Thy Strong Word - Looking Ahead: Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27)

Hosted by Rev. Will Weedon, LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain.

With guest Rev. John Shank from Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, Illinois.

Looking Ahead: Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27)

Introit: Psalm 84:1, 9-12

My Soul Longs for the Courts of the Lord

To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith.^[a] A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

84 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!

⁹Behold our shield, O God;
look on the face of your anointed!

¹⁰For a day in your courts is better
    than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
    than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
¹¹For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
    the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
    from those who walk uprightly.
¹²O Lord of hosts,
    blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Footnotes:

Psalm 84:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term

Antiphon: Psalm 84:3

³Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.

Gradual: [Revelation 7:14b; Psalm 84:5]

“These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

⁵Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.^[a]

Footnotes:

Psalm 84:5 Hebrew lacks to Zion

Old Testament: Amos 5:18-24

Let Justice Roll Down

¹⁸Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
    Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light,
¹⁹    as if a man fled from a lion,
    and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
    and a serpent bit him.
²⁰Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,
    and gloom with no brightness in it?

²¹“I hate, I despise your feasts,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
²²Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
    I will not look upon them.
²³Take away from me the noise of your songs;
    to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
²⁴But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Psalm 70 (antiphon: v. 4)

O Lord, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.

70 Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
    O Lord, make haste to help me!
²Let them be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
³Let them turn back because of their shame
    who say, “Aha, Aha!”

⁴May all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
    say evermore, “God is great!”
⁵But I am poor and needy;
    hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O Lord, do not delay!

Epistle: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

The Coming of the Lord

¹³But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.¹⁴For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,^[a] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Footnotes:

1 Thessalonians 4:15 Or by the word of the Lord

Proper Verse: Matthew 25:13

¹³Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Gospel: Matthew 25:1-13

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps^[a] and went to meet the bridegroom.^[b] ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. ¹¹Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹²But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

Footnotes:

Matthew 25:1 Or torches
Matthew 25:1 Some manuscripts add and the bride

Lutheran Heritage Foundation - Underwriter of Thy Strong Word — Underwriter of Thy Strong Word

Rev. William Weedon

We have the distinct privilege of borrowing LCMS Director of Worship and International Center Chaplain Rev. William Chancellor Weedon for an hour a day to add Host of Thy Strong Word to his list of titles. Native to the central Maryland area just outside of Washington D.C., he enthusiastically enjoys his coffee, playing piano, and singing heartily, as well as spending time in the pool with his wife Cindi, three children and their spouses, and seven grandchildren. He’s one of those people that listens to Christmas music year-round, but we still let him in our studios. You may find him reading a good murder mystery or some writing by Johann Gerhard, Joseph Ratzinger, or Alexander Schmemann while eating a chocolate torte made by his wife Cindi. When he’s read all the books he can manage, he escapes outside to hike, bike, or even run in his Vivobarefoot shoes that Andy Bates, his favorite famous person, told him to buy.