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July 28th  10th Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 11:1-15 & Psalm 14

2 Samuel 11:1-15
11:1 In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.

11:2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.

11:3 David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

11:4 So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house.

11:5 The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

11:6 So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David.

11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab and the people fared, and how the war was going.

11:8 Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king.

11:9 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house.

11:10 When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “You have just come from a journey. Why did you not go down to your house?”

11:11 Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah remain in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do such a thing.”

11:12 Then David said to Uriah, “Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. On the next day,

11:13 David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to his house.

11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

11:15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”

Psalm 14
14:1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is no one who does good.

14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God.

14:3 They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one.

14:4 Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the LORD?

14:5 There they shall be in great terror, for God is with the company of the righteous.

14:6 You would confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.

14:7 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

August 4th  11th Sunday after Pentecost & Communion Sunday

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a & Psalm 51: 1-12

2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13a

11:26When the wife of Uriah heard that her husband was dead, she made lamentation for him.

11:27When the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD,

12:1and the LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

12:2The rich man had very many flocks and herds,

12:3but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare and drink from his cup and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him.

12:4Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for the guest who had come to him.”

12:5Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this deserves to die;

12:6he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.”

12:7Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul;

12:8I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your bosom and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah, and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more.

12:9Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

12:10Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.

12:11Thus says the LORD: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.

12:12For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and in broad daylight.”

12:13aDavid said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Psalm 51:1-12

Create in me a clean heart

51:1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.

51:2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

51:3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

51:4Against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless when you pass judgment.

51:5Indeed, I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.

51:6You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

51:7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

51:8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.

51:9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.

51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

51:11Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

51:12Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.

August 11th  12th Sunday after Pentecost & Mission Sunday

Ephesians 4:25-5:2 & John 6:35, 41-51

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Put away evil, live in love

4:25So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.

4:26Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

4:27and do not make room for the devil.

4:28Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy.

4:29Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

4:30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

4:31Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.

4:32Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,

5:2and walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

John 6:35, 41-51

Christ, the bread of life

6:35Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

6:41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

6:42They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

6:43Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves.

6:44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.

6:45It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

6:46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

6:47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.

6:48I am the bread of life.

6:49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

6:50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.

6:51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

August 18th  13th Sunday after Pentecost 

John 6:51-61 (NRSV & The Message)

NRSV

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ 53 So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

The Words of Eternal Life

60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, ‘Does this offend you?

 

The Message

51  I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”

52 At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”

53-58 But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”

59 He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.

Too Tough to Swallow

60 Many among his disciples heard this and said, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.”

61 Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, “Does this rattle you completely? 

August 25th  14th Sunday after Pentecost 

Ephesians 6: 10-20 & John 6:56-69

Ephesians 6:10-20

Put on the armor of God

6:10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power;

6:11put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,

6:12for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

6:13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm.

6:14Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness

6:15and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace.

6:16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

6:17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

6:18Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

6:19Pray also for me, so that when I speak a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

6:20for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

John 6:56-69

The bread of eternal life

6:56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.

6:57Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

6:58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

6:59He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.

6:60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

6:61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?

6:62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

6:63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

6:64But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him.

6:65And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

6:66Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

6:67So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?”

6:68Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.

6:69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”