Readings for Thursday August 26

Thursday August 26          Pentecost 13

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Psalm 18 Part 1
A meditation on God’s immense power to save:—a poetic imaginative recounting of the crossing of the Red Sea. It can be read as if it were the experience of one person being rescued or as if the nation is speaking with a single voice.

1 Kings 3: 16-28                            What’s Kings about?
This is Solomon’s first demonstration of his wisdom — using psychology to discover who is the real mother of a child in dispute. It is no accident that the mothers in the story are both prostitutes—this most wise and wealthy of all Israelite kings is committed to justice even for a prostitute, and for her bastard child, the most despised of all people. Notice how the writer also affirms the deep love of the prostitute for her child —this care for the poor is central to the Jewish understanding of God’s call. The story is an example of sophisticated psychological insight in the ancient world, as well as a statement about God’s determination to use kings to root out injustice even for the poorest.

Mark 14: 12-26                            What’s Mark about?
Jesus eats the Passover meal which is a re-enactment of the hurried meal eaten the night that God slew the Egyptians’ first-born children so that the Israelites could escape from slavery in Egypt. Mark is interpreting that Jesus, as a first-born, is about to be executed so that the human race can escape into new life. This is now our communion service.

This week’s collect:

Almighty God,
we are taught by your word
that all our doings without love are worth nothing.
Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtue;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

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