Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

In Praise of God's Goodness^[a]

12 So remember your Creator^[a] while you are still young, before those dismal days and years come when you will say, “I don't enjoy life.” ² That is when the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars will grow dim for you, and the rain clouds will never pass away. ³ Then your arms, that have protected you, will tremble, and your legs, now strong, will grow weak. Your teeth will be too few to chew your food, and your eyes too dim to see clearly. ⁴ Your ears will be deaf to the noise of the street. You will barely be able to hear the mill as it grinds or music as it plays, but even the song of a bird will wake you from sleep. ⁵ You will be afraid of high places, and walking will be dangerous. Your hair will turn white; you will hardly be able to drag yourself along, and all desire will be gone.

We are going to our final resting place, and then there will be mourning in the streets. ⁶ The silver chain will snap, and the golden lamp will fall and break; the rope at the well will break, and the water jar will be shattered. ⁷ Our bodies will return to the dust of the earth, and the breath of life will go back to God, who gave it to us.

⁸ Useless, useless, said the Philosopher. It is all useless.

¹³ After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for. ¹⁴ God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret.

Trust in God^(A)

²² Then Jesus said to the disciples, “And so I tell you not to worry about the food you need to stay alive or about the clothes you need for your body. ²³ Life is much more important than food, and the body much more important than clothes. ²⁴ Look at the crows: they don't plant seeds or gather a harvest; they don't have storage rooms or barns; God feeds them! You are worth so much more than birds! ²⁵ Can any of you live a bit longer^[a] by worrying about it? ²⁶ If you can't manage even such a small thing, why worry about the other things? ^27 (B)Look how the wild flowers grow: they don't work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you that not even King Solomon with all his wealth had clothes as beautiful as one of these flowers. ²⁸ It is God who clothes the wild grass—grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!

²⁹ “So don't be all upset, always concerned about what you will eat and drink. ³⁰ (For the pagans of this world are always concerned about all these things.) Your Father knows that you need these things. ³¹ Instead, be concerned with his Kingdom, and he will provide you with these things.