<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18928">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The following are the readings for the Eighth
Sunday after Pentecost, July 18, (Proper 11) 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 noted otherwise, the ECUSA,
Canadian and C of E lectionaries are identical to the RCL for this
day.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>OLD TESTAMENT: Amos 8: 1 - 12 (RCL)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Amos 8:1 (NRSV) This is what the Lord GOD showed
me--a basket of summer<BR>fruit. 2 He said, "A'mos, what do you see?" And I
said, "A<BR>basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me,<BR>"The end has
come upon my people Israel;<BR>I will never again pass them by.<BR>3 The songs
of the temple shall become wailings in that day,"<BR>qsays the Lord GOD;<BR>"the
dead bodies shall be many,<BR>cast out in every place. Be silent!"<BR>4 Hear
this, you that trample on the needy,<BR>and bring to ruin the poor of the
land,<BR>5 saying, "When will the new moon be over<BR>so that we may sell
grain;<BR>and the sabbath,<BR>so that we may offer wheat for sale?<BR>We will
make the ephah small and the shekel great,<BR>and practice deceit with false
balances,<BR>6 buying the poor for silver<BR>and the needy for a pair of
sandals,<BR>and selling the sweepings of the wheat."<BR>7 The LORD has sworn by
the pride of Jacob:<BR>Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.<BR>8 Shall
not the land tremble on this account,<BR>and everyone mourn who lives in
it,<BR>and all of it rise like the Nile,<BR>and be tossed about and sink again,
like the Nile of Egypt?<BR>9 On that day, says the Lord GOD,<BR>I will make the
sun go down at noon,<BR>and darken the earth in broad daylight.<BR>10 I will
turn your feasts into mourning,<BR>and all your songs into lamentation;<BR>I
will bring sackcloth on all loins,<BR>and baldness on every head;<BR>I will make
it like the mourning for an only son,<BR>and the end of it like a bitter
day.<BR>11 The time is surely coming, says the Lord GOD,<BR>when I will send a
famine on the land;<BR>not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water,<BR>but of
hearing the words of the LORD.<BR>12 They shall wander from sea to sea,<BR>and
from north to east;<BR>they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the
LORD,<BR>but they shall not find it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><BR>Genesis 18: 1 - 10a (Roman Catholic, alt. for RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Gene 18:1 (NRSV) The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mam're, as he
sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw
three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to
meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, "My lord, if I find
favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought,
and wash your feet, and rest<BR>yourselves under the tree. 5 Let me bring a
little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass
on--since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." 6
And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three
measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." 7 Abraham ran to the herd,
and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to
prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and
set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.<BR>9
They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent."
10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife
Sarah shall have a son." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>2 Kings 4: 8 - 17 (Can. BAS)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2Kin 4:8 (NRSV) One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy
woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he
would stop there for a meal. 9 She said to her husband, "Look, I am sure that
this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God. 10 Let us make a
small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair,
and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us." <BR>11 One day
when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there. 12 He said to
his servant Gehazi, "Call the Shunammite woman." When he had called her, she
stood before him. 13 He said to him, "Say to her, Since you have taken all this
trouble for us, what may be done for you? Would you have a word spoken on your
behalf to the king or to the commander of the army?" She answered, "I live among
my own people." 14 He said, "What then may be done for her?" Gehazi answered,
"Well, she has no son, and her husband is old." 15 He said, "Call her." When he
had called her, she stood at the door. 16 He said, "At this season, in due time,
you shall embrace a son." She replied, "No, my lord, O man of God; do not
deceive your servant." <BR>17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that season,
in due time, as Elisha had declared to her. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>PSALM 52 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 52:1 (NRSV) Why do you boast, O mighty one,<BR>of mischief done
against the godly? <BR>All day long 2 you are plotting destruction.<BR>Your
tongue is like a sharp razor,<BR>you worker of treachery.<BR>3 You love evil
more than good,<BR>and lying more than speaking the truth. [Se'lah]<BR>4 You
love all words that devour,<BR>O deceitful tongue.<BR>5 But God will break you
down forever;<BR>he will snatch and tear you from your tent;<BR>he will uproot
you from the land of the living. [Se'lah]<BR>6 The righteous will see, and
fear,<BR>and will laugh at the evildoer, saying,<BR>7 "See the one who would not
take<BR>refuge in God,<BR>but trusted in abundant riches,<BR>and sought refuge
in wealth!" <BR>8 But I am like a green olive tree<BR>in the house of God.<BR>I
trust in the steadfast love of God<BR>forever and ever.<BR>9 I will thank you
forever,<BR>because of what you have done.<BR>In the presence of the
faithful<BR>I will proclaim your name, for it is good.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Psalm 15 (alt. for RCL)<BR>Psalm 15: 2 - 5
(Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 15:1 (NRSV) O LORD, who may abide in your tent?<BR>Who may dwell on
your holy hill?<BR>2 Those who walk blamelessly, and do what is right,<BR>and
speak the truth from their heart;<BR>3 who do not slander with their
tongue,<BR>and do no evil to their friends,<BR>nor take up a reproach against
their neighbors;<BR>4 in whose eyes the wicked are despised,<BR>but who honor
those who fear the LORD;<BR>who stand by their oath even to their hurt;<BR>5 who
do not lend money at interest,<BR>and do not take a bribe against the
innocent.<BR>Those who do these things shall never be moved.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Psalm 139: 12 - 17 (Can. BAS)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>12 For you yourself created my inmost parts;
*<BR> you knit me together in my mother's womb.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made;
*<BR> your works are wonderful, and I know it
well.<BR> <BR>14 My body was not hidden from you,
*<BR> while I was being made in secret<BR> and woven in
the depths of the earth.<BR> <BR>15 Your eyes beheld my limbs,
yet unfinished in the womb;<BR>all of them were written in your book;
*<BR> they were fashioned day by day,<BR> when as yet
there was none of them.<BR> <BR>16 How deep I find your
thoughts, O God! *<BR> how great is the sum of
them!<BR> <BR>17 If I were to count them, they would be more in
number<BR> than the sand; *<BR> to count them all, my life
span would need to<BR> be like yours.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>NEW TESTAMENT: Colossians 1: 15 - 28
(RCL)<BR>
Colossians 1: 21 - 29 (Can.
BAS)<BR>
Colossians 1: 24 - 28 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Colo 1:15 (NRSV) He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the
firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth
were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or
rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He
himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the
head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the
fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to
reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace
through the blood of his cross. 21 And you who were once estranged and hostile
in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through
death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him--
23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith,
without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has
been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of
this gospel.<BR>24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my
flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of
his body, that is, the church. 25 I became its servant according to God's
commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26
the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now
been revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among
the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. 28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and
teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in
Christ. 29 For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully
inspires within me.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>GOSPEL: Luke 10: 38 - 42 (all)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Luke 10:38 (NRSV) Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain
village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a
sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was
saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and
asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by
myself? Tell her then to help me." 41 But the Lord answered her, "Martha,
Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only
one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from
her."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chad Wohlers<BR>Woodbury, Vermont USA<BR><A
href="mailto:chadwohl@satucket.com">chadwohl@satucket.com</A><BR><A
href="mailto:cwohlers@bridgew.edu">cwohlers@bridgew.edu</A><BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>