Reflecting on the Fifth
Sunday after Pentecost
Year C

Daily Readings for Monday
July 11, 2022

Prayer

Divine Judge, 

you framed the earth with love and mercy 

and declared it good; 

yet we, desiring to justify ourselves, 

judge others harshly, 

without knowledge or understanding. 

Keep us faithful in prayer 

that we may be filled with the knowledge of your will, 

and not ignore or pass by another’s need, 

but plumb the depths of love in showing mercy. Amen.

 

Psalm 7

God is a righteous judge

 

O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;

save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,

or like a lion they will tear me apart;

they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

O Lord my God, if I have done this,

if there is wrong in my hands,

if I have repaid my ally with harm

or plundered my foe without cause,

then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,

trample my life to the ground,

and lay my soul in the dust.    Selah

Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;

lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;

awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.

Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,

and over it take your seat on high.

The Lord judges the peoples;

judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness

and according to the integrity that is in me.

O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,

but establish the righteous,

you who test the minds and hearts,

O righteous God.

God is my shield,

who saves the upright in heart.

God is a righteous judge,

and a God who has indignation every day.

If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;

he has bent and strung his bow;

he has prepared his deadly weapons,

making his arrows fiery shafts.

See how they conceive evil,

and are pregnant with mischief,

and bring forth lies.

They make a pit, digging it out,

and fall into the hole that they have made.

Their mischief returns upon their own heads,

and on their own heads their violence descends.

I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,

and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

 

Amos 3:9—4:5

Shameful conduct and its consequences

 

Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod,

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

and say, “Assemble yourselves on Mount Samaria,

and see what great tumults are within it,

and what oppressions are in its midst.”

They do not know how to do right, says the Lord,

those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

Therefore thus says the Lord God:

An adversary shall surround the land,

and strip you of your defense;

and your strongholds shall be plundered.

 

Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who live in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed.

 

Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,

says the Lord God, the God of hosts:

On the day I punish Israel for its transgressions,

I will punish the altars of Bethel,

and the horns of the altar shall be cut off

and fall to the ground.

I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house;

and the houses of ivory shall perish,

and the great houses shall come to an end,

says the Lord.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan

who are on Mount Samaria,

who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,

who say to their husbands, “Bring something to drink!”

The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:

The time is surely coming upon you,

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with fishhooks.

Through breaches in the wall you shall leave,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be flung out into Harmon,

says the Lord.

Come to Bethel—and transgress;

to Gilgal—and multiply transgression;

bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

bring a thank offering of leavened bread,

and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;

for so you love to do, O people of Israel!

says the Lord God.

 

James 2:1-7

God has chosen the poor

 

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

 

 

Prayer

Almighty God, 

you give the holy law to your people 

so that it will always be near us and our children. 

Through our Lord Jesus who has fulfilled the law in every way, 

grant that we may love you with heart, soul, strength, and mind, 

and our neighbor as ourselves. Amen.

 

Psalm 25:11-20

I take refuge in you, O God

 

For your name’s sake, O Lord,

pardon my guilt, for it is great.

Who are they that fear the Lord?

He will teach them the way that they should choose.

They will abide in prosperity,

and their children shall possess the land.

The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,

and he makes his covenant known to them.

My eyes are ever toward the Lord,

for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Turn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

Relieve the troubles of my heart,

and bring me out of my distress.

Consider my affliction and my trouble,

and forgive all my sins.

Consider how many are my foes,

and with what violent hatred they hate me.

O guard my life, and deliver me;

do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

 

Job 24:1-8

The needy are thrust off the road

 

“Why are times not kept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his days?

The wicked remove landmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

They drive away the donkey of the orphan;

they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

They thrust the needy off the road;

the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

Like wild asses in the desert

they go out to their toil,

scavenging in the wasteland

food for their young.

They reap in a field not their own

and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.

They lie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

They are wet with the rain of the mountains,

and cling to the rock for want of shelter.”

 

James 2:1-7

God has chosen the poor

 

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

 

 

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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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