The Saints of Inverness - 11.3.19 The Rev. Vincent Pizzuto, Ph.D.

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost The Collect:  Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament:  Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 [Alternate: Isaiah 1:10-18] 1The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. 2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,    and you will not listen? Or cry to you 'Violence!'    and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see wrongdoing    and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me;    strife and contention arise. 4 So the law becomes slack    and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous—    therefore judgement comes forth perverted. 1I will stand at my watch-post,    and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,    and what he will answer concerning my complaint. 2 Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision;    make it plain on tablets,    so that a runner may read it. 3 For there is still a vision for the appointed time;    it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it;    it will surely come, it will not delay. 4 Look at the proud!    Their spirit is not right in them,    but the righteous live by their faith. Alternate: 10 Hear the word of the Lord,    you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God,    you people of Gomorrah! 11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?    says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt-offerings of rams    and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls,    or of lambs, or of goats. 12 When you come to appear before me,    who asked this from your hand?    Trample my courts no more; 13 bringing offerings is futile;    incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—    I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity. 14 Your new moons and your appointed festivals    my soul hates; they have become a burden to me,    I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you stretch out your hands,    I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers,    I will not listen;    your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;    remove the evil of your doings    from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17   learn to do good; seek justice,    rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan,    plead for the widow. 18 Come now, let us argue it out,    says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet,    they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson,    they shall become like wool. Psalm:  Psalm 119:137-144 [Alternate: Psalm 32:1-8] 137 You are righteous, O Lord, *         and upright are your judgments. 138 You have issued your decrees *         with justice and in perfect faithfulness. 139 My indignation has consumed me, *         because my enemies forget your words. 140 Your word has been tested to the uttermost, *         and your servant holds it dear. 141 I am small and of little account, *         yet I do not forget your commandments. 142 Your justice is an everlasting justice *         and your law is the truth. 143 Trouble and distress have come upon me, *         yet your commandments are my delight. 144 The righteousness of your decrees is everlasting; *         grant me understanding, that I may live. Alternate: 1 Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, *         and whose sin is put away! 2 Happy are they to whom the Lord imputes no guilt, *         and in whose spirit there is no guile! 3 While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, *         because of my groaning all day long. 4 For your hand was heavy upon me day and night; *         my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, *         and did not conceal my guilt. 6 I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord." *         Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin. 7 Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in                            time of trouble; *         when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them. 8 You are my hiding-place;   you preserve me from trouble; *         you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Epistle:  2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our* Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. 4Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring. 11To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfil by his power every good resolve and work of faith, 12so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Gospel:  Luke 19:1-10 1He entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. 3He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.' 6So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7All who saw it began to grumble and said, 'He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.' 8Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, 'Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.' 9Then Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.'