Proper 4
Week of the Sunday closest to June 1

Collect:
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Deuteronomy 5:6-21
I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 4:5-12
For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Psalm: 81

  1. Sing with joy to God our strength *
    and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
  2. Raise a song and sound the timbrel, *
    the merry harp, and the lyre.
  3. Blow the ram's-horn at the new moon, *
    and at the full moon, the day of our feast.
  4. For this is a statute for Israel, *
    a law of the God of Jacob.
  5. He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, *
    when he came out of the land of Egypt.
  6. I heard an unfamiliar voice saying *
    "I eased his shoulder from the burden;
    his hands were set free from bearing the load."
  7. You called on me in trouble, and I saved you; *
    I answered you from the secret place of thunder
    and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
  8. Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: *
    O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
  9. There shall be no strange god among you; *
    you shall not worship a foreign god.
  10. I am the LORD your God,
    who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, *
    "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
  11. And yet my people did not hear my voice, *
    and Israel would not obey me.
  12. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, *
    to follow their own devices.
  13. Oh, that my people would listen to me! *
    that Israel would walk in my ways!
  14. I should soon subdue their enemies *
    and turn my hand against their foes.
  15. Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, *
    and their punishment would last for ever.
  16. But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat *
    and satisfy him with honey from the rock.

Gospel: Mark 2:23-28
One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"

He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."

Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Collect & Psalm from the Book of Common Prayer
Other excerpts from the New International Bible

Sts. Vidicon & Isidore