Year
B
Proper 22
Sunday
7 October 2012
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,
for your love is always before
us
and you honour all who turn from evil and honour you.
Through
your Son, you formed the earth
and created men and women in your
image
to be one, as you are one.
Through your prophets you
spoke to our forebears,
but now you have spoken to us through your
Son, Jesus.
Though he is the perfect imprint of your being,
he
was made for a little while lower than the angels,
and walked with
us the road of our suffering.
Tasting death in his own body,
he
has pioneered the path to resurrection life,
and is now at your
side, crowned with glory and honour.
He has become our perfect
priest,
making purification for sins
and bringing us into your
kingdom as joyous children —
his beloved sisters and
brothers.
Therefore with .....
©2003
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Short
Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with
fixed prefaces)
We give thanks for your Son, Jesus,
the
perfect imprint of your being,
who tasted death in his own
body,
and pioneered the path to resurrection life,
becoming our
perfect priest
and bringing us into your kingdom as joyous
children —
his beloved sisters and brothers.
©2003
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
General
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use
apart from communion)
We give you all
thanks and praise, O God,
for your love is always before us
and
you honour all who turn from evil and honour you.
Through your
Son, you formed the earth
and created men and women in your image
to be one, as you are one.
Through your prophets you spoke to
our forebears,
but now you have spoken to us through your Son,
Jesus.
Though he is the perfect imprint of your being,
he
was made for a little while lower than the angels,
and walked with
us the road of our suffering.
Tasting death in his own body,
he
has pioneered the path to resurrection life,
and is now at your
side, crowned with glory and honour.
He has become our perfect
priest,
making purification for sins
and bringing us into your
kingdom as joyous children —
his beloved sisters and
brothers.
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.
©2003
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Declaration
of Grace / Absolution
By the grace of God, Jesus
Christ has tasted death for all.
Walking the path of suffering
before us,
he leads the way to salvation
and brings about the
forgiveness of sins.
Sisters and Brothers,
........your
sins are forgiven;
................be
at peace.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
Commission
& Benediction
Go now and welcome the
signs of God’s kingdom
with the joyous simplicity of
children.
Walk boldly in God’s strength,
and do not sit with
liars and hypocrites.
And may God rescue you and be gracious
to you.
May Christ Jesus welcome you as his brothers and
sisters.
and may the Holy Spirit give you courage in time of
suffering
and strengthen you in integrity.
We go in peace
to love and serve the Lord,
........In
the name of Christ. Amen.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Paraphrases of the
Scripture Lections
for Proper
22 - Year B - Sunday 7 October 2012
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.
* Job 1:1; 2: 1-10
........Once
long ago, in the land of Uz, there was a man named Job who had a deep
respect for God. He had a clean record, always doing the right thing
by everybody and having nothing to do with evil.
........One
day in Heaven, all the beings who watch over the earth gathered to
report to the LORD. The Prosecutor came with them
to make his report. The LORD asked the
Prosecutor, “Where have you been?”
........The
Prosecutor replied, “I have been wandering around on the earth,
going wherever I please.”
........The
LORD said to the Prosecutor, “Have you checked
out the form of my servant Job? No one else can hold a candle to him.
His record is spotless. He honours me, he does the right thing by
everyone, and he turns his back on corruption. Even after he was
wiped out — his property trashed and his family killed — for no
other reason than that you slandered him and persuaded me to allow
him to be put to the test, even then he didn’t miss a beat. He
proved himself to be a man of integrity and he continues to trust
me.”
........But the Prosecutor
spoke back to the LORD, saying, “Ha! Everyone
has their price. You can get anyone to sell out if their life is on
the line. Just try it — a direct hit. When his own body is wracked
with pain, he’ll curse you to your face.”
........The
LORD replied, “Okay, we’ll see. You can make
him suffer as much as you want, but you’re not allowed to kill
him.”
........So the Prosecutor
headed off immediately and got stuck into Job. Horrific sores and
lesions appeared all over Job’s body, from the top of his head to
the tip of his toes, and the pain was excruciating. Sitting outside
on the scrap heap, he scratched and tried every lotion he could get
his hands on, but nothing helped. He was in agony. His wife said to
him, “Are you just going to cop this and let God get away with it?
You’re a goner anyway — just curse God and die and get it over
with.”
........But Job said to her,
“You’re talking through your hat, woman. If we are going to
welcome all the good things that God gives us, we’ve got to take
the bad with the good. We can’t spit the dummy the moment trouble
arrives.”
........Despite
everything that happened to him, Job didn’t speak a word against
God.
©2000 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
* Psalm 26
Clear
my name, LORD.
........I’ve
been true to my word;
........I’ve
staked everything on you and stood my ground.
Check me out
thoroughly, LORD;
........weigh
up my every thought and desire.
I keep myself focussed on your
rock-solid love,
........and I stay
in step with you all the time.
I don’t hang around with
worthless scum;
........and I keep
clear of those who talk the talk
........but
never walk the walk.
I can’t stand corrupt company,
........and
I keep my distance from liars and cheats.
There’s no blood
to wash off my hands;
........I can
dance round your altar with a clear conscience
........singing
a song of thanks to you, O LORD,
................and
telling the stories of the great things you’ve done.
O LORD,
I love the temple you call your own,
........the
place where we can bask in your presence.
Don’t wipe out the
good with the bad;
........make sure
I’m not on the list to be chopped
................with
those who ruthlessly trample over others,
................with
the callous, the corrupt, the con-merchants,
................those
who think their money puts them above the law.
I’m not like
that — I play a straight bat.
........Be
good to me, LORD. Put me back where I
belong.
You know I’m on the level;
........I
align myself with your people,
................and
sing your praises in their company.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* Hebrews
1: 1-4; 2: 5-12
........Down
through the years, God has spoken to our ancestors through the
prophets in all sorts of different ways. Lately though, at long last,
God has sent a Son to speak to us directly. It was through this Son
that God created the world in the first place, and it will all belong
to him in the end. You can see all the glory of God mirrored in this
Son. God’s essential nature is imprinted on him perfectly.
Everything in the universe holds together at his say so. The Son took
action to bring about the forgiveness of sins, and having done that
he was given the most honoured seat in heaven as God’s right hand
man. He had proven himself to be in a league above the angels, and
the title he was granted made this clear.
........Now
on the subject of the coming new age, God has not put the angels in
charge of it. Somewhere in the scriptures someone said:
“What are human beings that you take any notice of them?
........Here today and gone tomorrow —
................why would you give them a second thought?
Yet you have put them on a pedestal;
........starting them off just a step below the angels.
You have honoured them highly — hung medals round their necks —
........and handed them control of the earth.”
Nothing is exempt from this — God has given human beings
authority over absolutely everything. It may not look that way yet,
but take a look at Jesus. He too was, for a while, a step down from
the angels, but now, having made it through the suffering of death,
we see him promoted to number one and receiving all the honour and
glory that come with that position. In the extraordinary generosity
of God, everyone else can claim exemption from death on the grounds
that Jesus has gone through it for them.
........Everything
exists for God and because of God, and God set out to gather everyone
into one family on the road to glory. It was only right that the one
who God chose as the trail blazer to lead people out of danger should
first earn a perfect 10 in the same arena of suffering as them. You
see, the one who sets the pattern for holy living and the ones who
are patterned by it are all children of the one God, born through the
same labour pains. That explains why Jesus has no hesitation in
calling them his sisters and brothers. He says to God,
“I will tell these, my sisters and brothers, all I know of you.
Whenever they gather, I’ll be there, trumpeting your virtues.”
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* Mark
10: 2-16
........Some
members of the Pharisee party approached Jesus intending to give him
a hard time. They asked, “Is it acceptable for a man to kick out
his wife?”
........Jesus turned the
question back: “What instructions did Moses give about it in the
law?”
........They replied, “Moses
said it was allowable for a man to fill out the divorce paperwork and
send his wife on her way.”
........Jesus
wasn’t finished though. “Moses only said that because it was
about the best he could hope for from a callous and cruel bunch like
you. But God created things to be different. You know the scriptures.
First it says, ‘God created them male and female.’ Then it says,
‘Because of this, a man leaves his parents and joins up with his
wife, and they will be a single union.’ In marriage, then, they are
no longer just two individuals. They become one — something new and
whole and greater than the two of them. Don’t anyone go getting in
and wrecking this union that God has created.”
........Back
home, later on, the disciples picked up the subject again. Jesus
spelt it out to them: “Anyone who abandons his wife in order to
take up with someone else has betrayed her. It’s still adultery —
whether you’ve filled out the paperwork or not. The same goes for
any woman who walks out on her husband for someone else.”
........At
another time, some people approached Jesus with their children hoping
that he might take the little ones in his arms and give them a
blessing. The disciples told them to clear off, but when Jesus saw
this, he tore strips off them. “Little children can come to me any
time they like, and don’t you dare try to stop them. The realm of
God is centred on children such as these. The fact of the matter is
that anyone who will not welcome the life of God as trustingly as an
innocent child will not receive it at all.”
........And
with that, he gathered up the children into his arms, laid his hands
on each one in turn, and blessed them all.
©2000
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Alternative
Hebrew Bible Lections themed to the Gospel Lection
*
Genesis 2: 18-24
........After
creating the man, the LORD God said, “It is a
bit crook that the man is all alone. I will make a partner for him,
to share the load.”
........So
getting to work, the LORD God formed from the
ground all the land animals and the birds of the air. The LORD
brought them to the man to see what he would make of them. The man
gave each living creature its first name, and the names stuck. He
named them all: the wild animals, the farm animals, and the birds of
the air. But none of them made the grade as a suitable partner for
the man. So the LORD God put the man into a deep
sleep, out for the count. While the man was under, the LORD
removed one of his ribs and sealed up the flesh where it had come
from. And then, using the rib from the man’s side, the LORD
God fashioned a woman, and brought her to the man. This time the man
said,
“Yes! At last! One of my own kind!
........My own flesh and blood!
This one will be called Woman,
........because there is a part of me in her from the start.”
That is why men and women leave their
parents and tie the knot with one another. They become an item —
one flesh.
©2003 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
* Psalm 8
Our
LORD and ruler,
........all
over the world
................the
mere mention of your name sets hearts pounding!
Your glory
fills the universe!
The gurgling of babies makes more
sense
........than the clever
arguments of your enemies.
The innocent chatter of
children
........silences the
venomous talk of your opponents.
When I gaze at your handiwork
in the night skies
........— the
moon, the stars, the milky way —
................the
whole cosmos under your control;
I can’t help but wonder why you
bother with us.
........Why do you
care so much for mere human beings
................when
we count for so little in the scheme of things?
And yet, for
reasons known to you alone,
........you
created us almost on a par with yourself
................and
decorated us with the highest honours and glory.
You have even
entrusted us with power over your precious creation;
........you
placed the future of all life in our hands:
................sheep
and cattle;
........................emu
and kangaroo
................insects,
reptiles, birds, and sea creatures;
........air,
land and water and the planet itself.
Our LORD
and ruler,
........all over the
world
................the mere
mention of your name sets hearts pounding!
©2001
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net