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Sunday
August 18, 2024

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Lectionary Theme: Reformation Sunday: Reformation based on the values of the Kingdom of God (13th Sunday after Pentecost)

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    1. Then the king directed that all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem should be gathered to him.

    2. The king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him went all the people of Judah, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, both small and great; he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord.

    3. The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, keeping his commandments, his decrees, and his statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. All the people joined in the covenant.

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    13. Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed.

    14. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance.

    15. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct;

    16. for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

    17. If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile.

    18. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold,

    19. but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

    20. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.

    21. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.

    22. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.

    23. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

    24. For “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls,

    25. but the word of the Lord endures forever.” That word is the good news that was announced to you.

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    13. I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one.

    14. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

    15. Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world,

    16. for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world.

    17. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God abide forever.

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    23. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.

    24. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

    25. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

    26. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside also may become clean.

    27. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of uncleanness.

    28. So you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.