[Sunday's Worship Service and Scripture Readings]

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The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost 9-20-26

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and call on the name of the LORD.

What shall I render to the LORD

for all his benefits to me?

I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the LORD,

Precious in the sight of the LORD

is the death of his saints.

O LORD, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit;

as it was in the beginning,

is now, and will be forever. Amen.

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving

and call on the name of the LORD.

 

Collect 

Lord God, heavenly Father, since we cannot stand before You relying on anything we have done, help us trust in Your abiding grace and live according to Your Word; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

[Isaiah 55:6-9]  Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.  7 Let the people turn from their wicked deeds. Let them banish from their minds the very thought of doing wrong! Let them turn to the LORD that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  8 "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 

9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

 

[Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30]  And I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters,1 that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News.  13 For everyone here, including all the soldiers in the palace guard, knows that I am in chains because of Christ.  14 And because of my imprisonment, many of the Christians1 here have gained confidence and become more bold in telling others about Christ... 19For I know that as you pray for me and as the Spirit of Jesus Christ helps me, this will all turn out for my deliverance.  20 For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that causes me shame, but that I will always be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past, and that my life will always honor Christ, whether I live or I die. 21 For to me, living is for Christ, and dying is even better.  22 Yet if I live, that means fruitful service for Christ. I really don't know which is better.  23 I'm torn between two desires: Sometimes I want to live, and sometimes I long to go and be with Christ. That would be far better for me, 24 but it is better for you that I live.  25 I am convinced of this, so I will continue with you so that you will grow and experience the joy of your faith. 

26 Then when I return to you, you will have even more reason to boast about what Christ Jesus has done for me.  27 But whatever happens to me, you must live in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing side by side, fighting together for the Good News.  28 Don't be intimidated by your enemies. This will be a sign to them that they are going to be destroyed, but that you are going to be saved, even by God himself.  29 For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for him.  30 We are in this fight together. You have seen me suffer for him in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of this great struggle. 

 

[Matthew 20:1-16]  "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  2 He agreed to pay the normal daily wage1 and sent them out to work.  3 "At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing.  4 So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day.  5 At noon and again around three o'clock he did the same thing. 6 At five o'clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, 'Why haven't you been working today?'  7 "They replied, 'Because no one hired us.' "The owner of the estate told them, 'Then go on out and join the others in my vineyard.' 8 "That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first.  9 When those hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. 10 When those hired earlier came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. 

11 When they received their pay, they protested, 

12 'Those people worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.'  13 "He answered one of them, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair! Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage?  14 Take it and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you.  15 Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be angry because I am kind?'  16 "And so it is, that many who are first now will be last then; and those who are last now will be first then."

 

 

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