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SUNDAY
BETWEEN 21 AUGUST AND 27 AUGUST, PROPER
21
EXODUS 1:8-2:10
PSALM
124
ROMANS
12:1-8
MATTHEW
16:13-20
COLLECT
Almighty God,
we are taught by your word
that all our doings without love are worth nothing.
Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of love,
the true bond of peace and of all virtue;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
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A
READING FROM THE BOOK OF EXODUS
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He said
to his people, "Look, the Israelite people are more numerous
and more powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them,
or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies
and fight against us and escape from the land." Therefore
they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour.
They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the
more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so
that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians
became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, and made
their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in
every kind of field labour. They were ruthless in all the tasks
that they imposed on them. The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew
midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,
"When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them
on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl,
she shall live." But the midwives feared God; they did not do
as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.
So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them,
"Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?"
The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women are
not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth
before the midwife comes to them." So God dealt well with the
midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. And
because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Then
Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to
the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every
girl live." Now a man from the house of Levi went and married
a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she
saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. When she
could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and
plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and
placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister
stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. The daughter
of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants
walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and
sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child.
He was crying, and she took pity on him, "This must be one of
the Hebrews' children," she said. Then his sister said to
Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get you a nurse from the
Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" Pharaoh's daughter
said to her, "Yes." So the girl went and called the
child's mother. Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this
child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages."
So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up,
she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she took him as her
son. She named him Moses, "because," she said, "I
drew him out of the water."
EXODUS 1:8-2:10
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PSALM
REFRAIN Our help is in the name of the Lord.
If
the Lord had not been on our side, let Israel now say;
if
the Lord had not been on our side, when enemies rose up against
us;
then
would they have swallowed us up alive in their fierce anger toward
us;
Then
would the waters have overwhelmed us and the torrent gone over us;
then
would the raging waters have gone right over us.
Blessed
be the Lord! he has not given us over to be a prey for their
teeth.
We
have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowler; the snare
is broken, and we have escaped.
Our
help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. R
PSALM 124
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A
READING FROM THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE ROMANS
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what
is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I
say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly
than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each
according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in
one body we have many members, and not all the members have the
same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and
individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that
differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion
to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the
exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in
diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
ROMANS 12:1-8
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THE
HOLY GOSPEL OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST
ACCORDING TO MATTHEW
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he
asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man
is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but
others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I
am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son
of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are
you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this
to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter,
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades
will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the
kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in
heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven." Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell
anyone that he was the Messiah.
MATTHEW 16:13-20
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PRAYER
OVER THE GIFTS
God of glory,
receive all we offer this day as a symbol of our love,
and increase in us that true and perfect gift.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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PRAYER
AFTER COMMUNION
Living God,
increase in us the healing power of your love.
Guide and direct us
that we may please you in all things,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
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