Second Sunday in Lent                        February 25, 2024

 

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of your humble servants and stretch forth the right hand of your majesty to be our defense against all our enemies. Grant this, we pray, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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First Reading: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

1When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, 2that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” 3Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, 4“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.”

15And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

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Psalm 22:22-30* (LBW)

22Praise the Lord, you that fear him;

     stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob’s line, give glory.

23For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;

     neither does he hide his face from them;

         but when they cry to him he hears them.

24My praise is of him in the great assembly;

     I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him.

25The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the Lord shall praise him:

     “May your heart live forever!”

26All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord,

     and all the families of the nations shall bow before him.

27For kingship belongs to the Lord;

     he rules over the nations.

28To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship;

     all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him;

     they shall be known as the Lord’s forever.

30They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn

     the saving deeds that he has done.

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Second Reading: Romans 5:1-11

1Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For one will scarcely die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die — 8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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Gospel: Mark 8:27-38

27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. 31And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” 34And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 35For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 36For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 37For what can a man give in return for his soul? 38For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

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Next Week’s Readings:

Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; John 2:13-22 [23-25]

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