Reflecting on the Second
Sunday after Pentecost
Year C

Daily Readings for Monday
June 20, 2022

Prayer

God our refuge and hope, 

when race, status, or gender divide us, 

when despondency and despair haunt and afflict us, 

when community lies shattered: 

comfort and convict us with the stillness of your presence, 

that we may confess all you have done, 

through Christ to whom we belong 

and in whom we are one. Amen.

 

Psalm 59

Deliver me from my enemies

 

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;

protect me from those who rise up against me.

Deliver me from those who work evil;

from the bloodthirsty save me.

Even now they lie in wait for my life;

the mighty stir up strife against me.

For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,

for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.

Rouse yourself, come to my help and see!

You, Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.

Awake to punish all the nations;

spare none of those who treacherously plot evil.    Selah

Each evening they come back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

There they are, bellowing with their mouths,

with sharp words on their lips—

for “Who,” they think, “will hear us?”

But you laugh at them, O Lord;

you hold all the nations in derision.

O my strength, I will watch for you;

for you, O God, are my fortress.

My God in his steadfast love will meet me;

my God will let me look in triumph on my enemies.

Do not kill them, or my people may forget;

make them totter by your power, and bring them down,

O Lord, our shield.

For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,

let them be trapped in their pride.

For the cursing and lies that they utter,

consume them in wrath;

consume them until they are no more.

Then it will be known to the ends of the earth

that God rules over Jacob.    Selah

Each evening they come back,

howling like dogs

and prowling about the city.

They roam about for food,

and growl if they do not get their fill.

But I will sing of your might;

I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.

For you have been a fortress for me

and a refuge in the day of my distress.

O my strength, I will sing praises to you,

for you, O God, are my fortress,

the God who shows me steadfast love.

 

2 Kings 9:1-13

The house of Ahab destroyed

 

Then the prophet Elisha called a member of the company of prophets and said to him, “Gird up your loins; take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. When you arrive, look there for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi; go in and get him to leave his companions, and take him into an inner chamber. Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”

 

So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. He arrived while the commanders of the army were in council, and he announced, “I have a message for you, commander.” “For which one of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander.” So Jehu got up and went inside; the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord the God of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. You shall strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.

 

When Jehu came back to his master’s officers, they said to him, “Is everything all right? Why did that madman come to you?” He answered them, “You know the sort and how they babble.” They said, “Liar! Come on, tell us!” So he said, “This is just what he said to me: ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’” Then hurriedly they all took their cloaks and spread them for him on the bare steps; and they blew the trumpet, and proclaimed, “Jehu is king.”

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The power and wisdom of God

 

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

 

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

 

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

 

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

 

 

Prayer

Most holy and eternal God, 

you dwell in the heights of heaven, 

yet you walk among those who refuse to see you. 

Hold out your hand to those who rebel against you, 

and free us from the chains that bind us, 

that we may be healed by Christ 

and proclaim his saving deeds to all the world. Amen.

 

Psalm 64

Prayer for protection

 

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;

preserve my life from the dread enemy.

Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,

from the scheming of evildoers,

who whet their tongues like swords,

who aim bitter words like arrows,

shooting from ambush at the blameless;

they shoot suddenly and without fear.

They hold fast to their evil purpose;

they talk of laying snares secretly,

thinking, “Who can see us?

Who can search out our crimes?

We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.”

For the human heart and mind are deep.

But God will shoot his arrow at them;

they will be wounded suddenly.

Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;

all who see them will shake with horror.

Then everyone will fear;

they will tell what God has brought about,

and ponder what he has done.

Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord

and take refuge in him.

Let all the upright in heart glory.

 

Job 18:1-21

God will destroy the wicked

 

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

 

“How long will you hunt for words?

Consider, and then we shall speak.

Why are we counted as cattle?

Why are we stupid in your sight?

You who tear yourself in your anger—

shall the earth be forsaken because of you,

or the rock be removed out of its place?

“Surely the light of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of their fire does not shine.

The light is dark in their tent,

and the lamp above them is put out.

Their strong steps are shortened,

and their own schemes throw them down.

For they are thrust into a net by their own feet,

and they walk into a pitfall.

A trap seizes them by the heel;

a snare lays hold of them.

A rope is hid for them in the ground,

a trap for them in the path.

Terrors frighten them on every side,

and chase them at their heels.

Their strength is consumed by hunger,

and calamity is ready for their stumbling.

By disease their skin is consumed,

the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.

They are torn from the tent in which they trusted,

and are brought to the king of terrors.

In their tents nothing remains;

sulfur is scattered upon their habitations.

Their roots dry up beneath,

and their branches wither above.

Their memory perishes from the earth,

and they have no name in the street.

They are thrust from light into darkness,

and driven out of the world.

They have no offspring or descendant among their people,

and no survivor where they used to live.

They of the west are appalled at their fate,

and horror seizes those of the east.

Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,

such is the place of those who do not know God.”

 

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

The power and wisdom of God

 

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written,

 

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

 

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

 

Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

 

 

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Prayer reprinted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts. Reproduced by permission.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission. No further reproduction allowed without the written permission of Augsburg Fortress.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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