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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The following are the readings for the Last Sunday
after the Epiphany (Sunday next before Lent), Feb. 22, according to the Revised
Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of
England (Common Worship) lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless otherwise noted, the ECUSA,
Canadian BAS and Common Worship readings are identical to the RCL this
Sunday.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>
<DIV><BR>OLD TESTAMENT: 2 Kings 2: 1 - 12 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2Kin 2:1 (NRSV) Now when the LORD was about to take Eli'jah up to heaven by
a whirlwind, Eli'jah and Eli'sha were on their way from Gil'gal. 2 Eli'jah said
to Eli'sha, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me as far as Beth'el." But Eli'sha
said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So
they went down to Beth'el. 3 The company of prophets who were in Beth'el came
out to Eli'sha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your
master away from you?" And he said, "Yes, I know; keep silent." <BR>4 Eli'jah
said to him, "Eli'sha, stay here; for the LORD has sent me to Jericho." But he
said, "As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So
they came to Jericho. 5 The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to
Eli'sha, and said to him, "Do you know that today the LORD will take your master
away from you?" And he answered, "Yes, I know; be silent." <BR>6 Then Eli'jah
said to him, "Stay here; for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan." But he said,
"As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you." So the two
of them went on. 7 Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at
some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. 8 Then
Eli'jah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was
parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry
ground. <BR>9 When they had crossed, Eli'jah said to Eli'sha, "Tell me what I
may do for you, before I am taken from you." Eli'sha said, "Please let me
inherit a double share of your spirit." 10 He responded, "You have asked a hard
thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you;
if not, it will not." 11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of
fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Eli'jah ascended in a
whirlwind into heaven. 12 Eli'sha kept watching and crying out, "Father, father!
The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" But when he could no longer see him,
he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Deuteronomy 5: 12 - 15 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Deut 5:12 (NRSV) Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your
God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 14 But the
seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work--you,
or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your
donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that
your male and female slave may rest as well as you. 15 Remember that you were a
slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God
commanded you to keep the sabbath day. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>PSALM 50: 1 - 6 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 50:1 (NRSV) The mighty one, God the LORD, <BR>speaks and summons the
earth <BR>from the rising of the sun to its setting. <BR>2 Out of Zion, the
perfection of beauty, <BR>God shines forth. <BR>3 Our God comes and does not
keep silence, <BR>before him is a devouring fire, <BR>and a mighty tempest all
around him. <BR>4 He calls to the heavens above <BR>and to the earth, that he
may judge his people: <BR>5 "Gather to me my faithful ones, <BR>who made a
covenant with me by sacrifice!" <BR>6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
<BR>for God himself is judge. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Psalm 81: 2 - 7, 9 - 10 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 81:2 (NRSV) Raise a song, sound the tambourine, <BR>the sweet lyre
with the harp. <BR>3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon, <BR>at the full moon, on
our festal day. <BR>4 For it is a statute for Israel, <BR>an ordinance of the
God of Jacob. <BR>5 He made it a decree in Joseph, <BR>when he went out over the
land of Egypt. <BR>I hear a voice I had not known: <BR>6 "I relieved your
shoulder of the burden; <BR>your hands were freed from the basket. <BR>7 In
distress you called, and I rescued you; <BR>I answered you in the secret place
of thunder; <BR>I tested you at the waters of Mer'ibah. [Se'lah] </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>9 There shall be no strange god among you; <BR>you shall not bow down to a
foreign god. <BR>10 I am the LORD your God, <BR>who brought you up out of the
land of Egypt. <BR>Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Note: Verse numbering in Roman Catholic bibles is one higher than the
above.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>NEW TESTAMENT: 2 Corinthians 4: 3 - 6 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2Cor 4:3 (NRSV) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who
are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of
the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For we do not proclaim ourselves; we
proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake. 6
For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>2 Corinthians 4: 6 - 11 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2Cor 4:6 (NRSV) For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of
darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. <BR>7 But we have this treasure in
clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to
God and does not come from us. 8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed;
perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck
down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. 11 For while we
live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of
Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>GOSPEL: Mark 9: 2 - 9 (RCL, ECUSA)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mark 9:2 (NRSV) Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and
John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was
transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no
one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Eli'jah with Moses,
who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for
us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one
for Eli'jah." 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a
cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son,
the Beloved; listen to him!" 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one
with them any more, but only Jesus. <BR>9 As they were coming down the mountain,
he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of
Man had risen from the dead. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Mark 2: 23 -28 (3: 1 - 6) (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mark 2:23 (NRSV) One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as
they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The
Phar'isees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the
sabbath?" 25 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he
and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26 He entered the house of
God, when Abi'athar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it
is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his
companions." 27 Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and
not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the
sabbath." 3:1 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a
withered hand. 2 They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the
sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3 And he said to the man who had the
withered hand, "Come forward." 4 Then he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good
or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. 5
He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart
and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand
was restored. 6 The Phar'isees went out and immediately conspired with the
Hero'dians against him, how to destroy him. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR> Mark 2: 18 - 22 (Can. BAS) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mark 2:18 (NRSV) Now John's disciples and the Phar'isees were fasting; and
people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the
Phar'isees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" 19 Jesus said to them, "The
wedding guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long
as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come
when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that
day. <BR>21 "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise,
the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the
skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into
fresh wineskins." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chad Wohlers</DIV>
<DIV>Brandon, Vermont &<BR>East Bridgewater, Mass USA<BR><A
href="mailto:chadwohl@satucket.com">chadwohl@satucket.com</A><BR><A
href="mailto:cwohlers@bridgew.edu">cwohlers@bridgew.edu</A><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>