The Collect

Compassionate God, who raises up ministers among your people: May we ever desire, like your servant William Passavant, to support the work of equipping the saints for service among the sick and the friendless; through Jesus Christ the divine Physician, who has prepared for us an eternal home, and who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

Old Testament

Isaiah 29:17-24

Shall not Lebanon in a very little while
become a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?

On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a scroll,

and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.

The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall cease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—

those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate,
and without grounds deny justice to the one
in the right.

 

Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

No longer shall Jacob be ashamed,
no longer shall his face grow pale.

For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;

they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob,
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.

The Psalm

Psalm 147:1-7

Laudate Dominum

1 Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! *
how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!

2 The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem; *
he gathers the exiles of Israel.

3 He heals the brokenhearted *
and binds up their wounds.

4 He counts the number of the stars *
and calls them all by their names.

5 Great is our LORD and mighty in power; *
there is no limit to his wisdom.

6 The LORD lifts up the lowly, *
but casts the wicked to the ground.

7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; *
make music to our God upon the harp.

The New Testament

Revelation 3:14-22

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation:

“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

The Gospel

Luke 13:10-22

Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

And again he said, “To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Jesus went through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.

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