Proper 23
Week of the Sunday closest to October 12

Collect:
Lord, we pray thee that thy grace may always precede and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Amos 5:6-7,10-15
Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.

You who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground

10you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth.

You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins.

You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.
Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Second Lesson: Hebrews 3:1-6
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Psalm: 90

  1. Lord, you have been our refuge *
    from one generation to another.
  2. Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or the land and the earth were born, *
    from age to age you are God.
  3. You turn us back to the dust and say, *
    "Go back, O child of earth."
  4. For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday
    when it is past *
    and like a watch in the night.
  5. You sweep us away like a dream; *
    we fade away suddenly like the grass.
  6. In the morning it is green and flourishes; *
    in the evening it is dried up and withered.
  7. For we consume away in your displeasure; *
    we are afraid because of your wrathful indignation.
  8. Our iniquities you have set before you, *
    and our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
  9. When you are angry, all our days are gone; *
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
  10. The span of our life is seventy years,
    perhaps in strength even eighty; *
    yet the sum of them is but labor and sorrow,
    for they pass away quickly and we are gone.
  11. Who regards the power of your wrath? *
    who rightly fears your indignation?
  12. So teach us to number our days *
    that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.
  13. Return, O LORD; how long will you tarry? *
    be gracious to your servants.
  14. Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *
    so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.
  15. Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *
    and the years in which we suffered adversity.
  16. Show your servants your works *
    and your splendor to their children.
  17. May the graciousness of the LORD our God be upon us; *
    prosper the work of our hands;
    prosper our handiwork.

Gospel: Mark 10:17-27(28-31)
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"

"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."

Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"

The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?"

Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."

(Peter said to him, "We have left everything to follow you!"

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." )

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

Sts. Vidicon & Isidore