Alphege, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr, 1012

The Collect:

Rite I:
Lord Jesus Christ, who didst willingly walk the way of the cross: Strengthen thy church through the example and prayers of thy servant Alphege to hold fast to the path of discipleship; for with the Father and the Holy Ghost thou livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Rite II:
Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly walked the way of the cross: Strengthen your church through the example and prayers of your servant Alphege to hold fast to the path of discipleship; for with the Father and Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Micah 2:1-11 

¹ Alas for those who devise wickedness
    and evil deeds on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in their power.
² They covet fields, and seize them;
    houses, and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
    people and their inheritance.
³ Therefore, thus says the Lord:
Now, I am devising against this family an evil
    from which you cannot remove your necks;
and you shall not walk haughtily,
    for it will be an evil time.
⁴ On that day they shall take up a taunt-song against you,
    and wail with bitter lamentation,
and say, ‘We are utterly ruined;
    the Lord alters the inheritance of my people;
how he removes it from me!
    Among our captors he parcels out our fields.’
⁵ Therefore you will have no one to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.

⁶ ‘Do not preach’—thus they preach—
    ‘one should not preach of such things;
    disgrace will not overtake us.’
⁷ Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    Is the Lord’s patience exhausted?
    Are these his doings?
Do not my words do good
    to one who walks uprightly?
⁸ But you rise up against my people as an enemy;
    you strip the robe from the peaceful,
from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.
⁹ The women of my people you drive out
    from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away
    my glory for ever.
¹⁰ Arise and go;
    for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
¹¹ If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods,
    saying, ‘I will preach to you of wine and strong drink’,
    such a one would be the preacher for this people!

Psalm: Psalm 30:1-5 

¹ I will exalt you, O Lord,
because you have lifted me up *
and have not let my enemies triumph over me.
² O Lord my God, I cried out to you, *
and you restored me to health.
³ You brought me up, O Lord, from the dead; *
you restored my life as I was going down to the grave.
⁴ Sing to the Lord, you servants of his; *
give thanks for the remembrance of his holiness.
⁵ For his wrath endures but the twinkling of an eye, *
his favor for a lifetime.

Second Lesson: Colossians 1:24–29

²⁴I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. ²⁵I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, ²⁶the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. ²⁷To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ²⁸It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. ²⁹For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

Gospel: Luke 12:35–40

³⁵‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

³⁹‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁰You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’

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