Year
C
Proper 17
Sunday
1 September 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
offer you our sacrifice of praise, O God,
for despite our poverty,
brokenness and blindness,
you invite us to feast with you
forever.
You created all the earth
and led your people out
of slavery into a plentiful land
to feast on finest wheat and
pure wild honey.
When we abandoned you — our fountain of
living water —
going instead after things which were
worthless and defiled,
your love for us remained constant,
and
in mercy, you never abandoned us.
Instead you sent us your child,
Jesus Christ,
who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
His
witness to your all-embracing love
so offended the values of the
world
that he was tortured to death,
but you raised him to new
life,
and now, through him,
you are teaching us to share and
do good
so that our lives may be a pleasing sacrifice to
you.
Therefore with .....
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Short
Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with
fixed prefaces)
We thank you that even when we abandoned you
— our fountain of living water —
still in your
love and mercy you never abandoned us,
but raised us with Christ
to share and do good
so that our lives may be a pleasing sacrifice
to you.
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
General
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use
apart from communion)
We offer you our
sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, O God,
for despite our
poverty, brokenness and blindness,
you honour us with your
righteous ones.
You created all the earth
and led your
people out of slavery into a plentiful land
to feast on finest
wheat and pure wild honey.
When we abandoned you — our
fountain of living water —
going instead after things which
were worthless and defiled,
your love for us remained
constant,
and in mercy, you never abandoned us.
Instead you
sent us your child, Jesus Christ,
who is the same yesterday, today
and forever.
His witness to your all-embracing love
so
offended the values of the world
that he was tortured to
death,
but you raised him to new life,
and now, through him,
you are teaching us to share and do good
so that our lives may
be a pleasing sacrifice to you.
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
Our Lord and saviour Jesus
Christ
has given himself for us, saying:
”I will never
leave you or forsake you.
Those who humble themselves will be
lifted up.”
Sisters and Brothers,
........your
sins are forgiven;
................be
at peace.
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Commission
& Benediction
Go now and walk in all
God’s ways.
Keep your lives free from the love of money
but
let love between people continue and be honoured.
Show hospitality
to strangers.
Pray for those who suffer torture and
imprisonment
and do not neglect to do good.
And may God be
your strength;
May Christ Jesus be for you a fountain of living
water;
And may the Holy Spirit raise you to life
........with
all God’s righteous ones.
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 17 - Year
C - Sunday 1 September 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.
* Jeremiah 2: 4-13
Listen up, you people of
Israel;
........all you who count
Jacob as your ancestor;
........Listen
to what the LORD has to say:
What was
wrong with me that so turned off your ancestors
........that
they kept as far away from me as they could?
What was it that sent
them off
........on a merry-go-round
of worthless distractions
................that
bled them of substance and character?
Not once did they look
for my help again,
........remembering
how I had rescued them from slavery.
They forgot how I guided them
through the wilderness,
........through
hostile deserts and treacherous valleys;
how I go them safely
across impassable land;
........blackened,
fearful terrain with no water;
................uninhabited
places where nobody survives.
I brought you safely into a rich
and fruitful land;
........a land
laden with good things, yours for the picking.
But you barged in
and destroyed all I had given you;
........turned
a precious heritage into a polluted wasteland.
Even your
religious leaders showed no interest in me!
........They
taught the law without getting to know me;
................they
defied me as they governed the people;
........they
preached a message of other gods
................and
set their hearts on shallow and futile things.
So now I, the
LORD, am taking you to court;
........I’m
laying charges against you
................and
against your children and grandchildren.
Whoever heard of such
a thing?
........Search the earth
from one end to the other;
................scour
the history books and see;
........What
other nation has ever changed its gods?
................They
are loyal even to false gods!
........But
my people have squandered their crowning glory
................by
trading me in for shallow and futile things.
I, the LORD,
call the heavens to sit as jury,
........to
be appalled by this case;
................to
weigh evidence that will shock and disgust.
For my my people have
added crime upon crime:
........they
have turned their backs on me,
................their
only source of fresh, flowing, life-giving water;
........and
they have taken to digging their own
water-holes;
................stagnant
puddles that stink and leak.
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Psalm 81: 1, 10-16
We sing our lungs out to you,
God,
........for you make us
strong;
we shout for joy, celebrating you,
........the
God of our ancestors.
You are the LORD our God;
........the
God who rescued us from the land of slavery.
When we come to you
with our hungers,
........you fill us
with all that we need.
But we have repeatedly failed to listen
to you;
........though we were your
people,
................we dug our
heels in against you.
You stood aside and let us have our
way;
........we made our own bed and
you left us to lie in it.
You longed for us to listen to
you;
........for your people to get
back on track.
If we had only been willing to
cooperate,
........you’d have
been ready to sort out our enemies.
Those whose hostility to you
was taken out on us
........would
have been sent cowering away,
................never
to be seen again.
If only we had responded to your call,
LORD,
........you would have spread a
banquet before us
................feeding
us with the sweetest and best of everything.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16
........See
to it that love continues to run both ways in all your dealings with
one another. Don’t limit your hospitality to your friends. Some
people who have welcomed strangers into their homes were actually
opening their doors to God’s messengers without realising it.
Keep standing up for those who are in detention, just as you would if
you were locked up with them. Imagine yourselves in the shoes of
those who are being harshly mistreated and work for them accordingly.
Don’t let out of sight mean out of mind!
........See
to it that the vowed life of marriage is treated with the respect it
deserves. Protect the sacredness of the sexual intimacy within vowed
relationships. God will sort out those who drag sex into the mire of
selfishness, dishonesty and betrayal.
........Keep
the lust for money right out of your lives. Be satisfied with what
you have, trusting in God’s promise to never let you down or
abandon you. We can say with confidence:
........“The
Lord looks after me;
................I’ve
got nothing to fear.
........................What
harm can anyone do me?”
........Remember
your leaders through whom you heard God’s message. Watch the
way they live and note what comes of it. Model yourselves on their
example of faith. Such examples don’t go out of date, because
Jesus Christ is the same now as he always was and always will be. Let
us continue to offer the gift of praise to God through Christ.
Keeping God’s name on our lips is a real gift, but it is not
the only gift that matters. Don’t overlook the importance of
sharing what you have and working for the good of others, because
these too are gifts that delight God.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Luke 14: 1, 7-14
........Once
on the Sabbath, Jesus was invited to a dinner at the home of one of
the leading members of the Pharisee party. Throughout the evening, he
was being closely watched by everyone there.
........Noticing
how most of the guests were angling for seats at the top of the
table, Jesus spoke up with a word of advice:
“When you are invited as a guest to a formal dinner — a wedding banquet or the like — don’t rush to park yourself in the number one seat. There may be some more prominent celebrities on the guest list, and when one of them turns up, your host will come and ask you to vacate your seat for them. You’ll have egg all over your face in front of everyone, and there may be nothing but the scummy seats left for you. If you are wanting to look good in public, it would be a much better strategy to park yourself down in the back corner somewhere. Then when you are seen down there, your host will come and say, ‘Come on, my friend, we can find you a better seat than this.’ You’ll get a much better write-up in the social pages for that! The fact is that those who big-note themselves will be knocked off their perches, but those who avoid the limelight will end up as everyone’s hero.”
Then Jesus turned to the one who had invited him and said:
“When you are throwing a party, don’t just invite your friends, family and well-heeled neighbours. They will all return the favour sometime and so, rather than being a gift, your party will become something you are repaid for. Instead, invite people who are always being left out — the down-and-outs, the misfits, the refugees, the disabled. You’ll find that it’s far more richly rewarding, and although they can never repay you, when God’s people are all raised from the dead, you’ll be more than repaid.”
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton LaughingBird.net
Alternative
Hebrew Bible Lections themed to the Gospel Lection
*
Sirach 10: 12-18
Arrogant pride is born when
people turn their backs on the Lord;
........it
is conceived in hearts that are cut off from their Maker.
Arrogant
pride has its roots in sin,
........and
those who are addicted to it spew forth corruption.
That’s
why the Lord brings terrible disasters on them
........and
wipes them out completely.
The Lord topples arrogant
rulers,
........and hands their
authority to humble people.
The Lord tears out arrogant
nations by the roots,
........and
replaces them with unpretentious peoples.
The Lord rids the
planet of arrogant empires,
........leaving
nothing but scorched earth where they stood.
Some of them were
destroyed so completely
........that
even the memory of them was erased.
Human beings were never
intended to become arrogant;
........violence
and hostility were not part of their creator’s design.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
OR
*
Proverbs 25: 6-7
Don’t go big noting
yourself
........or nominating
yourself for the honours lists.
It is far better to have others
calling for your promotion
........than
to be dismissed as a deluded pose.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net
*
Psalm 112
We are singing your praises,
LORD!
How good life is for those who
respect you, LORD,
........for
those who gladly do what you want them to do.
Their children
will follow in their footsteps,
........doing
what’s right and going from strength to strength.
You
fill their homes with good things,
........and
guarantee their good reputation.
Their generosity, tolerance,
and integrity shine forth in a dark world,
........lighting
up the way for others to follow.
LORD, you
see that things go well
........for
those who conduct their business fairly
........and
lend generously to those in need.
You guarantee a firm footing
for people of integrity;
........their
reputation will long outlast them.
Bad news will not break
them,
........for they have an inner
strength grounded in you, LORD.
With their
trust in you, they are calm in a crisis;
........fearless
in the fight,
................and
they always end up on top.
You will honour their
strength
........and make their
integrity a lasting legacy,
................for
they have been open-handed, especially to the poor.
All this
throws corrupt people into a snarling rage.
........Bitterness
consumes them
................as
their dreams crumble to nothing.
©2001
Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net