After Pentecost | Thursday 25 Sep 2025
+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen
Opening prayer:
O Lord,
you have taught us that without love,
all our deeds are worth nothing:
Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of charity,
the true bond of peace and of all virtues,
without which whoever lives is counted dead before you;
grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen..
“I do not mean
that others should be eased
and you burdened.”
(2 Corinthians 8:13)
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From the Psalms: Psalm 146 – The Corner Room
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OT Reading: Proverbs 22:2-16 (ESV)
22:2 The rich and the poor meet together;
the Lord is the Maker of them all.
+ The prudent sees danger and hides himself,
but the simple go on and suffer for it.
+ The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
is riches and honor and life.
+ Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.
+ Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
+ The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
+ Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
and the rod of his fury will fail.
+ Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed,
for he shares his bread with the poor.
+ Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out,
and quarreling and abuse will cease.
+ He who loves purity of heart,
and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
+ The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
but he overthrows the words of the traitor.
+ The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!”
+ The mouth of forbidden women is a deep pit;
he with whom the Lord is angry will fall into it.
+ Folly is bound up in the heart of a child,
but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
+ Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his own wealth,
or gives to the rich, will only come to poverty.
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Generous God | David Brackenbury
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NT Reading: 2 Corinthians 8:8-15 (ESV)
8:8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”
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Though You were rich | Matt Gilman / Jonathan Priday
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O God, without whose beauty and goodness our souls are unfed, without whose truth our reason withers: Consecrate our lives to your will, giving us such purity of heart, such depth of faith, and such steadfastness of purpose, that in time we may come to think your own thoughts after you; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
Almighty God, we pray for the peace of Jerusalem: Intervene in ways that only you can, so the whole world will know that you alone are God. Protect your people from the assaults of the evil one, and grant Israel’s leaders the wisdom and courage to do what’s right in your sight. Deliver all the hostages from captivity, and restore their souls. Comfort those who grieve and mourn the loss of loved ones. Protect the innocent and punish the guilty, that all may live in peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Go before us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, through your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing: FaithandWorship.com | John Birch
The Lord bless us, and preserve us from all evil,
and keep us in eternal life.
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
20:45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
16:10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
The Peanut Gallery 