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2013/08/30

Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity - 2013

The Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity.
Psalm 119.105-112
Lucerna pedibus meis
105. THY word is a lantern unto my feet : and a light unto my paths.
106. I have sworn, and am stedfastly purposed : to keep thy righteous judgements.
107. I am troubled above measure : quicken me, O Lord, according to thy word.
108. Let the free-will offerings of my mouth please thee, O Lord : and teach me thy judgements.
109. My soul is always in my hand : yet do I not forget thy law.
110. The ungodly have laid a snare for me : but yet I swerved not from thy commandments.
111. Thy testimonies have I claimed as mine heritage for ever : and why? they are the very joy of my heart.
112. I have applied my heart to fulfil thy statutes alway : even unto the end.

The Collect.
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Micah 6.1-8
Psalter: Psalm 84, 85 | 74
Epistle Reading: Galatians 5.16-24
Gospel Reading: St. Luke 17.11-19

Barbee and Zahl: “The Petition is for the “I want” to cohere with the “I ought.” As we have seen time after time in the Collects, the Law (i.e., “Thou shalt/shalt not”) does not precede moral improvement (i.e., love of neighbor). In other words, doing good does not make one become good. Rather, love creates a person who desires to do good. Law does not create Love. Love creates Law, or rather, Law-abidingness. The Collect asks God to make us people who wish and aspire to do good, from the heart, what God has already commanded us to do” (97).

William Cowper, “Love Constraining to Obedience,” 1779


“To see the Law by Christ fulfilled,
To hear His pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child
And duty into choice.”

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