Reflecting on the Ninth
Sunday after Pentecost
Year C

Daily Readings for Monday
August 8, 2022

Prayer

God of judgment and grace, 

you ask not for sacrifices, 

but lives of trusting faith 

that acknowledge your power and mercy. 

Give us faith as deep and strong as Abraham’s and Sarah’s, 

that we may follow you through all our days 

as did Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

 

Psalm 11

God loves righteous deeds

 

In the Lord I take refuge; how can you say to me,

“Flee like a bird to the mountains;

for look, the wicked bend the bow,

they have fitted their arrow to the string,

to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart.

If the foundations are destroyed,

what can the righteous do?”

The Lord is in his holy temple;

the Lord’s throne is in heaven.

His eyes behold, his gaze examines humankind.

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked,

and his soul hates the lover of violence.

On the wicked he will rain coals of fire and sulfur;

a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

For the Lord is righteous;

he loves righteous deeds;

the upright shall behold his face.

 

Isaiah 2:1-4

A vision of peace

 

The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

 

In days to come

the mountain of the Lord’s house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised above the hills;

all the nations shall stream to it.

Many peoples shall come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between the nations,

and shall arbitrate for many peoples;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war any more.

 

Hebrews 11:1-7

The ancestors’ faith

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

 

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.” And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.

 

 

Prayer

God of Abraham and Jesus, 

you invite your people 

to contemplate heavenly things 

and urge us toward faith in you. 

May your coming among us 

find our doors open, 

our tables set, 

and all your people ready to greet you. Amen.

 

Psalm 89:1-18

God’s covenant with David

 

I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, forever;

with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.

I declare that your steadfast love is established forever;

your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.

You said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,

I have sworn to my servant David:

‘I will establish your descendants forever,

and build your throne for all generations.’”    Selah

Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord,

your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.

For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?

Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord,

a God feared in the council of the holy ones,

great and awesome above all that are around him?

O Lord God of hosts,

who is as mighty as you, O Lord?

Your faithfulness surrounds you.

You rule the raging of the sea;

when its waves rise, you still them.

You crushed Rahab like a carcass;

you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

The heavens are yours, the earth also is yours;

the world and all that is in it—you have founded them.

The north and the south—you created them;

Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

You have a mighty arm;

strong is your hand, high your right hand.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;

steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.

Happy are the people who know the festal shout,

who walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance;

they exult in your name all day long,

and extol your righteousness.

For you are the glory of their strength;

by your favor our horn is exalted.

For our shield belongs to the Lord,

our king to the Holy One of Israel.

 

2 Chronicles 33:1-17

Manasseh returns to God

 

Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign; he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had pulled down, and erected altars to the Baals, made sacred poles, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. He built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem shall my name be forever.” He built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. He made his son pass through fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom, practiced soothsaying and augury and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with wizards. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. The carved image of the idol that he had made he set in the house of God, of which God said to David and to his son Solomon, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever; I will never again remove the feet of Israel from the land that I appointed for your ancestors, if only they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, all the law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.” Manasseh misled Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the people of Israel.

 

The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they gave no heed. Therefore the Lord brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh captive in manacles, bound him with fetters, and brought him to Babylon. While he was in distress he entreated the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his ancestors. He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty, heard his plea, and restored him again to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord indeed was God.

 

Afterward he built an outer wall for the city of David west of Gihon, in the valley, reaching the entrance at the Fish Gate; he carried it around Ophel, and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah. He took away the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the Lord, and all the altars that he had built on the mountain of the house of the Lord and in Jerusalem, and he threw them out of the city. He also restored the altar of the Lord and offered on it sacrifices of well-being and of thanksgiving; and he commanded Judah to serve the Lord the God of Israel. The people, however, still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

 

Hebrews 11:1-7

The ancestors’ faith

 

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

 

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and “he was not found, because God had taken him.” For it was attested before he was taken away that “he had pleased God.” And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.

 

 

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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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