The Lectionary Calendar

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Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 20

The Collect:

Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Old Testament: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

18My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. 19Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?”) 20“The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.” 21For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. 22Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?

1O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

Psalm: Psalm 79:1-9

O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance;
   they have profaned your holy temple; *
         they have made Jerusalem a heap of rubble.
They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the
                             birds of the air, *
        and the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts
                             of the field.
They have shed their blood like water on every side
                             of Jerusalem, *
        and there was no one to bury them.
We have become a reproach to our neighbors, *
        an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
How long will you be angry, O Lord? *
        will your fury blaze like fire for ever?
Pour out your wrath upon the heathen who have not
                            known you *
        and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon
                            your Name.
For they have devoured Jacob *
        and made his dwelling a ruin.
Remember not our past sins;
  let your compassion be swift to meet us; *
        for we have been brought very low.
Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your Name; *
        deliver us and forgive us our sins, for your Name’s sake.

Old Testament: Amos 8:4-7

4Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, 5saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, 6buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” 7The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.

Psalm: Psalm 113

Hallelujah!
  Give praise, you servants of the Lord; *
        praise the Name of the Lord.
Let the Name of the Lord be blessed, *
        from this time forth for evermore.
From the rising of the sun to its going down *
        let the Name of the Lord be praised.
The Lord is high above all nations, *
        and his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God, who sits enthroned on high *
        but stoops to behold the heavens and the earth?
He takes up the weak out of the dust *
        and lifts up the poor from the ashes.
He sets them with the princes, *
        with the princes of his people.
He makes the woman of a childless house *
        to be a joyful mother of children.

Epistle: 1 Timothy 2:1-7

1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,4who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus, himself human, 6who gave himself a ransom for all—this was attested at the right time. 7For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Gospel: Luke 16:1-13

1Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’8And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. 10“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

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Lectionary Calendar

The Old Testament, New Testament and Gospels readings are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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

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