August 20, 2023 The Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost

Entrance Hymn #410 Praise, My Soul, The King of HeavenSequence Hymn #533 How Wondrous and Great Thy WorksOffertory Anthem “Simple Song: from Mass (Bernstein) Sarah Izzi Hamel, SoloistCommunion Anthem Hear My Cry, O God (Franck) Sarah Izzi Hamel, Soloist Post-Communion Hymn #371 Thou, Whose Almighty WordTHE COLLECT OF THE DAYAlmighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.FIRST READING Isaiah 56:1,6-8Thus says the LORD: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, andmy deliverance be revealed.And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name ofthe LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant--these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.PSALM Psalm 67 Deus misereatur 1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *show us the light of his countenance and come to us.2 Let your ways be known upon earth, * your saving health among all nations.3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; * let all the peoples praise you.4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, * for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth.5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; * let all the peoples praise you.6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *may God, our own God, give us his blessing.7 May God give us his blessing, *and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.SECOND READING Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant ofAbraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.GOSPEL Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28[Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, s