Preparing for the Fourth
Sunday after Pentecost
Year A

Daily Readings for Thursday
June 18, 2026

Prayer

God of strength and courage, 

in Jesus Christ you set us free from sin and death 

and call us to the risk of faith and service. 

Give us grace to follow him 

who gave himself for others, 

that, by our service, 

we may find the life he came to bring. Amen.

 

Psalm 86:1-10

Prayer for deliverance

 

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

Preserve my life, for I am devoted to you;

save your servant who trusts in you.

You are my God; be gracious to me, O Lord,

for to you do I cry all day long.

Gladden the soul of your servant,

for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,

abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you.

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer;

listen to my cry of supplication.

In the day of my trouble I call on you,

for you will answer me.

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord,

nor are there any works like yours.

All the nations you have made shall come

and bow down before you, O Lord,

and shall glorify your name.

For you are great and do wondrous things;

you alone are God.

 

Exodus 12:43-49

Passover directions about foreigners

 

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance for the passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after he has been circumcised; no bound or hired servant may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the animal outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. The whole congregation of Israel shall celebrate it. If an alien who resides with you wants to celebrate the passover to the Lord, all his males shall be circumcised; then he may draw near to celebrate it; he shall be regarded as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it; there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you.

 

Hebrews 2:5-9

Exaltation through abasement

 

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,

 

“What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

or mortals, that you care for them?

You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned them with glory and honor,

subjecting all things under their feet.”

 

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lowerthan the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

 

 

Prayer

God of power, 

you uphold us in times of persecution 

and strengthen us to meet the trials of faithful witness. 

As you delivered us from death 

through our baptism in Christ 

and the victory of his resurrection, 

send us forth to proclaim that glorious redemption, 

so that the world may claim 

the freedom of forgiveness 

and new life in you. Amen.

 

Psalm 69:7-10 [11-15] 16-18

Draw near to me

 

It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,

that shame has covered my face.

I have become a stranger to my kindred,

an alien to my mother’s children.

It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;

the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

When I humbled my soul with fasting,

they insulted me for doing so.

[When I made sackcloth my clothing,

I became a byword to them.

I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,

and the drunkards make songs about me.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.

At an acceptable time, O God,

in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.

With your faithful help rescue me

from sinking in the mire;

let me be delivered from my enemies

and from the deep waters.

Do not let the flood sweep over me,

or the deep swallow me up,

or the Pit close its mouth over me.]

Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;

according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Do not hide your face from your servant,

for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.

Draw near to me, redeem me,

set me free because of my enemies.

 

Jeremiah 18:12-17

Israel’s stubborn idolatry

 

But they say, “It is no use! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of our evil will.”

 

Therefore thus says the Lord:

 

Ask among the nations:

Who has heard the like of this?

The virgin Israel has done

a most horrible thing.

Does the snow of Lebanon leave

the crags of Sirion?

Do the mountain waters run dry,

the cold flowing streams?

But my people have forgotten me,

they burn offerings to a delusion;

they have stumbled in their ways,

in the ancient roads,

and have gone into bypaths,

not the highway,

making their land a horror,

a thing to be hissed at forever.

All who pass by it are horrified

and shake their heads.

Like the wind from the east,

I will scatter them before the enemy.

I will show them my back, not my face,

in the day of their calamity.

 

Hebrews 2:5-9

Exaltation through abasement

 

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,

 

“What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

or mortals, that you care for them?

You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned them with glory and honor,

subjecting all things under their feet.”

 

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lowerthan the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

 

 

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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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