Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity
Collect
Almighty God,
you have made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless
till they find their rest in you:
pour your love into our hearts
and draw us to yourself,
and so bring us at last to your heavenly city
where we shall see you face to face;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Additional Collect
Gracious God,
you call us to fullness of life:
deliver us from unbelief
and banish our anxieties
with the liberating love
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Wisdom of Solomon 1.16-2.1,12-22
16But 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.
1For 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. 12‘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. 13He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. 14He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; 15the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. 16We 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. 17Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; 18for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. 19Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. 20Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.’ 21Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, 22and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls.
Psalm 54
R I will praise your name for it is gracious.
1 Save me, O God, by your name *
and vindicate me by your power.
2 Hear my prayer, O God; *
give heed to the words of my mouth. R
3 For strangers have risen up against me,
and the ruthless seek after my life; *
they have not set God before them. R
4 Behold, God is my helper; *
it is the Lord who upholds my life.
5 May evil rebound on those who lie in wait for me; *
destroy them in your faithfulness. R
6 An offering of a free heart will I give you *
and praise your name, O Lord, for it is gracious.
7 For he has delivered me out of all my trouble, *
and my eye has seen the downfall of my enemies. R
Second Reading
James 3.13-4.3,7-8a
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But 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. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
1Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You 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. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia. We do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Alleluia.
Gospel
Mark 9.30-37
After leaving the mountain 30Jesus and his disciples went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31for 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.’ 32But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
33Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ 34But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ 36Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’
Post Communion
Lord, we pray that your grace
may always precede and follow us,
and make us continually to be given to all good works;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Copyright acknowledgement (where not already indicated above):
Some material included in this service is copyright: © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ, USA
Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops' Council 2000
Some material included in this service is copyright: © The Archbishops' Council 2002
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