Old Testament Readings: Isaiah 58: 5-11
5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed2 go free, and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 If you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
New Testament Readings: Matthew 22: 36-40
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Other Readings:
Oxford professor Thomas Linacre (circa 1520) upon reading the Gospel near the end of his life for the first time in its original Greek
"Either this is not the Gospel or we are not Christians."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1938) the opening line of The Cost of Discipleship:
Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our church. We are fighting today for costly grace.
Rich Tafel (5/22/22) sermon at Church of the Holy City:
There are also some theological reasons for the decline in church membership, because the church has spent hundreds of years not following the teachings of Jesus and not teaching the teachings of Jesus, to love our enemies, to forfeit power, and to be of service to others.
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