Collect for 16th Sunday After Trinity
O Lord, we beseech you mercifully to hear
the prayers of your people who call upon you;
and grant that they may both perceive and know what things they ought to do,
and also may have grace and power faithfully to fulfil them;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Habakkuk 1.1-4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous— refore judgement comes forth perverted.
This is the word of the Lord.
All Thanks be to God.
Psalm 37
1 Fret not because of evildoers; • be not jealous of those who do wrong.
2 For they shall soon wither like grass • and like the green herb fade away.
3 Trust in the Lord and be doing good; • dwell in the land and be nourished with truth.
4 Let your delight be in the Lord • and he will give you your heart’s desire.
5 Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, • and he will bring it to pass.
6 He will make your righteousness as clear as the light • and your just dealing as the noonday.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait for him; • do not fret over those that prosper as they follow their evil schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and abandon wrath; • do not fret, lest you be moved to do evil.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off, • but those who wait upon the Lord shall possess the land.
2 Timothy 1.1-14
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
To Timothy, my beloved child:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you.
For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline. Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Saviour Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher,
and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.
Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.
This is the word of the Lord.
All Thanks be to God.
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
All Glory to you, O Lord.
Luke 17.5-10
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’
The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you. ‘Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from ploughing or tending sheep in the field, “Come here at once and take your place at the table”?
Would you not rather say to him, “Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink”?
Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?
So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!”’
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All Praise to you, O Christ.
Post Communion
Almighty God,
you have taught us through your Son
that love is the fulfilling of the law:
grant that we may love you with our whole heart
and our neighbours as ourselves;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.