty mountain. On the mountain height of Israel I will
plant it, in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and
become a noble cedar. Under it every kind of bird will live; in
the shade of its branches will nest winged creatures of every
kind. All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I
bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the
green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I the Lord have
spoken; I will accomplish it.
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What kind of social order does this passage praise?
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Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14
1 It is a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, *
and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;

2 To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning *
and of your faithfulness in the night season;

3 On the psaltery, and on the lyre, *
and to the melody of the harp.

4 For you have made me glad by your acts, O Lord; *
and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands

11 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, *
and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.

12 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord *
shall flourish in the courts of our God;

13 They shall still bear fruit in old age; *
they shall be green and succulent;

14 That they may show how upright the Lord is, *
my Rock, in whom there is no fault.
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For what in your life can you give praise and thanks to God?
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2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are
at home in the body we are away from the Lord-- for we walk by
faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would
rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So
whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him.
For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so
that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the
body, whether good or evil.

For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that
one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for
all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves,
but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on,
therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even
though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know
him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a
new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has
become new!
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Look in the mirror. Behold! A new creation!
Look at your neighbor. Behold! A new creation!
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Mark 4:26-34
Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter
seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and
the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth
produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full
grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in
with his sickle, because the harvest has come." He also said,
"With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable
will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown
upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all
shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the
air can make nests in its shade." With many such parables he
spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not
speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in
private to his disciples.
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What in your life can you see was something that quietly grew, taking its time to mature or to be manifest?
Who do you care for in such a way that someone else can "make nests in your shade"?

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Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas