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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The following are the readings for the Eighteenth
Sunday after Pentecost, October 7, (Proper 22, ECUSA; Proper 27 Roman Catholic)
according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal (ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Church
of England, and Canadian (BAS) Lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New
Revised Standard Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the
lectionaries of ECUSA, Canada and England are identical to the RCL this Sunday.
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<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>OLD TESTAMENT: Job 1: 1, 2: 1 -
10 (RCL)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Job 1:1 (NRSV) There was once a man in the
land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who
feared God and turned away from evil. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>2:1 One day the heavenly beings came to present
themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself
before the LORD. 2 The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan
answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and
down on it." 3 The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job?
There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God
and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you
incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason." 4 Then Satan answered the
LORD, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. 5
But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will
curse you to your face." 6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your
power; only spare his life." <BR>7 So Satan went out from the presence of the
LORD, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the
crown of his head. 8 Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat
among the ashes. <BR>9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your
integrity? Curse God, and die." 10 But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish
woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive
the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><BR>Genesis 2: 18 - 24 (Roman Catholic, alt. for RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Gene 2:18 (NRSV) Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man
should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." 19 So out of the
ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air,
and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man
called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all
cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for
the man there was not found a helper as his partner. 21 So the LORD God caused a
deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and
closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from
the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said,
<BR>"This at last is bone of my bones <BR>and flesh of my flesh; <BR>this one
shall be called Woman, <BR>for out of Man this one was taken." <BR>24 Therefore
a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become
one flesh. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>PSALM 26 (RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 26:1 (NRSV) Vindicate me, O LORD, <BR>for I have walked in my
integrity, <BR>and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering. <BR>2 Prove me,
O LORD, and try me; <BR>test my heart and mind. <BR>3 For your steadfast love is
before my eyes, <BR>and I walk in faithfulness to you.<BR>4 I do not sit with
the worthless, <BR>nor do I consort with hypocrites; <BR>5 I hate the company of
evildoers, <BR>and will not sit with the wicked. <BR>6 I wash my hands in
innocence, <BR>and go around your altar, O LORD, <BR>7 singing aloud a song of
thanksgiving, <BR>and telling all your wondrous deeds. <BR>8 O LORD, I love the
house in which you dwell, <BR>and the place where your glory abides. <BR>9 Do
not sweep me away with sinners, <BR>nor my life with the bloodthirsty, <BR>10
those in whose hands are evil devices, <BR>and whose right hands are full of
bribes. <BR>11 But as for me, I walk in my integrity; <BR>redeem me, and be
gracious to me. <BR>12 My foot stands on level ground; <BR>in the great
congregation I will bless the LORD. </DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR>Psalm 8 (alt. for RCL)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 8:1 (NRSV) O LORD, our Sovereign, <BR>how majestic is your name in all
the earth! <BR>You have set your glory above the heavens. <BR>2 Out of the
mouths of babes and infants <BR>you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
<BR>to silence the enemy and the avenger. <BR>3 When I look at your heavens, the
work of your fingers, <BR>the moon and the stars that you have established;
<BR>4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, <BR>mortals that you
care for them? <BR>5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, <BR>and
crowned them with glory and honor. <BR>6 You have given them dominion over the
works of your hands; <BR>you have put all things under their feet, <BR>7 all
sheep and oxen, <BR>and also the beasts of the field, <BR>8 the birds of the
air, and the fish of the sea, <BR>whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
<BR>9 O LORD, our Sovereign, <BR>how majestic is your name in all the earth!
</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>Psalm 128 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 128:1 (NRSV) Happy is everyone who fears the LORD, <BR>who walks in
his ways. <BR>2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; <BR>you
shall be happy, and it shall go well with you. <BR>3 Your wife will be like a
fruitful vine <BR>within your house; <BR>your children will be like olive shoots
<BR>around your table. <BR>4 Thus shall the man be blessed <BR>who fears the
LORD. <BR>5 The LORD bless you from Zion. <BR>May you see the prosperity of
Jerusalem <BR>all the days of your life. <BR>6 May you see your children's
children. <BR>Peace be upon Israel! </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>NEW TESTAMENT: Hebrews 1: 1 - 4, 2: 5 - 12
(RCL)<BR> Hebrews
2: 9 - 11 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Hebr 1:1 (NRSV) Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various
ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. 3
He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being,
and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification
for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become
as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than
theirs. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>2:5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking,
to angels. 6 But someone has testified somewhere, <BR>"What are human beings
that you are mindful of them, <BR>or mortals, that you care for them? <BR>7 You
have made them for a little while lower than the angels; <BR>you have crowned
them with glory and honor, <BR>8 subjecting all things under their feet."
<BR>Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their
control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, 9 but we
do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned
with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of
God he might taste death for everyone. <BR>10 It was fitting that God, for whom
and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should
make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For the one
who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason
Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying, <BR>"I will
proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, <BR>in the midst of the
congregation I will praise you." </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>GOSPEL: Mark 10: 2 - 16
(RCL)<BR>
Mark 10: 2 - 12 (13 - 16) (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Mark 10:2 (NRSV) Some Phar'isees came, and to test him they asked, "Is it
lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" 3 He answered them, "What did Moses
command you?" 4 They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of
dismissal and to divorce her." 5 But Jesus said to them, "Because of your
hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. 6 But from the beginning of
creation, "God made them male and female.' 7 "For this reason a man shall leave
his father and mother and be joined to his wife, 8 and the two shall become one
flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9 Therefore what God has
joined together, let no one separate." <BR>10 Then in the house the disciples
asked him again about this matter. 11 He said to them, "Whoever divorces his
wife and marries another commits adultery against her; 12 and if she divorces
her husband and marries another, she commits adultery." <BR>13 People were
bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the
disciples spoke sternly to them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant
and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it
is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. 15 Truly I tell you,
whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter
it." 16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed
them. <BR></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></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>