Year
A
Proper 8
Sunday
29 June 2014
Eucharistic Preface
Let
us lift up our hearts.
........We
lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our
God.
........It is right to
give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give
you our thanks and praise, O God,
— trusting and rejoicing
in your love —
for you save us with a free gift of eternal
life
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
You created all things
and
everything we have belongs to you.
You commended your servant
Abraham
for his willingness to offer you his beloved son,
and
from his family you called a people to follow your ways.
In
Jesus the Christ, you have offered to us your own beloved
Son.
Whoever welcomes him welcomes you,
and whoever welcomes
the teaching he entrusted to us
finds the way that leads to
righteousness and life.
When he was killed
you brought him
back from death to life,
and through his grace,
you have freed
us from slavery to sin
and bound us to Christ,
so that we
might be sanctified
and follow him in pathways of
life.
Therefore with .....
©2002
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Short
Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with
fixed prefaces)
We give you thanks for your free gift of
eternal life
in Jesus Christ our Lord,
given to all who welcome
him
and are set free from slavery to sin,
being bound to Christ
and brought from death to life.
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
General
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use
apart from communion)
We give you all
thanks and praise, O God,
trusting and rejoicing in your love,
for
you save us with a free gift of eternal life
in Jesus Christ our
Lord.
You created all things
and everything we have belongs
to you.
You commended your servant Abraham
for his willingness
to offer you his beloved son,
and from his family you called a
people to follow your ways.
In Jesus the Christ, you have
offered to us your own beloved Son.
Whoever welcomes him welcomes
you,
and whoever welcomes the teaching he entrusted to us
finds
the way that leads to righteousness and life.
When he was killed
you brought him back from death to life,
and through his
grace,
you have freed us from slavery to sin
and bound us to
Christ,
so that we might be sanctified
and follow him in
pathways of life.
Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we
offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our
Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Declaration
of Grace / Absolution
Trust in the love of God, for
God saves us.
Though once you were slaves of sin,
you have been
set free and now live in God’s grace
where sin can have no
dominion over you.
Sisters and Brothers,
........your
sins are forgiven;
................be
at peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton
LaughingBird.net
Commission
& Benediction
Go now as those who have
been brought from death to life,
and welcome the Christ in all
whom you meet.
Present yourselves to God
to be put to work in
the service of righteousness.
And may God provide for you in
mercy;
May Christ Jesus greet you as you welcome the stranger;
And
may the Holy Spirit lead you in the ways
........of
sanctification and eternal life.
We go in peace to love and
serve the Lord,
........In the
name of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Paraphrases
of the Scripture
Lections
for Proper 8 - Year A
- Sunday 29 June 2014
Lections from The
Revised Common Lectionary.
Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on
Common Texts (CCT)
P. O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN
37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.
* Genesis 22: 1-14
........This
is the story of how God put Abraham to the test to find out whether
he really had what it takes.
........God
called to him, saying, “Abraham!”
........“At
your service,” Abraham replied.
........God
said, “Go and get Isaac, your son, your only son whom you love.
Take him to the mountain that I will point out to you in the land of
Moriah. There you are to sacrifice him to me on an altar as a burnt
offering.”
........So Abraham
got up early the next morning and chopped wood for the fire on the
altar. He saddled his donkey and set out for the place that God had
told him to go with Isaac and two of his hired hands. After three
day’s journey, Abraham could finally see their destination in
the distance. He said to the two hired hands, “Wait here with
the donkey while the boy and I go on up there to worship. We will
then return and meet you back here.”
........Abraham
got Isaac to carry the wood for the burnt offering, and he himself
carried the knife and the coals for starting the fire. As the two of
them walked on together, Isaac spoke to Abraham saying,
“Father!”
........“At
your service, son,” Abraham replied.
........“Haven’t
we forgotten something?” Isaac asked. “We’ve got
everything we need to get the fire going, but we haven’t
brought a lamb to sacrifice as a burnt offering.”
........Abraham
said, “God will personally provide the lamb for the sacrifice,
my son.”
........So the two of
them walked on together. When they arrived at the spot that God had
shown him, Abraham built an altar and stacked the wood on it ready
for the fire. Then he tied up his son Isaac, and laid him on top of
the wood on the altar. He took the knife in hand and was about to
kill his son, when the messenger of the LORD
called to him from heaven, saying, “Abraham,
Abraham!”
........“At
your service,” he replied.
........The
messenger said, “Put down your knife and don’t hurt the
boy in any way, for now I know what I needed to know. Since you have
not even drawn the line at giving up your only son for me, I know
that you trust God, no matter what.”
As he looked up,
Abraham saw a ram with its horns entangled in the scrub. So he went
and got it, and offered up the ram on the altar as a burnt offering
in place of his son.
........From
then on, Abraham called that place “The LORD
will provide,” and a saying was coined that you still hear
today: “On the LORD’s mountain all
will be provided.”
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Psalm 13
How long will this go on,
LORD?
........Have
you written me off permanently?
................How
long are you going to keep turning your back on me?
How long
do I have to put up with feeling sick in the guts,
........and
with my heart breaking from the pain of it all?
How long will my
enemies get to kick me around?
........Come
on, LORD. You are my God. Give me an answer!
Let
me see some light at the end of the tunnel;
........something
to keep me from losing the will to live.
Don’t let my
enemies think they’ve won;
........don’t
give them the pleasure of my downfall.
I have put my trust in
your rock-solid love;
........my
heart will burst with joy when you save your people.
I will
sing your praises, LORD,
........because
you have treated me with great generosity.
©2002
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Romans 6: 12-23
........Do
not let sin get hold of your reins and force you to respond to every
selfish desire that pops up within you. Don’t give it access to
any part of your body, or you will find that part of yourself being
put to work in spreading corruption. Instead, as people whose lives
have been saved from death, hand yourselves over wholly and solely to
God, and give God unlimited rights to put every part of your body to
work in promoting what is right. Sin won’t hold the reins if
you don’t let it, because your agenda is no longer set by a
complicated list of rules, but by the generous love and mercy of
God.
........So what does that mean?
Should we consider ourselves free to indulge our selfish desires
because our agenda is no longer set by rules, but by God’s love
and mercy? Of course not! Surely you realise that the lifestyle you
hand yourself over to will become an addiction, and that addiction
will then determine the course of your life. You can get yourselves
hooked on sin, which will destroy your life; or you can get
yourselves hooked on doing what God wants you to do, which will put
your life on the right track. Fortunately, though you were once
addicted to sin, thanks to God you have cleaned out your system and
allowed your desires and actions to come under the influence of the
teaching of Christ instead. Thanks to God you have been set free from
the deadly grip of sin, and are now hooked on doing what is right. I
am speaking about it in these down-to-earth terms, because I want to
make sure that it is not only the highly educated among you who get
the picture. I hope it is clear then, that in the same way that you
used to deliberately expose parts of yourself to the addictive power
of corruption and deepening dishonesty, you should now do all that
you can to get yourselves hooked on honesty and integrity so that you
will grow into the wholeness that God intended for you.
........What
sort of freedom did you have when you were addicts of sin? You were
free to opt out of relating rightly to anyone or anything, but what
good did that do you? Looking back on it now, you feel nothing but
shame. The things you were doing were draining you of life. But now
that sin’s grip on you has been broken, and you are hooked on
doing what God wants, the benefits are enormous: the scars are
healing and you are growing into whole people. There will be no end
to the richness of the life that will result from that. The kicks
that people get out of sin are kicking them to death, but God will
give you the ultimate high, free of charge: life without limit in
union with the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.
©2002
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Matthew 10: 40-42
While briefing his followers
about their mission, Jesus said:
“You are my representatives in this, so anyone who gets on side with you is getting on side with me. And anyone who gets on side with me is getting on side with the one who sent me. Those who make God’s message known and those who welcome and support them will be rewarded by God as equal partners in the work. Those who stand firm for what is right and those who support them in their stand will be rewarded by God as equal partners in the work. No matter how insignificant someone’s contribution may seem — even if they just provide a cold drink to the most ordinary of my workers because they are doing my work — I kid you not, God will give them full credit for it.”
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Alternative
Hebrew Bible Lections themed to the Gospel Lection
*
Jeremiah 28: 5-9
In front of the priests and all
the people who were gathered in the LORD’s
Temple, the prophet Jeremiah stood up and responded to the preaching
of the prophet Hananiah, saying:
“Amen! May what you say prove to be true! I hope and pray that the LORD will indeed do what you have said, and bring back home everything that the Babylonian invaders took from this Temple and all our people who were marched off into exile. But take note of what I have got to say, and let everyone here witness that I said it to your face. There have been many prophets before you and me, and ever since ancient times they have preached against the evil done by many countries and nations, and warned of disastrous wars, famines and plagues. So any prophet who stands up and says that things are fine and peace is on the way, is not on the same wavelength as the prophets we have heard before. Therefore we must be cautious about such a prophet. Only if what the prophet preaches comes true will we be able to conclude that such a prophet was really sent by the LORD.”
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Psalm 89: 1-4, 15-18
LORD,
we will never stop singing about your rock-solid love;
........we
will transmit the story of your faithfulness
................on
down to every generation to come.
Your love and loyalty were
built to last for eternity;
........we’ll
go public with that message.
Your faithfulness is beyond
measure;
........as infinite as the
sky above us.
You said,
........“I
have formed an alliance with my chosen leader;
................I
have given my word to David, my servant.
........I
have guaranteed a firm foundation for his family
forever;
................there will
always be one of his descendants on the throne.”
We are
on cloud nine
........when we are
celebrating in your presence, LORD.
We all
know what to do and say,
........and
we bask in the light of your favour.
Every mention of your name
has us bursting with enthusiasm
........from
dawn till dusk,
and we tell the stories over and over
........of
how you have done the right thing by everyone.
Whatever glory
and strength we have comes from you.
........Because
you have been good to us, our power has grown great.
Our safety
and security are in your hands, LORD;
........you
are our one and only, the ruler of Israel.
©2002
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net