Scriptures and Reflection Questions for September 12

Scriptures and Reflection Questions
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Proper 19, Year C
September 12, 2010

How to use this page:

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.

For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient
practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading).  We've written some instructions on
how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link:
http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html

We use the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary.

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Collect

O God, because without you we are not able to please you mercifully grant that your
Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

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The Lessons

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Psalm 14
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10
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Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from
me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or
 cleanse -- a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against
them.

"For my people are foolish,
they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
but do not know how to do good."
I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the LORD: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make
a full end.

Because of this the earth shall mourn,
and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
I have not relented nor will I turn back.

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Jeremiah speaks a word of judgment that sounds like the reversal of the original
 creation story -- the "un-creation" of the world.

Where do you see actions that seem to tear at the fabric of creation?

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Psalm 14

The foolish have said in their hearts, "There is no God." *
All are corrupt and commit abominable acts;
there is none who does any good.

The Holy One looks down from heaven upon us all, *
to see if there is any who is wise,
if there is one who seeks after God.

Everyone has proved faithless;
all alike have turned bad; *
there is none who does good; no, not one.

Have they no knowledge, all those evildoers *
who eat up my people like bread and do not call upon God?

See how they tremble with fear, *
because God is in the company of the righteous.

Their aim is to confound the plans of the afflicted, *
but God is their refuge.

Oh, that Israel's deliverance would come out of Zion! *
When God restores the fortunes of the people,
Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.

St. Helena Psalter
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A Psalm during a time of corruption and evil.
Where do you see signs of corruption and evil in our day?
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1 Timothy 1:12-17

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged
me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer,
a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly
in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love
 that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners -- of whom I am the foremost. But
for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ
might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come
to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible,
the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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For what in your life is Jesus displaying the utmost patience?
What would Jesus like to free you from?
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Luke 15:1-10

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the
Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners
and eats with them."

So he told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing
one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one
that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders
and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors,
saying to them, `Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' Just
 so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than
over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light
 a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has
found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, `Rejoice with me,
for I have found the coin that I had lost.' Just so, I tell you, there is joy in
 the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
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How might these passages work as metaphors for God's passion for wholeness?
What is lost or separated in your life?
What is lost or separated in our society?
What is lost or separated in our world?
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