Scriptures for September 24

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.


(St. Paul's uses the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary readings which are a little different from the Prayer Book Lections. The recent General Convention authorized the RCL as our official lectionary.)

September 24, 2006
16th Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 20, Year B
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Wisdom 1:16-2:1,12-22
Psalm 54
James 3:13-4:3,7-8a
Mark 9:30-37

Wisdom 1:16-2:1, 12-22
But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death; considering him a friend, they pined away and made a covenant with him, because they are fit to belong to his company. For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, "Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades.
"Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God's child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected."
Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls.
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"Might makes right," some have said. Where in our society do you see examples where the strong victimize the weak or the immoral take advantage of good people.
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Psalm 54 Deus, in nomine
Save me, O God, by your Name; *
in your might, defend my cause.
Hear my prayer, O God; *
give ear to the words of my mouth.

For the arrogant have risen up against me, and the ruthless have sought my life, *
those who have no regard for God.
Behold, God is my helper; *
it is the Lord who sustains my life.

Render evil to those who spy on me; *
in your faithfulness, destroy them.
I will offer you a freewill sacrifice *
and praise your Name, O Lord, for it is good.

For you have rescued me from every trouble, *
and my eye has seen the ruin of my foes.
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This is the prayer of someone in a desperate condition.
Have you ever been in a situation where these might be your words?
Who can you think of might pray in this way?
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James 3:13-4:3,7-8a
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
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How does your desire increase your conflict and lack of peace?
What are the qualities of wisdom as described in this passage?
How might you nurture these qualities in your life?
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Mark 9:30-37
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
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Look for examples of willing vulnerability and real servant leadership this week.
How often can you discover people living into the values that Jesus teaches in this passage?
Compare what you've seen with the examples of people who use their power or position to control or dominate rather than to serve?
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On most weekdays I send a Morning Reflection to this same list, offering a thought about the readings from the Daily Office.

Lowell

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