Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A song to sing as we climb.
Servants of the Lord
123 I look up to you, God,
as you rule from your throne in heaven.
2 Yes, our eyes look up to the Lord our God.
We want him to be kind to us, so we wait for his help.
We wait like servants who want help from their master.
3 Please be kind to us, Lord. Please forgive us.
People have insulted us more and more!
4 We have had too much!
Proud people laugh at us,
and they do not respect us.
Please stop them!
Job replies to Zophar
21 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
17 It seems that wicked people enjoy a long life.
They do not often have many troubles.
When God is angry with them,
he does not cause them to suffer.
18 He does not blow them away,
like the wind blows dry grass.
They do not disappear like chaff that a storm blows away.
19 You may say, “God will punish a wicked person's children
with the punishment that he deserves.”
But I say that God should punish the wicked person himself.
Then he will realize that he is wicked.
20 Wicked people should receive their own punishment.
They should see that Almighty God is angry with them.
21 After wicked people have died,
it does not matter to them if their family suffers.
22 No one can teach God what he should do.
He himself judges the most powerful rulers.[a]
23 One person has good health all his life.
Even when he is ready to die,
he still lives a safe and happy life.
24 He eats good food and his body is strong.
25 But another person is sad all his life, until he dies.
No good things ever happen to him.
26 But they all die one day
and their bodies lie under the ground.
Worms cover their bodies, whoever they are.
27 I know what you are thinking.
You want to show that I am guilty.
28 You say, “You see that the rich person no longer has a house.
Wicked people no longer have homes to live in.”
29 But you should ask people who travel to different places.
You should listen to the things that they say.
30 They would tell you that wicked people do not always suffer.
When trouble comes,
they continue to be safe.
When God is angry with people,
wicked people escape punishment.
31 No one speaks against them
to say that they are guilty.
No one punishes them
for the bad things that they have done.
32 When a wicked person dies,
people bury him with honour.
Guards watch over his grave.
33 A big crowd of people come to his funeral.
They make a heap of earth over his body,
in the valley where he rests happily.
34 So your useless words do not comfort me.
Your answers are all lies!’
John says ‘Hello’ to a special lady
1 This letter comes from me, the leader of the believers. I am writing to you, a special lady that God has chosen, and to your children. I love all of you, because you have believed God's true message. And I am not the only one who loves you. Everyone who knows the true message about God really loves you. 2 I love you because we have all come to understand what is true. It will remain with us for ever.[a]
3 God our Father, and his Son Jesus Christ will help us. He will be kind to us and he will give us peace in our minds. This will happen because God loves us and because we believe his true message.
4 I was very happy to hear about some of your children. I am happy because they are living in a good way. They are obeying the true message about God. They are doing what God our Father has told us to do.
Do not believe false teachers
5 So now, dear lady, I want you to do something. I want all of us to love one another. I am not telling you a new command to obey. This is a command that we have had from the beginning. 6 How do we show real love? We show it when we live in a way that makes God happy. We obey his commands. He tells us to love one another, and that is how you should live. You have heard that command from the beginning.
7 I say this because many false teachers are travelling around everywhere. They do not agree that Jesus Christ was born as a human baby. People like that are telling lies. They are enemies of Christ. 8 So be careful! Do not believe their lies. Do not lose the good things that we have worked for. Make sure that you receive all the good things that God has promised to give you. 9 Remember the message which Christ taught. Anyone who teaches his own ideas instead of Christ's true message does not belong to God. Continue to believe what Christ taught. Anyone who does that belongs to God the Father and to his Son, Jesus. 10 Someone may come to you and teach you something that is different. Do not receive that person into your house. Do not receive him as a Christian. 11 If you receive people like that as Christian people, you are making yourself the same as them. You also are doing the same kind of bad work.
12 I want to tell you many more things, but I do not want to write about them in a letter. Instead, I hope to come and visit you. Then I can see you and we can talk together. Then we will be completely happy.
13 The believers here say ‘hello’ to you. They are the children of your sister that God has chosen.[b]
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