First Sunday of Summer
June 29, 2008
First Reading: 1 Kings 18:30-39
Then Elijah said to all the people, "Come near me;" and all
the people came near him. And he repaired the altar of the
Lord that had been thrown down; Elijah took twelve stones,
according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob,
to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, "Israel shall be
your name"; and with the stones he built an altar in the
name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as
great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the
wood in order, and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the
wood. And he said, "Fill four jars with water, and pour it
on the burnt offering, and on the wood." And he said, "Do it
a second time"; and they did it a second time. And he said,
"Do it a third time"; and they did it a third time. And the
water ran round about the altar, and filled the trench also
with water. And at the time of the offering of the oblation,
Elijah the prophet came near and said, "O Lord, God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that
you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that
I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O
Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord,
are God, and that you have turned their hearts back." Then
the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering,
and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up
the water that was in the trench. And when all the people
saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, "The Lord,
he is God; the Lord, he is God."
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Second Reading: Acts 5:12-32
Now many signs and wonders were done among the people by the
hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's
Portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held
them in high honor. And more than ever believers were added to
the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even
carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and
pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on
some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around
Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean
spirits, and they were all healed. But the high priest rose up
and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees,
and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put
them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord
opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, "Go and
stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of
this Life." And when they heard this, they entered the temple at
daybreak and taught.
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Epistle: 2 Corinthians 1:8-14
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the
affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly,
unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Why, we
felt that we had received the sentence of death; but that was to
make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead; he
delivered us from so deadly a peril, and he will deliver us; on
him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also
must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our
behalf for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we
have behaved in the world, and still more toward you, with
holiness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the
grace of God. For we write you nothing but what you can read and
understand; I hope you will understand fully, as you have
understood in part, that you can be proud of us as we can be of
you, on the day of the Lord Jesus.
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Gospel: Luke 14:1-14
One Sabbath when he went to dine at the house of a ruler who
belonged to the Pharisees, they were watching him. And behold,
there was a man before him who had dropsy. And Jesus spoke to
the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the
Sabbath, or not?" But they were silent. Then he took him and
healed him, and let him go. And he said to them, "Which of you,
having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not
immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?" And they could not
reply to this. Now he told a parable to those who were invited,
when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to
them, "When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do
not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than
you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and
say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you will begin
with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited,
go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he
may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher'; then you will be honored
in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For every one
who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself
will be exalted." He said also to the man who had invited him,
"When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends
or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they
also invite you in return, and you be repaid. But when you give
a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and
you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be
repaid at the resurrection of the just."
