The Lessons Appointed for Use on the
Sunday closest to August 24
Proper 16 Year C BCP

Isaiah 28:14-22
Hebrews 12:18-19,22-29
Luke 13:22-30
Psalm 46

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Isaiah 28:14-22

Hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers

who rule this people in Jerusalem.

Because you have said, "We have made a covenant with death,

and with Sheol we have an agreement;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

it will not come to us;

for we have made lies our refuge,

and in falsehood we have taken shelter";

therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

See, I am laying in Zion a foundation stone,

a tested stone,

a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation:

"One who trusts will not panic."

And I will make justice the line,

and righteousness the plummet;

hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

and waters will overwhelm the shelter.

Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

when the overwhelming scourge passes through

you will be beaten down by it.

As often as it passes through, it will take you;

for morning by morning it will pass through,

by day and by night;

and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.

For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it,

and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it.

For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim,

he will rage as in the valley of Gibeon;

to do his deed-- strange is his deed!

and to work his work-- alien is his work!

Now therefore do not scoff,

or your bonds will be made stronger;

for I have heard a decree of destruction

from the Lord GOD of hosts upon the whole land.

Psalm 46 Page 649, BCP

Deus noster refugium

1

God is our refuge and strength, *
a very present help in trouble.

2

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved, *
and though the mountains be toppled into the depths of the sea;

3

Though its waters rage and foam, *
and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.

4

The LORD of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

5

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, *
the holy habitation of the Most High.

6

God is in the midst of her;
she shall not be overthrown; *
God shall help her at the break of day.

7

The nations make much ado, and the kingdoms are shaken; *
God has spoken, and the earth shall melt away.

8

The LORD of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

9

Come now and look upon the works of the LORD, *
what awesome things he has done on earth.

10

It is he who makes war to cease in all the world; *
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear,
and burns the shields with fire.

11

"Be still, then, and know that I am God; *
I will be exalted among the nations;
I will be exalted in the earth."

12

The LORD of hosts is with us; *
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Hebrews 12:18-19,22-29

You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking; for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! At that time his voice shook the earth; but now he has promised, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven." This phrase, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of what is shaken-- that is, created things-- so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Luke 13:22-30

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, will only a few be saved?" He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the owner of the house has got up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, `Lord, open to us,' then in reply he will say to you, `I do not know where you come from.' Then you will begin to say, `We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will say, `I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!' There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrown out. Then people will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God. Indeed, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last."

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.

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