Readings for September 25

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Proper 21: The Sunday closest to September 28, BCP

The Collect

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Old Testament

Ezekiel 18:1-4,25-32

The word of the LORD came to me: What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge”? As I live, says the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel. Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.

Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord GOD. Turn, then, and live.

The Psalm

Psalm 25:1-14 or 25:3-9 Page 614, BCP
Ad te, Domine, levavi

1
To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
my God, I put my trust in you; *
let me not be humiliated,
nor let my enemies triumph over me.

2
Let none who look to you be put to shame; *
let the treacherous be disappointed in their schemes.

3
Show me your ways, O LORD, *
and teach me your paths.

4
Lead me in your truth and teach me, *
for you are the God of my salvation;
in you have I trusted all the day long.

5
Remember, O LORD, your compassion and love, *
for they are from everlasting.

6
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; *
remember me according to your love
and for the sake of your goodness, O LORD.

7
Gracious and upright is the LORD; *
therefore he teaches sinners in his way.

8
He guides the humble in doing right *
and teaches his way to the lowly.

9
All the paths of the LORD are love and faithfulness *
to those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

10
For your Name’s sake, O LORD, *
forgive my sin, for it is great.

11
Who are they who fear the LORD? *
he will teach them the way that they should choose.

12
They shall dwell in prosperity, *
and their offspring shall inherit the land.

13
The LORD is a friend to those who fear him *
and will show them his covenant.

14
My eyes are ever looking to the LORD, *
for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.

The Epistle

Philippians 2:1-13

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death–
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The Gospel

Matthew 21:28-32
Jesus said, “What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, `Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, `I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, `I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”

Out of Deep Waters: Parish gets back much more than it gave to evacuees

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Our two churches together make up a community of about the number of people who attend St Alban’s, Monroe LA. We may sometimes think that we’re too small to make a difference, or that we can’t afford to do very much. As you’ll see from the following story, it doesn’t take much to make a world of difference, and achieve so much with very little.

Episcopal News Service

[Episcopal News Service] St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Monroe, Louisiana, knows what it means to be under water. The spring rains of 1991 flooded the parish’s low-lying neighborhood and ruined the brand-new parish hall. Since then the parish has often sheltered people looking for a place to get out of the way of storms in its rebuilt parish hall and it was no different after Hurricane Katrina.
This time, however, the decision to take in evacuees was in the hands of Senior Warden Reese Little. St. Alban’s, which has an average Sunday attendance of 80 people, has been without a rector for two years. He and his wife Dewana knew on Saturday, August 27, that the hurricane headed for Louisiana was going to be bad.

“We decided we needed to do this again,” Little said.

They began putting the wheels in motion. He printed up flyers and sent his two children to distribute them to the desk clerks as Monroe hotels. As evacuees arrived in town and began to search for rooms, some found hotels full. Desk clerks then passed them the word about St. Alban’s. At the height of their sheltering effort, 43 evacuees were living in the parish hall.

Little admits being a bit worried about how his fellow parishioners would react. “But they were all there, day and night,” he said. Some parishioners who had not been around much in the last two years showed up and worked alongside everyone else.

“We had a lot of support from other churches,” Little added.

Help came from the community as well. A real-estate agent with no connection with St. Alban’s as far as Little knows called one day to ask if they had lunch covered for that day. When she was told they did not, the agent called a caterer and had lunch sent in. A local country club did the same on another day. The night shift at a nearby factory that makes light bulbs for General Motors vehicles made barbecue for the evacuees.

A Red Cross representative came looking for the St. Alban’s shelter one day and got lost. She stopped at Tommy Smith’s house for directions. She was actually about two blocks from the church so Smith took her there. Little said that when Smith saw evacuees sleeping in the parish hall, he came back later with passes to the Monroe Athletic Club which he owns. He told Little that evacuees were welcome to come over to shower, swim, work out and watch television. Many evacuees went to the club especially to watch CNN for its hurricane coverage. Little said the Parish Hall doesn’t have cable. “All we had was ‘rabbit ears,'” he said.

The evacuees were a diverse crowd that included Christians, Muslims, a Jewish man and people of all ages. The parish hosted three baby showers for evacuees, two for mothers with nearly newborns and one for a young woman about to give birth.

Some people had resources to get back on their feet and did so. However, parishioners have raised $20,000 to help the others. They helped rent seven or eight homes, according to Little, paying rental and utility security deposits and first month’s rent. If people need a second month, Little said, the money will be there.

The last evacuees left St. Alban’s on September 6, according to the Rev. Terry Pannell, the parish’s supply priest. Pannell said he learned a lot from watching St. Alban’s parishioners in the last two and a half weeks. “They showed me what it means to really come together as a ministering community,” he said.

Little said the relief effort “really pulled our congregation together.” There have been heartbreaks and hard work along the way, he said. One day his wife took a phone call from a family looking for shelter. She thought they couldn’t take in anyone else. “She was trying hard to say no,” Little said.

But she listened to this mother’s story and she told her to come. The mother had a baby who is on a heart monitor and their alternative was to live in the back seat of their car, Little said. Dewana Little stood up a recent service at St. Alban’s and told the congregation “don’t ever say no.” Pointing to the mother and her baby, she said, “this is who I almost said ‘no’ to.”

She thanked the evacuees. “You all have done so much more for us than we have done for you,” Little reported his wife as saying.

Little said the parish is energized by its hurricane-relief work and hopes to capitalize on the renewed interest he senses in the parish. He wants the parish to develop a disaster plan and buy supplies so that parishioners are ready to go for the next group of evacuees because he knows “we’re going to do it again.”

— The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

Readings for Sept. 18

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Proper 20: The Sunday closest to September 21, BCP

Jonah 3:10-4:11
Philippians 1:21-27
Matthew 20:1-16
Psalm 145 or 145:1-8

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.

The Old Testament

Jonah 3:10-4:11When God saw what the people of Nineveh did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The LORD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the LORD said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”

Psalm 145 or 145:1-8 Page 801, BCP
Exaltabo te, Deus

1
I will exalt you, O God my King, *
and bless your Name for ever and ever.

2
Every day will I bless you *
and praise your Name for ever and ever.

3
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; *
there is no end to his greatness.

4
One generation shall praise your works to another *
and shall declare your power.

5
I will ponder the glorious splendor of your majesty *
and all your marvelous works.

6
They shall speak of the might of your wondrous acts, *
and I will tell of your greatness.

7
They shall publish the remembrance of your great goodness; *
they shall sing of your righteous deeds.

8
The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, *
slow to anger and of great kindness.

9
The LORD is loving to everyone *
and his compassion is over all his works.

10
All your works praise you, O LORD, *
and your faithful servants bless you.

11
They make known the glory of your kingdom *
and speak of your power;

12
That the peoples may know of your power *
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

13
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; *
your dominion endures throughout all ages.

14
The LORD is faithful in all his words *
and merciful in all his deeds.

15
The LORD upholds all those who fall; *
he lifts up those who are bowed down.

16
The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, *
and you give them their food in due season.

17
You open wide your hand *
and satisfy the needs of every living creature.

18
The LORD is righteous in all his ways *
and loving in all his works.

19
The LORD is near to those who call upon him, *
to all who call upon him faithfully.

20
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; *
he hears their cry and helps them.

21
The LORD preserves all those who love him, *
but he destroys all the wicked.

22
My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD; *
let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever.

The Epistle

Philippians 1:21-27

For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.

The Gospel

Matthew 20:1-16

Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, `You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, `Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, `Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, `You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, `Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, `These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, `Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”