Worship Service
Services
Lectionary Theme: May Day
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Exodus 1:8-14 First Lesson
8. Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
9. He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.
10. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
11. Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.
12. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.
13. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites,
14. and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.
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James 5:1-6 Second Lesson
1. Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you.
2. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten.
3. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days.
4. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you. Patience in Suffering
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1 Timothy 6:1-10 Epistle
1. Let all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed.
2. Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful to them on the ground that they are members of the church; rather they must serve them all the more, since those who benefit by their service are believers and beloved. False Teaching and True Riches Teach and urge these duties.
3. Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness,
4. is conceited, understanding nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. From these come envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions,
5. and wrangling among those who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
6. Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment;
7. for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it;
8. but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.
9. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
10. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. The Good Fight of Faith
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Matthew 11:18-30 Gospel
18. “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;
19. the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
20. Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done because they did not repent.
21. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
22. But I tell you, on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
23. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. “For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
24. But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.”
25. At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants;
26. yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
27. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28. “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”