Tuesday February 8, 2022
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Tuesday, February 8, 2022
Collect
Lord God, the wellspring of life, pour into our hearts the living water of your grace. By your light we see light. Increase our faith and grant that we may walk in the brightness of your presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. Come, let us worship.
The Proclamation of the Word
1st Reading: Isaiah 59:1-15a (NRSV)
Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished
See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutters wickedness. No one brings suit justly, no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity. They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and the crushed egg hatches out a viper. Their webs cannot serve as clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they rush to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths. Their roads they have made crooked; no one who walks in them knows peace.Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us; we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in gloom. We grope like the blind along a wall, groping like those who have no eyes; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, among the vigorous as though we were dead. We all growl like bears; like doves we moan mournfully. We wait for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us. Our transgressions indeed are with us, and we know our iniquities: transgressing, and denying the Lord, and turning away from following our God, talking oppression and revolt, conceiving lying words and uttering them from the heart. Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth stumbles in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
Psalm 78:1-39 (Book of Alternative Services page 806):
1 Hear my teaching, O my people; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will declare the mysteries of ancient times.
3 That which we have heard and known, and what our forefathers have told us, * we will not hide from their children.
4 We will recount to generations to come the praiseworthy deeds and the power of the Lord, * and the wonderful works he has done.
5 He gave his decrees to Jacob and established a law for Israel, * which he commanded them to teach their children;
6 That the generations to come might know, and the children yet unborn; that they in their turn might tell it to their children;
7 So that they might put their trust in God, * and not forget the deeds of God, but keep his commandments;
8 And not be like their forefathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, * a generation whose heart was not steadfast, and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
9 The people of Ephraim, armed with the bow, * turned back in the day of battle;
10 They did not keep the covenant of God, * and refused to walk in his law;
11 They forgot what he had done, * and the wonders he had shown them.
12 He worked marvels in the sight of their forefathers, * in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split open the sea and let them pass through; * he made the waters stand up like walls.
14 He led them with a cloud by day, * and all the night through with a glow of fire.
15 He split the hard rocks in the wilderness * and gave them drink as from the great deep.
16 He brought streams out of the cliff, * and the waters gushed out like rivers.
17 But they went on sinning against him, * rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
18 They tested God in their hearts, * demanding food for their craving.
19 They railed against God and said, * “Can God set a table in the wilderness?
20 True, he struck the rock, the waters gushed out, and the gullies overflowed; * but is he able to give bread or to provide meat for his people?”
21 When the Lord heard this, he was full of wrath; * a fire was kindled against Jacob, and his anger mounted against Israel;
22 For they had no faith in God, * nor did they put their trust in his saving power.
23 So he commanded the clouds above * and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna upon them to eat * and gave them grain from heaven.
25 So mortals ate the bread of angels; * he provided for them food enough.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens * and led out the south wind by his might.
27 He rained down flesh upon them like dust * and winged birds like the sand of the sea.
28 He let it fall in the midst of their camp * and round about their dwellings.
29 So they ate and were well filled, * for he gave them what they craved.
30 But they did not stop their craving, * though the food was still in their mouths.
31 So God’s anger mounted against them; * he slew their strongest men and laid low the youth of Israel.
32 In spite of all this, they went on sinning * and had no faith in his wonderful works.
33 So he brought their days to an end like a breath * and their years in sudden terror.
34 Whenever he slew them, they would seek him, * and repent, and diligently search for God.
35 They would remember that God was their rock, * and the Most High God their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouths * and lied to him with their tongues.
37 Their heart was not steadfast toward him, * and they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 But he was so merciful that he forgave their sins and did not destroy them; * many times he held back his anger and did not permit his wrath to be roused.
39 For he remembered that they were but flesh, * a breath that goes forth and does not return.
God of pilgrims, strengthen our faith, we pray. Guide us through the uncertainties of our journey, and hold before us the vision of your eternal kingdom, made known to us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
2nd Reading: 2 Timothy 1:1-14
THE SECOND LETTER OF PAUL TO
Timothy
Salutation
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,To Timothy, my beloved child:Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thanksgiving and Encouragement
I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
Gospel Reading: Mark 9:42-50 (NRSV)
Temptations to Sin
‘If any of you put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.‘For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.’
The Lord’s PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Closing Prayer God of mercy and tenderness, giver of life and conqueror of death, look upon our weakness and grief, and restore us to health, that we may sing a new song to your praise, through Jesus Christ our risen Lord. May the grace of God uphold you, the peace of God surround you, the love of God flow from you and the strength of God protect and bring you safely through this day. Amen.