Welcome to St. Paul's United Church Weekly Worship Themes
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Love without Borders: That We May Know Each Other
God’s love is without borders. Always and everywhere.
God is Holy Mystery,
beyond complete knowledge
above perfect description.
Yet,
in love,
the one eternal God seeks relationship. From A Song of
Faith
In the presence of that love, we live and move and have our being. God’s love
gives us courage to face our fears, and strength to step out into the world.
With God’s blessing, we come to know each other:
Knowing God
Knowing Others
Knowing our Faith
Knowing Ourselves
This year we will focus on knowing each other. We will always be invited to
learn more about God
who creates the universe
and with it the possibility of being and relating.
who tends the universe,
mending the broken and reconciling the estranged.
who enlivens the universe,
guiding all things toward harmony with their Source. Also
from A Song of Faith
We will explore a new way of welcoming one another to St. Paul’s – whether we’ve been here a long time or a shorter time, we all appreciate being welcomed! We will celebrate the openness and safety of becoming an Affirming Congregation, exploring further what that means. We will examine Islam, the faith of many of our neighbours. We will discern our spiritual gifts, and continue to deepen our understandings by studying scripture.
Sunday be Sunday, here are our themes:
Esther was a queen who learned about her people, a minority group under threat.
Could she save them?
Ezekiel lived among a people who were experiencing political change, moral
questions and paradigm shifts. Could God reach them?
Jesus crossed borders to bring God’s love to all kinds of people. He preached
the Beatitudes:
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
How do they guide us?
That We May Know Each Other:
In God’s love, let’s begin.
Introduction: Jesus, the border crossing man, calls the disciples Matthew 4:
18-25
Early Autumn: Esther:
Getting to know her people - a minority people who claim their identity
Late Autumn: Beatitudes Matthew 5: 1-12
Getting to know God: Blessings, Beatitudes, Becoming Disciples
Advent: Gifts
Christmas: Matthew and Luke
Epiphany: Matthew
After Epiphany: Ezekiel: knowing who we are and the significance of our
discipleship
Lent: Matthew: Journeying through Lent with Matthew & the Sermon on the Mount
Easter Matthew: Jesus – That We May Know Him
Post-Easter Matthew
Pentecost Matthew: That We May Know Each Other - Discipleship and Grace
Foundational Scriptures:
Matthew 10:40
Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me”
Philippians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness
be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just,
whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen
in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I
am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to
remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my
possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have
love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
September 2 - Labour Day
Theme: Love without Borders: That We May Know Each Other
14th after Pentecost
1 Corinthians 13 (part or all; maybe sung)
Matthew 4: 18-22
Jesus as the Border Crossing Man
As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called
Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the lake—for they were
fishermen. And he said to them, ‘Follow me, and I will make you fish for
people.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from
there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in
the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them.
Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Children’s program health and information forms available
September 9 - Welcome Back BBQ
15th after Pentecost
Blessing the Matthew 5: 13
Children ‘You are the salt of the earth; (but if salt has lost its taste,
how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything,
but is thrown out and trampled under foot.)
Matthew 10: 40
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Matthew 4: 18-22 read as intro plus 23-25
Jesus as the Border Crossing Man
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the
good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the
people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought to him all the
sick, those who were afflicted with various diseases and pains, demoniacs,
epileptics, and paralytics, and he cured them. And great crowds followed him
from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Children’s Program 1 Corinthians 13 (part or all or maybe sung)
Esther: that we may know her
A queen from a minority people claiming their identity
September 16
16th after Pentecost
Begin Esther story Esther 1:1-22; 2:1-4, 5-18; 2:19-23; 3:1-6
ACTS taped sermon Set the plot: chapters 1 through 3 Vashti; Esther; Mordecai;
Haman
September 23
17th after Pentecost
Esther The plot thickens: chapters 4 through 6:13
September 30
18th after Pentecost
Esther The story is resolved: chapters 6:14 through 9
Thanksgiving and Celebration of Affirming Sundays
Identity and Discipleship - through Grace
October 7 - World-Wide Communion & Thanksgiving
19th after Pentecost
Philippians 4: 4-7
Joel 2: 21-27 (vine and fig tree; do not fear)
Dt 8: 7-18 (I will bring you to a good land; remember your God)
Mt 6: 25-33 (do not worry; lilies of the field)
October 14 - Affirm Celebration
20th after Pentecost
Psalm 100
Matthew 5: 14-16 (you are the light of the world)
Matthew 5: 17-20 (I come to fulfill the law & prophets)
14 ‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the
lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your
light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory
to your Father in heaven.
17 ‘Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have
come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18For truly I tell you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the
law until all is accomplished. 19Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of
these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in
the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I tell you, unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven.
Matthew 7: 12 (The Golden Rule)
12 ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the
law and the prophets.
All People That on Earth Do Dwell
Beatitudes
Getting to know God: Blessings, Beatitudes, Becoming Disciples
October 21
21st after Pentecost
Shema: Matthew 22: 37-39
(When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees,) they gathered
together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ‘Teacher,
which commandment in the law is the greatest?’
He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first
commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as
yourself.”
October 28
22nd after Pentecost
Beatitudes: read them all
Service focuses on Mt 5: 1-5
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his
disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
November 4
23rd after Pentecost
Communion Matthew 5: 5-7
‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be
filled.
‘Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
November 11 - Remembrance Day
24th after Pentecost
Matthew 5:8-9
‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
November 18
25th after Pentecost
Matthew 5:8-9
‘Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of
evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is
great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were
before you.
Blessed Are They VU 896
Winding up the Christian Year
November 25
last week of Pentecost
Malice in the Palace!
Advent
Gifts: that we may know ourselves and others
December 2
Advent I Isaiah 2: 1-5 (swords into plowshares)
Matthew 24: 36-44 (thief in the night)
Psalm 122
December 9
Advent II Isaiah 11:1-10
Matthew 3:1-12 (John the Baptist)
December 16
Advent III Isaiah 35: 1-10
Luke 1:46-55 (Song of Mary)
Matthew 11:2-11
December 20 Longest Night: Solstice
Celtic theme
December 23
Advent IV Romans 1:1-7 (invocation)
Isaiah 7:10-17
Matthew 1:18-25
December 24
Christmas Eve Luke 2: 1-20
6 & 9 o’clock 1 Corinthians 13?
December 30
Christmas I Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3
John 1:1-18
(Psalm 147:13-21)
Epiphany
January 6
Epiphany Ephesians 3:1-12 (invocation) “to make everyone see the plan of the
Communion mystery hidden for ages in God who has created all things”
Isaiah 60:1-6 (Arise, Shine)
Matthew 2: -12
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ezekiel: A People learning Discipleship
January 13
II after Epiphany Ezekiel 1:2 – 2:3 (chariot and the wheel)
Begin Ezekiel 1:16 Wheel within a wheel
Ezekiel 11:14/17-25
January 20
III after Epiphany Ezekiel 24 and 31
The boiling pot and the cedar
January 27
IV after Epiphany Ezekiel 37: 1-14 dry bones
February 3
V after Epiphany Ezekiel 47: 1-12 “everything lives where the sacred river
flows”
Pancake Brunch
Lent: Journeying through Lent with Matthew
February 6
Ash Wednesday
February 10
Lent I
Annual Meeting Matthew 4:1-11
After Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be
tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he
was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God,
command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is
written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from
the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on
the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw
yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,'
and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot
against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord
your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and
showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him,
"All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to
him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil left him, and
suddenly angels came and waited on him.
February 17
Lent II
Matthew 6: 5-15
The Prayer Jesus taught
February 24
Lent III
Matthew 6: 25-34 Do not worry; lilies of the field
Matthew 7:12 The Golden Rule
Matthew 5:38-48 forgiveness, community
March 2 - Communion
Lent IV
Matthew 7:7-11 Ask, seek, knock
Matthew 7:12 The Golden Rule
Wills and Bequests Luncheon
March 9
Lent V
Youth Rally leads worship
Youth Rally
Holy Week
March 16
Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1-11
March 20
Maundy Thursday Seder and Maundy Thursday Worship begin at 6
March 21
Good Friday Worship at 11
The Season Celebrating the Resurrection:
Easter: Jesus – that we may know him
March 23 - Easter: The Sunday of Resurrection
Worship at sunrise in Hawrelak Park and 10 in the church
Matthew 28: 1-10
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24
March 30
II of Easter
John 20: 19-31
Thomas and Jesus
“Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
April 6
III of Easter
Luke 24:13-35 Road to Emmaus
April 13 - Good Shepherd Sunday
IV of Easter
John 10: 11-18; Ezekiel 34: 11-31
also Isaiah 40: 11, Jeremiah 31: 10
Matthew 25: 31-46 (shepherd separates the sheep and goats)
April 20
V of Easter
John 14:1-14
Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in
me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so,
would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that
where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am
going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can
we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my
Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus
said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not
know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the
Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The
words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in
me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;
but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly,
I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in
fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will
do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it."
April 27 - VI of Easter
Acts 17:22-31
Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, "Athenians, I see how extremely
religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked
carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the
inscription, `To an unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I
proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord
of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he
served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to
all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all
nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence
and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would
search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him-- though indeed he is not
far from each one of us. For `In him we live and move and have our being'; as
even some of your own poets have said,
`For we too are his offspring.'
Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold,
or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals.
While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all
people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have
the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he
has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
John 14: 15-21
Jesus said to his disciples, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you
forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he
will be in you.
"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world
will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.
On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who
love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to
them."
May 4 - VII of Easter
John 17: 1-11
Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son
so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all
people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal
life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So
now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your
presence before the world existed.
"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were
yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that
everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I
have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came
from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf;
I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me,
because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been
glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the
world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you
have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. "
Acts 1:6-14 (Ascension)
When the apostles had come together, they asked Jesus, "Lord, is this the time
when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to
know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you
will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took
him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward
heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of
Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been
taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into
heaven."
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near
Jerusalem, a sabbath day's journey away. When they had entered the city, they
went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James,
and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus,
and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting
themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of
Jesus, as well as his brothers.
Pentecost:
That We May Know Each Other
Discipleship and Grace
May 11 - Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
1 Corinthians 12:3b-13
No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Now there are
varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services,
but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God
who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the
Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of
wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the
discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit,
who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the
body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we
were all baptized into one body-- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-- and we were
all made to drink of one Spirit.
Psalm 104:25-35, 37b
May 18 - Trinity Sunday
Victoria Day weekend Celtic theme
Matthew 28:16-20
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had
directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. And
Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them
to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you
always, to the end of the age."
Psalm 8
May 25 - 2nd after Pentecost
Matthew 6: 24-34 “do not worry”
June 1
Conference Sunday
3rd after Pentecost Psalm 46
Matthew 7: 21-27
Jesus said. "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that
day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast
out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will
declare to them, `I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'
"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a
wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the
winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been
founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on
them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and
the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell--
and great was its fall!"
June 8
Gilchrist Tea Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
4th after Pentecost As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew
sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and
followed him.
And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and
were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said
to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a
physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, `I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."
While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the synagogue
came in and knelt before him, saying, "My daughter has just died; but come and
lay your hand on her, and she will live." And Jesus got up and followed him,
with his disciples. Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from
hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his
cloak, for she said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be made
well." Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith
has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well. When Jesus came to
the leader's house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion,
he said, "Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at
him. But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the
hand, and the girl got up. And the report of this spread throughout that
district.
Psalm 33: 1-12
June 15 - BBQ
Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-23)
5th after Pentecost Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in
their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every
disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he
said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These
are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his
brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and
Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and
Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among
the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, `The kingdom of
heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast
out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. [Take no gold,
or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or
sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village
you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you
enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it;
but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not
welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you
leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the
land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
"See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as
serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to
councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before
governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When
they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to
say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not
you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will
betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against
parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my
name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you
in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone
through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.]
June 22
6th after Pentecost Matthew 10:24-39
Jesus said to the twelve disciples,
"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough
for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they
have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign
those of his household!
"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered,
and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark,
tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do
not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who
can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the
hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value
than many sparrows.
"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge
before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will
deny before my Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to
bring peace, but a sword.
"For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her
mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's foes will be
members of one's own household.
"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever
loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not
take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life
will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
June 29
7th after Pentecost Matthew 10: 40-42
Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes
the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will
receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name
of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever
gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a
disciple-- truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."