The Lessons Appointed for Use on the
Sunday Closest to June 15
Year B BCP

Ezekiel 31:1-6,10-14
2 Corinthians 5:1-10
Mark 4:26-34
Psalm 92 or 92:1-4,11-14

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Ezekiel 31:1-6,10-14

In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: Mortal, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:

Whom are you like in your greatness?

Consider Assyria, a cedar of Lebanon,

with fair branches and forest shade,

and of great height,

its top among the clouds.

The waters nourished it,

the deep made it grow tall,

making its rivers flow

around the place it was planted,

sending forth its streams

to all the trees of the field.

So it towered high

above all the trees of the field;

its boughs grew large

and its branches long,

from abundant water in its shoots.

All the birds of the air

made their nests in its boughs;

under its branches all the animals of the field

gave birth to their young;

and in its shade

all great nations lived.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, I gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations; he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. Foreigners from the most terrible of the nations have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth went away from its shade and left it.

On its fallen trunk settle

all the birds of the air,

and among its boughs lodge

all the wild animals.

All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to lofty height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height.

For all of them are handed over to death,

to the world below;

along with all mortals,

with those who go down to the Pit.

Psalm 92 or 92:1-4,11-14 Page 720, BCP

Bonum est confiteri

1

It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, *
and to sing praises to your Name, O Most High;

2

To tell of your loving-kindness early in the morning *
and of your faithfulness in the night season;

3

On the psaltery, and on the lyre, *
and to the melody of the harp.

4

For you have made me glad by your acts, O LORD; *
and I shout for joy because of the works of your hands.

5

LORD, how great are your works! *
your thoughts are very deep.

6

The dullard does not know,
nor does the fool understand, *
that though the wicked grow like weeds,
and all the workers of iniquity flourish,

7

They flourish only to be destroyed for ever; *
but you, O LORD, are exalted for evermore.

8

For lo, your enemies, O LORD,
lo, your enemies shall perish, *
and all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

9

But my horn you have exalted like the horns of wild bulls; *
I am anointed with fresh oil.

10

My eyes also gloat over my enemies, *
and my ears rejoice to hear the doom of the wicked who rise up against me.

11

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, *
and shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon.

12

Those who are planted in the house of the LORD *
shall flourish in the courts of our God;

13

They shall still bear fruit in old age; *
they shall be green and succulent;

14

That they may show how upright the LORD is, *
my Rock, in whom there is no fault.

2 Corinthians 5:1-10

We know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling-- if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord-- for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

Mark 4:26-34

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come."

He also said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.

Return to The Lectionary Page.