[Sunday's Worship Service and Scripture Readings]

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Introit for The 2nd Sunday after Pentecost 6-22-25

Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

You who have made me see many troubles and calamities will revive me again;

from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.

You will increase my greatness

and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God;

I will sing praises to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

My lips will shout for joy, when I sing praises to you;

my soul also, which you have redeemed.

And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,

for they have been put to shame and disappointed who sought to do me hurt.

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.

Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.

 

Collect 

O God, You have prepared for those who love You such good things as surpass our understanding.  Cast out all sins and evil desires from us, and pour into our hearts Your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

[Isaiah 65:1-9]  The LORD says, "I was ready to respond, but no one asked for help. I was ready to be found, but no one was looking for me. I said, 'Here I am, here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name.  2 All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.  3 All day long they insult me to my face by worshiping idols in their sacred gardens. They burn incense on pagan altars.  4 At night they go out among the graves, worshiping the dead. They eat the flesh of pigs and make stews with other forbidden foods. 

5 Yet they say to each other, 'Don't come too close or you will defile me! I am holier than you!' These people are a stench in my nostrils, an acrid smell that never goes away. 

6 "Look, my decree is written out in front of me: I will not stand silent; I will repay them in full! Yes, I will repay them--  7 both for their own sins and for those of their ancestors," says the LORD. "For they also burned incense on the mountains and insulted me on the hills. I will pay them back in full!  8 "But I will not destroy them all," says the LORD. "For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones (and someone will say, 'Don't throw them all away-- some of those grapes are good!'), so I will not destroy all Israel. For I still have true servants there.  9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israel and of Judah to possess my land. Those I choose will inherit it, and my servants will live there.

 

[Galatians 3:23 - 4:7]  Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.  24 Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. 25 And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.  26 For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on the character of Christ, like putting on new clothes.  28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

29 And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you.  NLT Galatians 4:1 Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.  2 They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.  3 And that's the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.  4 But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.  5 God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.  6 And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, "Abba, Father."  7 Now you are no longer a slave but God's own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

 

[Luke 8:26-39]  So they arrived in the region of the Gerasenes, across the lake from Galilee.  27 As Jesus was climbing out of the boat, a man who was possessed by demons came out to meet him. For a long time he had been homeless and naked, living in a cemetery outside the town.  28 As soon as he saw Jesus, he shrieked and fell down in front of him. Then he screamed, "Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Please, I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had already commanded the evil spirit to come out of him. This spirit had often taken control of the man. Even when he was placed under guard and put in chains and shackles, he simply broke them and rushed out into the wilderness, completely under the demon's power.  30 Jesus demanded, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, for he was filled with many demons.  31 The demons kept begging Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit.  32 There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby, and the demons begged him to let them enter into the pigs.So Jesus gave them permission.  33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned.  34 When the herdsmen saw it, they fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. 

35 People rushed out to see what had happened. A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been freed from the demons. He was sitting at Jesus' feet, fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid. 36 Then those who had seen what happened told the others how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 

37 And all the people in the region of the Gerasenes begged Jesus to go away and leave them alone, for a great wave of fear swept over them.So Jesus returned to the boat and left, crossing back to the other side of the lake.  38 The man who had been freed from the demons begged to go with him. But Jesus sent him home, saying,  39 "No, go back to your family, and tell them everything God has done for you." So he went all through the town proclaiming the great things Jesus had done for him.

 

 

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