Year
C
Proper 11
Sunday
21 July 2013
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 you have revealed to us the
mystery,
hidden throughout the ages,
which is Christ in us, the
hope of glory.
In him, you created heaven and earth,
and in
him, all things are held together.
Through your law and prophets
you called us to your ways,
and when you saw the needy trampled
and the poor ruined,
you punished us with a famine of hearing your
word.
But in Christ — your image made visible —
you
have reached out even to those who did evil,
calling us to sit at
your feet
and listen to your words of peace.
When his blood was
poured out in death on the cross,
you raised him as firstborn from
the dead,
reconciling all things to yourself in him
and
establishing us securely
in the faith and hope of the
gospel.
Therefore with .....
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Short
Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with
fixed prefaces)
We thank you for revealing to us
the
mystery, hidden throughout the ages:
Christ in us, the hope of
glory,
reconciling all things to you
and establishing us
securely
in the faith and hope of the gospel.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
General
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use
apart from communion)
We give you all
thanks and praise, O God,
for you have revealed to us the
mystery,
hidden throughout the ages,
which is Christ in us, the
hope of glory.
In him, you created heaven and earth,
and in
him, all things are held together.
Through your law and prophets
you called us to your ways,
and when you saw the needy trampled
and the poor ruined,
you punished us with a famine of hearing your
word.
But in Christ — your image made visible —
you
have reached out even to those who did evil,
calling us to sit at
your feet
and listen to your words of peace.
When his blood was
poured out in death on the cross,
you raised him as firstborn from
the dead,
reconciling all things to yourself in him
and
establishing us securely
in the faith and hope of the
gospel.
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.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Declaration
of Grace / Absolution
Though we were once estranged
from God,
Christ has now reconciled us in his own body,
so as
to present us holy, blameless and irreproachable
into the
presence God.
Sisters and Brothers,
........your
sins are forgiven;
................be
at peace.
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Commission
& Benediction
Go now, trusting in God’s
love forever
and always giving thanks.
Do not be worried or
distracted,
nor shift from the hope promised in the gospel,
but
choose the better way,
uprooting injustice
and proclaiming
Christ with all wisdom.
And may God establish you securely in
the faith;
May Christ Jesus make you holy and blameless before
God;
And may the Holy Spirit raise you to maturity in Christ.
We
go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
........In
the name of Christ. Amen.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Paraphrases
of the Scripture
Lections
for Proper 11 - Year
C - Sunday 21 July 2013
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.
* Amos 8: 1-12
........The
Lord GOD showed me a basket of freshly picked
quince and asked, “Amos, what do you see?”
........I
answered, “A basket of quince.”
Then the LORD
said:
“I am calling it quits with my people
Israel.
........I will not turn a
blind eye again.
I, the Lord GOD, say that on
that day,
........instead of singing
in the temple
................they
will be sobbing and howling.
........The
city will be littered with bodies;
................too
many to bury.
........So shut up and
listen to me!
“Listen to me, you who wipe your feet on
those in need;
........you who
destroy the poor for your own gain.
You resent religious holidays
........because they interupt your
wheeling and dealing;
you demand twenty-four hour, seven-day
trading
........so that you can rip
people off without ceasing.
Your advertising is all deceit and
delusion;
........you rig the odds
and the interest rates.
You lure the poor into crippling
debt
........until you own them —
body and soul —
................and
then charge them again for owing you money.
“I, the
LORD, swear on the Bible you so proudly
wave,
........that I will not forget
a single one of your mongrel actions.
Think about it and
mourn,
........for it will pull the
bottom out of your world;
it will devastate you like a
flood,
........sweeping everything
away and leaving nothing but mud.
“I, the Lord GOD,
say that on that day,
........I will
black out the sun in the middle of the day
................and
turn broad daylight into deepest darkness.
“I will make
that day as bitter for you
........as
if your son and his bride had died at the altar.
Your parties will
become wakes;
........your dance
music will become a dirge;
your suits and frocks will all be
sombre gray
........and you will tear
your hair out.
“I, the Lord GOD, can
assure you of this,
........that the
time is coming when everyone will be starved;
hungering and
thirsting, not for bread and water,
........but
for a word from me, the LORD.
“They
will wander in confusion across the land,
........from
coast to coast, from mountain to desert,
desperately seeking a
place where I can be heard,
........but
they will find nothing but my silence.”
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Psalm 52
Why, God, do powerful people boast of
evil
........when your love can be
trusted day after day?
They fill their time planning acts of
destruction.
They wield words like
weapons,
........back-stabbing anyone
who gets in their way.
They prize evil, and discredit
good;
........they reward cunning
lies, and despise the truth.
They lust after dirt — fact
or fiction —
........that will
give them the power to destroy someone.
Cut them down to size,
God!
........Tear them from their
pedestals!
................Uproot
them and toss them out to die!
Those who trust your love and
walk the straight and narrow
........will
watch in awe as you deal with them.
They will laugh and
say:
........“See what happens
to those who back the wrong horse;
................trusting
their money and power
........................instead
of finding their strength in God.”
We put our trust in
your rock-solid love, God,
........knowing
it will last forever.
We sink our roots deeply into the soil of
your presence
........and flourish
like a well tended tree.
We will never stop thanking
you
........for all you have done.
We
will enjoy the company of those who are loyal to you,
........and
give due honour to your good name.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Colossians 1: 15-28 — I think this
was one of the hardest paraphrases I have yet done. It took me a full
day. If you find it useful, how about clicking
here and helping my little church
pay me for that day!
Jesus Christ is the spitting image
........of the God we cannot
see.
Christ is the genuine original;
........the
blueprint for all creation.
Everything else that exists had
its origin in Christ:
........physical
things and spiritual things;
................visible
things and invisible things;
........things
that govern the universe;
................things
that regulate our lives;
........forces,
powers and energies.
Absolutely everything that exists
........was
founded in Christ
................and
has its purpose in Christ.
Christ preceded everything
else,
........and Christ is the glue
that holds everything else together.
Christ is to the
church
........as the head is to the
body.
Life itself began with Christ
........and
new life — born from the dead — began with Christ
too.
Christ was, is, and will be Number One in everything.
God
was fully present in Christ, and gladly so;
........reconciling
everything in creation with its creator;
bearing the cost
personally in the blood shed on the cross,
........to
restore the peace between heaven and earth.
........You
yourselves are a good example of what this is all about. You used to
be at odds with God. Your attitude to God was hostile and your
conduct was corrupt. But Christ took action to reconcile you to God,
even putting his own body on the line to see the job through. It cost
him his life, but Christ succeeded in getting you back on side with
God. Now you can stand before God with your heads held high as though
you had never set a foot wrong in your lives and your every thought,
word and deed had been above reproach. This is, of course, assuming
that you stay firmly on track and rock-solid in the faith now, and
that you don’t give up hope and turn your backs on all that you
have been promised. These promises were contained in the message you
heard; a message which has been announced to every creature in the
universe; a message which I am dedicated to serving.
........I
wear my present suffering gladly, as a badge of honour, because I
know that it is the price of getting the message out to you. For the
sake of Christ’s body — the church — I’m
happy to suffer in my own body anything that will contribute to the
completion of the business left unfinished in Christ’s copping
of abuse. For your benefit, God commissioned me to serve the church
by making God’s message fully known for the first time.
Throughout history, the world has been in the dark about this
mystery, but now it has been made as clear as day to God’s
people. God decided to let them in on the whole fabulous picture —
the wondrous mystery of the means by which God’s love embraces
everyone, regardless of race or religion. And what is revealed is
simply that Christ is in you. And because Christ is in you,
you can confidently expect to share in the glory of Christ’s
future. It is Christ, and Christ alone, that we are on about all the
time. We preach Christ to everyone, warning them and teaching them
with all the wisdom we can muster, so as to help them grow to the
fullness of their potential as people of maturity and integrity —
the spitting image of Christ!
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Luke 10: 38-42
........On
their way to Jerusalem, Jesus and his followers passed through a
certain village and accepted the invitation of a woman named Martha
to share a meal in her home. Martha had a sister named Mary, who sat
on the floor the moment Jesus arrived and hung on every word he said.
Martha, on the other hand, was trying to do everything and was
getting more and more flustered about it. She came in and said to
Jesus, “Lord, doesn’t it bother you that my sister has
left all the work to me? Tell her to get off her butt and give me a
hand.”
........But the Lord
answered, “Martha, Martha, you are letting so many things
stress you out. There is really only one thing that everyone needs.
Mary has made the right choice and it is not going to be taken away
from her.”
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Alternative
Hebrew Bible Lections themed to the Gospel Lection
*
Genesis 18: 1-10a
........One
blazing summer afternoon, Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his
tent, when the LORD appeared to him. Looking up, Abraham saw three
strangers approaching him. He immediately jumped up and hurried to
welcome them as honoured guests. He said, “Please allow me the
honour of sharing the hospitality of my home with you. Come in. Take
a bath. Put your feet up for a bit. Let me serve you up a meal so
that you can leave refreshed and strengthened. I would count it a
favour to have the opportunity to serve you in this way.”
........So
they said, “Thank you, we accept.”
........So
Abraham hurried into the tent and said, “Sarah. Quick! Knock up
a batch of scones while I organise the barbeque.”
........Then
he ran out to his grazing herd and butchered a prime calf. He
instructed one of his workers to prepare the best cuts for the
barbeque. When it was all ready, he served it up for his guests with
a yoghurt dip and plenty to drink, and waited on them while they
ate.
........During the meal, they
said to him, “Where is your wife, Sarah?”
........Abraham
replied, “She’s inside; in the tent.”
........Then
one of the three said, “Mark my words! I’ll be back this
way in about a year’s time, and by then your wife Sarah will
have a son.”
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Psalm 15
LORD, who is
welcome at your table?
........Who
can stay in the place you call your own?
You have given us the
answer, LORD.
........It
is those who walk with integrity
................and
do the right thing;
........those who
speak the honest truth
................and
do not use their words to wound;
........those
who do not exploit their friends
................or
put down their neighbours.
........It
is those who hate corruption
................and
look up to those who honour you, LORD;
........those
who give their word
................and
stand by it even if it costs them;
........those
who lend freely, without seeking a profit,
................and
cannot be bribed into shafting the innocent.
You honour such
people, LORD,
........and
anchor them on unshakable ground.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net