Tuesday October 5 Pentecost 19
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Psalm 120
God saved me from those who lie and rely on deceit. Even though I am committed to peace, those around me still seek war.
Psalm 121
Confidence that God will watch over us to protect us from natural calamities and everyday situations.
Psalm 122
Joy at entering Jerusalem to worship in the temple. Prayers for Jerusalem.
Psalm 123
We keep our eyes trained on God’s direction to us, like servants alert to their owner’s slightest hand signal. We are oppressed by the wealthy and we anticipate God’s signal at any moment that God will act.
2 Kings 22: 1-13 What’s Kings about?
The next King, Josiah, orders the temple to be repaired and the workers find a book (the book of Deuteronomy) hidden there. Deuteronomy describes how Moses gave God’s law a “second” time, thus the name of the book. The king realizes how much the country has abandoned God by not keeping the rules in Deuteronomy and how serious the consequences will be. Later in Kings, in response to king Josiah’s faithfulness, God will again postpone the destruction of Jerusalem.
Matthew 9: 1-8 What’s Matthew about?
Jesus cures someone of paralysis and people are amazed. In those times such diseases were believed to be caused by some evil the person had done, so Jesus then removes the underlying cause—that’s the meaning of his forgiving the person’s sins. In doing so Jesus is undermining the religious claim to exclusive control of forgiveness and claiming that God’s forgiveness is present in himself and available immediately to all. This gives immense hope to ordinary people but immense threat to religious leaders.
This week’s collect:
Almighty God,
you have built your Church
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
Join us together in unity of spirit by their teaching,
that we may become a holy temple, acceptable to you;
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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