Readings

Monday after the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

    The Collect of the Day

    Proper 23

    The Sunday closest to October 12

    Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works;through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

    Psalms

    1

    Beatus vir qui non abiitBCP p. 585

    1Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

    2Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *and they meditate on his law day and night.

    3They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *everything they do shall prosper.

    4It is not so with the wicked; *they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

    5Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

    6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *but the way of the wicked is doomed.

    2

    Quare fremuerunt gentes?BCP p. 586

    1Why are the nations in an uproar? *Why do the peoples mutter empty threats?

    2Why do the kings of the earth rise up in revolt, and the princes plot together, *against the Lord and against his Anointed?

    3“Let us break their yoke,” they say; *“let us cast off their bonds from us.”

    4He whose throne is in heaven is laughing; *the Lord has them in derision.

    5Then he speaks to them in his wrath, *and his rage fills them with terror.

    6“I myself have set my king *upon my holy hill of Zion.”

    7Let me announce the decree of the Lord: *he said to me, “You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.

    8Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance *and the ends of the earth for your possession.

    9You shall crush them with an iron rod *and shatter them like a piece of pottery.”

    10And now, you kings, be wise; *be warned, you rulers of the earth.

    11Submit to the Lord with fear, *and with trembling bow before him;

    12Lest he be angry and you perish; *for his wrath is quickly kindled.

    13Happy are they all *who take refuge in him!

    3

    Domine, quid multiplicatiBCP p. 587

    1Lord, how many adversaries I have! *how many there are who rise up against me!

    2How many there are who say of me, *“There is no help for him in his God.”

    3But you, O Lord, are a shield about me; *you are my glory, the one who lifts up my head.

    4I call aloud upon the Lord, *and he answers me from his holy hill;

    5I lie down and go to sleep; *I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.

    6I do not fear the multitudes of people *who set themselves against me all around.

    7Rise up, O Lord; set me free, O my God; *surely, you will strike all my enemies across the face, you will break the teeth of the wicked.

    8Deliverance belongs to the Lord. *Your blessing be upon your people!

    Daily Office Readings

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    Luke 8:26-39

    26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me”— 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion”; for many demons had entered him. 31 They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss. 32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

    Micah 7:1-7

    1 Woe is me! For I have become like one who, after the summer fruit has been gathered, after the vintage has been gleaned, finds no cluster to eat; there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger. 2 The faithful have disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets. 3 Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5 Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your embrace; 6 for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your own household. 7 But as for me, I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

    Acts 26:1-23

    1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began to defend himself: 2 “I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, 3 because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews; therefore I beg of you to listen to me patiently. 4 “All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, a life spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I have belonged to the strictest sect of our religion and lived as a Pharisee. 6 And now I stand here on trial on account of my hope in the promise made by God to our ancestors, 7 a promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they earnestly worship day and night. It is for this hope, your Excellency, that I am accused by Jews! 8 Why is it thought incredible by any of you that God raises the dead? 9 “Indeed, I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem; with authority received from the chief priests, I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, but I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death. 11 By punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to force them to blaspheme; and since I was so furiously enraged at them, I pursued them even to foreign cities. 12 ”With this in mind, I was traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, 13 when at midday along the road, your Excellency, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. 14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It hurts you to kick against the goads.’ 15 I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord answered, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But get up and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you to serve and testify to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ 19 “After that, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the countryside of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God and do deeds consistent with repentance. 21 For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. 22 To this day I have had help from God, and so I stand here, testifying to both small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would take place: 23 that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”