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Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1 - My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?
OR
Amos 8:4-7 - Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, 6buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat…”

Psalm 79:1-9 – The nations have laid ruin to Jerusalem and given our bodies to the birds. How long, O Lord, will you kindle your anger against us?
OR
Psalm 113 - Praise the name of the Lord, from the rising of the sun to its setting. He raises the poor from the dust and the needy from the ashes. 

1 Timothy 2:1-7 - I wish everyone to raise up their hands without anger or argument. Pray for government leaders. For this is the will of God who wishes everyone to be saved.

Luke 16:1-13 – Parable of the Shrewd Manager. "And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes." Interpretation: Use your filthy, stinkin’ money to do some good in this life, so that in the next the poor will vouch for you.

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Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 – My people are stupid children with no understanding, who know how to do evil, but not good. The whole land shall be a desolation.
OR
Exodus 32:7-14 – Moses pleads with God to turn back his wrath against the people.

Psalm 14 – The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” You confound the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
OR
Psalm 51:1-10 – I was a sinner from my mother’s womb. Create in me a clean heart, O God…

1 Timothy 1:12-17 – Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of which I am the foremost.

Luke 15:1-10 – Parables of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin.

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Jeremiah 18:1-11 – The potter’s house: “Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, what the potter has done?”
OR
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 – I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live…

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 – O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You formed me in my inward parts. I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
OR
Psalm 1 – Happy are those who walk not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the seats of scoffers… They are like tress planted by streams of water, that yield fruit in due season…

Philemon 1-21 – Nearly the entire letter to Philemon, I would read the last three verses as well. Paul’s ominous, “Prepare a guest room for me” indicates: I’m coming to check up on you to see if you followed through with my request. This letter proves that when Paul says there is no longer slave or free (Gal 5:28-29), he means it. He doesn’t mean we’ll pretend when we’re in church, that these very real social distinctions don’t exist. He means a very real upheaval in relationships in the very real world.

Luke 14:25-33 – Renounce family and possessions. Take up your cross and follow me. Count the cost. Don’t start a tower and then fail to finish it.

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Revised Common Lectionary readings for Sunday, September 1, 2019.

Jeremiah 2:4-13 – God states the case against the descendants of Jacob.
OR
Sirach 10:12-18 – The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord.
OR
Proverbs 25:6-7 – Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great; for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. 

Psalm 81:1, 10-16 – I brought you out of the land of Egypt, but you did not obey me. So I gave you over to your stubborn desires.
OR
Psalm 112 – Blessed is the one who obeys the Lord. His house contains riches.

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 – Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.

Luke 14:1, 7-14 – Jesus heals on the Sabbath and lectures on the law. Jesus teaches about taking the lower place. When you give a luncheon or dinner invite the poor and crippled.

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Jeremiah 1:4-10 – Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I knew you. Do not say, “I am too young.” I will give you the words you are to speak for me.
OR
Isaiah 58:9b-14 — God’s chosen fast: Remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.

Psalm 71:1-6 – In you O Lord, I have taken shelter. Let me never be confounded. I have trusted you since you pulled me from my mother’s womb.
OR
Psalm 103:1-8 – Praise the Lord who forgives your sins, heals your diseases and delivers you from the Pit.

Hebrews 12:18-29 – Jesus, mediator of a new covenant. The blood of Jesus replacing that of Abel.

Luke 13:10-17 – Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath.

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Isaiah 5:1-7 – I will sing to my lover about his vineyard: It produced wild grapes. Therefore I will make it a wasteland.
OR
Jeremiah 23:23-29 Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19 – Shepherd of Israel: You planted a vineyard, then tore down its walls. Support us again, and we will not turn from you.
OR
Psalm 82 – Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy…. Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for the nations belong to you!

Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2 – By faith the people passed through the Red Sea… By faith the walls of Jericho fell. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient… Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12:49-56 – I have not come to bring peace but sword. Read the times like the seasons.

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Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 – Yahweh condemns Sodom and Gomorrah’s sins: injustice and oppression to the orphan and widow.


OR

Genesis 15:1-6 – The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your descendants be.” And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23 – The Lord calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

OR

Psalm 33:12-22 – Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 – Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God. By faith Abraham obeyed. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old.

Luke 12:32-40 – Have no fear. Sell your possessions. Give alms. Be prepared like the householder and thief. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded.

Isaiah 43:16-21 – Rivers in the desert: do not remember the former things. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.

Psalm 126 – When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the watercourses in the Negeb. May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy.

OR


Psalm 119:9-16 – How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Philippians 3:4b-14 – I more than any have reason to be confident in the flesh (my own works-righteousness) but I regard them all as rubbish in order to gain Christ, and know him as Lord, a righteousness based on faith, not works. And so I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

John 12:1-8 – Mary anoints Jesus feet with costly nard and wipes them with her hair. Judas objects. And the much maligned: “You always have the poor with you, but not me.”

Joshua 5:9-12 — After the Israelites cross the Jordan, the disgrace of Egypt is over, the manna stops and the people eat the bounty of the land.

Psalm 32 — I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’, and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 – We once saw Christ from a human standpoint, but no longer. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. God reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. So we are ambassadors for Christ. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 – The Lost Sheep and the Lost Sons

Sing Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer. The third stanza alludes to Joshua: “When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside; death of death and hell’s destruction, land me save on Canaan’s side. Songs and praises, songs and praises I will raise evermore…”

Sing Amazing Grace, which ties to the younger son: “I once was lost, but now am found…”

Read it online http://bishopmike.com/2019/03/24/lent-4c-march-31-2019/

Isaiah 55:1-9 – Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Return to the Lord… for he will abundantly pardon. (This is also the OT reading for Pentecost 9A.)

Psalm 63:1-8 – O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water… In the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 – The results of idolatry and immorality are devastating, so do not fall. No test has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God will strengthen you for your testing.

Luke 13:1-9 – Those Galileans slaughtered by Pilate, were they any worse sinners than anyone else? No. How about those who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? No. But unless you repent, you will also perish. Jesus likens his ministry to a man who allows his gardener to tend a fruitless fig tree for one year. If it doesn’t bear fruit, it will be destroyed. Prediction of the fall of Jerusalem?

Lent C

Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.
– Joel 2

Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18 – Abram believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Righteousness by faith.

Psalm 27 – The Lord is my light and my salvation. He will hide me in his tent and set me upon a high rock.

Philippians 3:17 – 4:1 – I press on toward the goal: the heavenly call of God in Christ. Enemies of the cross: their god is the belly. Their end is destruction.

Luke 13:31-35 – Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how I have longed to gather you as a mother hen gathers her young under her wings.

Lent C

Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.
– Joel 2

 

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Lectionary texts for September 16, 2018 discussed by Bishop Mike Rinehart of the Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA 

Bishop Mike Rinehart of of the Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA discusses the lectionary texts for September 2, 2018

Bishop Mike Rinehart on the lectionary texts for Pentecost 16B / Proper 18B

[[Rebroadcast]] While Bishop Mike is working on a new project, we are rebroadcasting the Lectionary Year B podcasts from a previous cycle. 

For more resources about 2 Corinthians and preaching these texts in series, visit bishopmike.com

[[Rebroadcast]] While Bishop Mike is working on a new project, we are rebroadcasting the Lectionary Year B podcasts from a previous cycle. 

For more resources about 2 Corinthians and preaching these texts in series, visit bishopmike.com

[[Rebroadcast]] While Bishop Mike is working on a new project, we are rebroadcasting the Lectionary Year B podcasts from a previous cycle. 

For more resources about 2 Corinthians and preaching these texts in series, visit bishopmike.com

[[Rebroadcast]] While Bishop Mike is working on a new project, we are rebroadcasting the Lectionary Year B podcasts from a previous cycle. 

For more resources about 2 Corinthians and preaching these texts in series, visit bishopmike.com

Bishop Mike Rinehart talks about preaching the lectionary texts for Pentecost Sunday

Lutheran Bishop Mike Rinehart of the Gulf Coast Synod talks about the lectionary texts for preaching on Ascension Sunday. 

A weekly podcast talking about preaching the lectionary texts. 

Bishop Mike Rinehart of the Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA talks about preaching the lectionary texts for Palm Sunday

Bishop Mike Rinehart (Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA) discusses preaching the lectionary texts for the Fourth Sunday in Lent 

Bishop Mike Rinehart (Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA) offers thought for those preaching on the lectionary texts for the first Sunday in Lent.

Bishop Mike Rinehart of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA talks about preaching the lectionary texts for Ash Wednesday, 2018

Bishop Mike Rinehart of the Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA talks about preaching the lectionary texts for Transfiguration Sunday 

Bishop Mike Rinehart discusses the lectionary texts for Epiphany 3B, January 21, 2018

Bishop Mike Rinehart (ELCA) talks about the lectionary texts for Sunday. 

Bishop Mike Rinehart talks about the lectionary texts for the Fourth Sunday in Advent 

Bishop Mike Rinehart of the Gulf Coast Synod talks about the lectionary text for the Third Sunday of Advent 

Bishop Mike Rinehart (Gulf Coast Synod, ELCA) discusses the Revised Common Lectionary texts for the second Sunday in Advent, Year B

Bishop Mike Rinehart talks about the lectionary texts for December 3, 2017 - the First Sunday of Advent. 

Bishop Mike Rinehart talks about the lectionary texts for November 26, 2017. 

Bishop Mike Rinehart talks about the lectionary texts for November 19, 2017. 

Bishop Mike Rinehart (Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA) talks about the RCL texts for Sunday, September 10,  2017.

Exodus 12:1-14 / Ezekiel 33:7-11 / Psalm 149 /Psalm 119:33-40 / Romans 13:8-14 / Matthew 18:15-20 

Bishop Mike Rinehart (Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA) talks about the texts for Sunday, September 3,  2017.

Jeremiah 15:15-21

Psalm 26:1-8

Romans 12:9-21

Matthew 16:21-28