Book of Common Prayer
(A psalm by Asaph.)
What Pleases God
1 From east to west,
the powerful Lord God
has been calling together
everyone on earth.
2 God shines brightly from Zion,
the most beautiful city.
3 Our God approaches,
but not silently;
a flaming fire comes first,
and a storm surrounds him.
4 God comes to judge his people.
He shouts to the heavens
and to the earth,
5 “Call my followers together!
They offered me a sacrifice,
and we made an agreement.”
6 The heavens announce,
“God is the judge,
and he is always honest.”
7 My people, I am God!
Israel, I am your God.
Listen to my charges
against you.
8 Although you offer sacrifices
and always bring gifts,
9 I won't accept your offerings
of bulls and goats.
10 Every animal in the forest
belongs to me,
and so do the cattle
on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds
in the mountains,
and every wild creature
is in my care.
12 If I were hungry,
I wouldn't tell you,
because I own the world
and everything in it.
13 I don't eat the meat of bulls
or drink the blood of goats.
14 I am God Most High!
The only sacrifice I want
is for you to be thankful
and to keep your word.
15 Pray to me in time of trouble.
I will rescue you,
and you will honor me.
16 But to the wicked I say:
“You don't have the right
to mention my laws or claim
to keep our agreement!
17 You refused correction
and rejected my commands.
18 You made friends
with every crook you met,
and you liked people who break
their wedding vows.
19 You talked only about violence
and told nothing but lies;
20 you sat around gossiping,
ruining the reputation
of your own relatives.”
21 When you did all this,
I didn't say a word,
and you thought,
“God is just like us!”
But now I will accuse you.
22 You have ignored me!
So pay close attention
or I will tear you apart,
and no one can help you.
23 The sacrifice that honors me
is a thankful heart.
Obey me,[a] and I, your God,
will show my power to save.
(For the music leader. To the tune “Don't Destroy.”[a] A special psalm by David when Saul had David's house watched so that he could kill him.)
A Prayer for Protection
1 (A) Save me, God! Protect me
from enemy attacks!
2 Keep me safe from brutal people
who want to kill me.
3 Merciless enemies, Lord,
are hiding and plotting,
hoping to kill me.
I have not hurt them
in any way at all.
4 But they are ready to attack.
Do something! Help me!
Look at what's happening.
5 Lord God All-Powerful,
you are the God of Israel.
Punish the other nations
and don't pity those terrible
and rebellious people.
6 My enemies return at evening,
growling like dogs
roaming the city.
7 They curse, and their words
cut like swords,
as they say to themselves,
“No one can hear us!”
8 You, Lord, laugh at them
and sneer at the nations.
9 You are my mighty fortress,
and I depend on you.
10 You love me and will let me
see my enemies defeated.
11 Don't kill them,
or everyone may forget!
Just use your mighty power
to make them tremble
and fall.
You are a shield
for your people.
12 My enemies are liars!
So let them be trapped
by their boastful lies.
13 Get angry and destroy them.
Leave them in ruin.
Then all the nations will know
that you rule in Israel.
14 Those liars return at evening,
growling like dogs
roaming the city.
15 They search for scraps of food,
and they snarl
until they are stuffed.
16 But I will sing about
your strength, my God,
and I will celebrate
because of your love.
You are my fortress,
my place of protection
in times of trouble.
17 I will sing your praises!
You are my mighty fortress,
and you love me.
(For the music leader. To the tune “Lily of the Promise.” A special psalm by David for teaching. He wrote it during his wars with the Arameans of northern Syria,[b] when Joab came back and killed twelve thousand Edomites[c] in Salt Valley.)
You Can Depend on God
1 (B) You, God, are angry with us!
We are rejected and crushed.
Make us strong again!
2 You made the earth shake
and split wide open;
now heal its wounds
and stop its trembling.
3 You brought hard times
on your people,
and you gave us wine
that made us stagger.
4 You gave a signal to those
who worship you,
so they could escape
from enemy arrows.[d]
5 Answer our prayers, God!
Use your powerful arm
and give us victory.
Then the people you love
will be safe.
6 Our God, you solemnly promised,
“I would gladly divide up
the city of Shechem
and give away Succoth Valley
piece by piece.
7 The lands of Gilead
and Manasseh are mine.
Ephraim is my war helmet,
and Judah is the symbol
of my royal power.
8 Moab is merely my washbasin.
Edom belongs to me,
and I shout in triumph
over the Philistines.”
9 Our God, who will bring me
to the fortress,
or lead me to Edom?
10 Have you rejected us
and deserted our armies?
11 Help us defeat our enemies!
No one else can rescue us.
12 You will give us victory
and crush our enemies.
The Lord Works Wonders
1 (A) God brought his people
out of Egypt, that land
with a strange language.
2 He made Judah his holy place
and ruled over Israel.
3 (B) When the sea looked at God,
it ran away,
and the Jordan River
flowed upstream.
4 The mountains and the hills
skipped around like goats.
5 Ask the sea why it ran away
or ask the Jordan
why it flowed upstream.
6 Ask the mountains and the hills
why they skipped like goats!
7 Earth, you will tremble,
when the Lord God of Jacob
comes near,
8 (C) because he turns solid rock
into flowing streams
and pools of water.
The Lord Deserves To Be Praised
1 We don't deserve praise!
The Lord alone deserves
all of the praise,
because of his love
and faithfulness.
2 (D) Why should the nations ask,
“Where is your God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens,
doing as he chooses.
4 (E) The idols of the nations
are made of silver and gold.
5 They have a mouth and eyes,
but they can't speak or see.
6 Their ears can't hear,
and their noses can't smell.
7 Their hands have no feeling,
their legs don't move,
and they can't make a sound.
8 Everyone who made the idols
and all who trust them
are just as helpless
as those useless gods.
9 People of Israel,
you must trust the Lord
to help and protect you.
10 Family of Aaron the priest,
you must trust the Lord
to help and protect you.
11 All of you worship the Lord,
so you must trust him
to help and protect you.
12 The Lord will not forget
to give us his blessing;
he will bless all of Israel
and the family of Aaron.
13 (F) All who worship the Lord,
no matter who they are,
will receive his blessing.
14 I pray that the Lord
will let your family
and your descendants
always grow strong.
15 May the Lord who created
the heavens and the earth
give you his blessing.
16 The Lord has kept the heavens
for himself,
but he has given the earth
to us humans.
17 The dead are silent
and cannot praise the Lord,
18 but we will praise him
now and forevermore.
Shout praises to the Lord!
8 Don't let anyone fool you by using senseless arguments. These arguments may sound wise, but they are only human teachings. They come from the powers of this world[a] and not from Christ.
9 God lives fully in Christ. 10 And you are fully grown because you belong to Christ, who is over every power and authority. 11 Christ has also taken away your selfish desires, just as circumcision removes flesh from the body. 12 (A) And when you were baptized, it was the same as being buried with Christ. Then you were raised to life because you had faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from death. 13 (B) You were dead, because you were sinful and were not God's people. But God let Christ make you[b] alive, when he forgave all our sins.
14 (C) God wiped out the charges that were against us for disobeying the Law of Moses. He took them away and nailed them to the cross. 15 There Christ defeated all powers and forces. He let the whole world see them being led away as prisoners when he celebrated his victory.
16 (D) Don't let anyone tell you what you must eat or drink. Don't let them say you must celebrate the New Moon festival, the Sabbath, or any other festival. 17 These things are only a shadow of what was to come. But Christ is real!
18 Don't be cheated by people who make a show of acting humble and who worship angels.[c] They brag about seeing visions. But it is all nonsense, because their minds are filled with selfish desires. 19 (E) They are no longer part of Christ, who is the head of the whole body. Christ gives the body its strength, and he uses its joints and muscles to hold it together, as it grows by the power of God.
Christ Brings New Life
20 You died with Christ. Now the forces of the universe[d] don't have any power over you. Why do you live as if you had to obey such rules as, 21 “Don't handle this. Don't taste that. Don't touch this.”? 22 After these things are used, they are no longer good for anything. So why be bothered with the rules that humans have made up? 23 Obeying these rules may seem to be the smart thing to do. They appear to make you love God more and to be very humble and to have control over your body. But they don't really have any power over our desires.
39 (A) Jesus also used some sayings as he spoke to the people. He said:
Can one blind person lead another blind person? Won't they both fall into a ditch? 40 (B) Are students better than their teacher? But when they are fully trained, they will be like their teacher.
41 You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye. 42 How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don't see the log in your own eye? You show-offs! First, get the log out of your own eye; then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye.
A Tree and Its Fruit
(Matthew 7.17-20; 12.34b,35)
43 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. 44 (C) You can tell what a tree is like by the fruit it produces. You cannot pick figs or grapes from thornbushes. 45 (D) Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts, but bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart.
Two Builders
(Matthew 7.24-27)
46 Why do you keep on saying that I am your Lord, when you refuse to do what I say? 47 Anyone who comes and listens to me and obeys me 48 is like someone who dug down deep and built a house on solid rock. When a flood came and the river rushed against the house, it was built so well that it didn't even shake. 49 But anyone who hears what I say and doesn't obey me is like someone whose house wasn't built on solid rock. As soon as the river rushed against that house, it was smashed to pieces!
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