Proper 17
week of the Sunday closest to August 31

Collect
Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Jeremiah 15:15-21
You understand, O LORD;
remember me and care for me.
Avenge me on my persecutors.
You are long-suffering--do not take me away;
think of how I suffer reproach for your sake.
When your words came, I ate them;
they were my joy and my heart's delight,
for I bear your name,
O LORD God Almighty.
I never sat in the company of revelers,
never made merry with them;
I sat alone because your hand was on me
and you had filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain unending
and my wound grievous and incurable?
Will you be to me like a deceptive brook,
like a spring that fails?

Therefore this is what the LORD says:

"If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words,
you will be my spokesman.
Let this people turn to you,
but you must not turn to them.
I will make you a wall to this people,
a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you
but will not overcome you,
for I am with you
to rescue and save you,"
declares the LORD.
"I will save you from the hands of the wicked
and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel."

Second Lesson: Romans 12:9-21
Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Psalm: 26

1. Give judgment for me, O LORD,
   for I have lived with integrity; *
   I have trusted in the Lord and have not faltered.
2. Test me, O LORD, and try me; *
   examine my heart and my mind.
3. For your love is before my eyes; *
   I have walked faithfully with you.
4. I have not sat with the worthless, *
   nor do I consort with the deceitful.
5. I have hated the company of evildoers; *
   I will not sit down with the wicked.
6. I will wash my hands in innocence, O LORD, *
   that I may go in procession round your altar,
7. Singing aloud a song of thanksgiving *
   and recounting all your wonderful deeds.
8. LORD, I love the house in which you dwell *
   and the place where your glory abides.
9. Do not sweep me away with sinners, *
   nor my life with those who thirst for blood,
10. Whose hands are full of evil plots, *
    and their right hand full of bribes.
11. As for me, I will live with integrity; *
    redeem me, O LORD, and have pity on me.
12. My foot stands on level ground; *
    in the full assembly I will bless the LORD.

Gospel: Matthew 16:21-27
From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done."

Collect & Psalm from the Book of Common Prayer
Other excerpts from the New International Bible

Sts. Vidicon & Isidore