Third Sunday before Lent
Year C
Collect
Almighty God,
who alone can bring order
to the unruly wills and passions
of sinful humanity:
give your people grace
so to love what you command
and to desire what you promise,
that, among the many changes of this world,
our hearts may surely there be fixed
where true joys are to be found;
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
Eternal God,
whose Son went among the crowds
and brought healing with his touch:
help us to show his love,
in your Church as we gather together,
and by our lives as they are transformed
into the image of Christ our Lord.
First Reading
Jeremiah 17.5-10
5Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. 6They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
7Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
9The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse – who can understand it? 10I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.
Psalm 1
R The Lord knows the way, the way of the righteous.
1 Blessed are they who have not walked
in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the assembly of the scornful.
2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord *
and they meditate on his law day and night. R
3 Like a tree planted by streams of water
bearing fruit in due season,
with leaves that do not wither, *
whatever they do, it shall prosper.
4 As for the wicked, it is not so with them; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away. R
5 Therefore the wicked shall not be able
to stand in the judgement, *
nor the sinner in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked shall perish. R
Second Reading
1 Corinthians 15.12-20
12If Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ – whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. 19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia. We do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Alleluia.
Gospel
Luke 6.17-26
17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21‘Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. ‘Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
22‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. 24‘But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. 25‘Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. ‘Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.
Post Communion
Merciful Father,
who gave Jesus Christ to be for us the bread of life,
that those who come to him should never hunger:
draw us to the Lord in faith and love,
that we may eat and drink with him
at his table in the kingdom,
where he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Blessing
Christ, who has nourished us with himself
the living bread and the true vine,
make you one in praise and service,
and raise you up at the last day;
and the blessing of God almighty,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always. Amen.
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, 2002, 2010
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