Proper 16
Week of the Sunday closest to August 24

Collect
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Joshua 24:1-2a,14-25
Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

Joshua said to all the people, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:

14'Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.'"

Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God."

Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."

But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD."

Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD."
"Yes, we are witnesses," they replied.

"Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel."

And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."

Second Lesson: Ephesians 5:21-33
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Psalm: 16

1. Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; *
   I have said to the LORD, "You are my Lord,
   my good above all other."
2. All my delight is upon the godly that are in the land, *
   upon those who are noble among the people.
3. But those who run after other gods *
   shall have their troubles multiplied.
4. Their libations of blood I will not offer, *
   nor take the names of their gods upon my lips.
5. O LORD, you are my portion and my cup; *
   it is you who uphold my lot.
6. My boundaries enclose a pleasant land; *
   indeed, I have a goodly heritage.
7. I will bless the LORD who gives me counsel; *
   my heart teaches me, night after night.
8. I have set the LORD always before me; *
   because he is at my right hand I shall not fall.
9. My heart, therefore, is glad, and my spirit rejoices; *
   my body also shall rest in hope.
10. For you will not abandon me to the grave, *
    nor let your holy one see the Pit.
11. You will show me the path of life; *
    in your presence there is fullness of joy,
    and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.

OR

Psalm 34:15-22

• The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, *
  and his ears are open to their cry.
• The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, *
  to root out the remembrance of them from the earth.
• The righteous cry, and the LORD hears them *
  and delivers them from all their troubles.
• The LORD is near to the brokenhearted *
  and will save those whose spirits are crushed.
• Many are the troubles of the righteous, *
  but the LORD will deliver him out of them all.
• He will keep safe all his bones; *
  not one of them shall be broken.
• Evil shall slay the wicked, *
  and those who hate the righteous will be punished.
• The LORD ransoms the life of his servants, *
  and none will be punished who trust in him.

Gospel: John 6:60-69
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"

Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, "Does this offend you? What if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.

"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

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

Sts. Vidicon & Isidore