Epiphany 08 B

As We Gather

—www.LCMS.org

Introit (Psalm 132: 13–18; antiphon: Psalm 132:9)

P:
Let your priests be clothed with | righteousness* and let your saints | shout for joy.
C:
For the Lord has chosen | Zion;* he has desired it for his | dwelling place:

P:
"This is my resting place for- | ever;* here I will dwell, for I have de- | sired it.
C:
I will abundantly bless her pro- | visions;* I will satisfy her | poor with bread.

P:
Her priests I will clothe with sal- | vation,* and her saints will | shout for joy.
C:
There I will make a horn to sprout for | David;* I have prepared a lamp for my a- | nointed.

P:
His enemies I will | clothe with shame,* but on him his | crown will shine."
C:
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son* and to the Holy | Spirit; as it was in the be- | ginning,* is now and will be forever. | Amen.

Collect of the Day

O Lord, mercifully hear our prayers and, having set us free from the bonds of our sins, deliver us from every evil; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Hosea 2:14–20

The Old Testament reading is from Hosea, chapter two.

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me “My Husband,” and no longer will you call me “My Baal.” For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 2:12–3:6

The Epistle is from Second Corinthians, chapters two and three.

When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord, my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

This is the word of the Lord.

Mark 2:18–22

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the second chapter.

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Psalm 103:1–13

P:
Bless the Lord, | O my soul,* and all that is within me, bless his | holy name!
C:
Bless the Lord, | O my soul,* and forget not all his | benefits,

P:
Who forgives all your in- | iquity,* who heals all your dis- | eases,
C:
Who redeems your life | from the pit,* who crowns you with steadfast love and | mercy,

P:
Who satisfies | you with good* so that your youth is renewed like the | eagle's.
C:
The Lord works | righteousness* and justice for all who | are oppressed.

P:
He made known his ways to | Moses,* his acts to the people of | Israel.
C:
The Lord is merciful and | gracious,* slow to anger and abounding in | steadfast love.

P:
He will not | always chide,* nor will he keep his anger for- | ever.
C:
He does not deal with us according | to our sins,* nor repay us according to our in- | iquities.

P:
For as high as the heavens are a- | bove the earth,* so great is his steadfast love toward those who | fear him;
C:
As far as the east is | from the west,* so far does he remove our transgres- | sions from us.

P:
As a father has compassion to his | children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who | fear him.
C:
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son* and to the Holy | Spirit; as it was in the be- | ginning,* is now and will be forever. | Amen.