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Event Series Event Series: Proper 16 – Year C

Proper 16 – Year C

24 August 2025 All day

Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

The LORD spoke to me saying:

“Jeremiah, I am the God who created you;
I knew you before your parents thought of you.
Before you were born I chose you for myself,
I picked you out to speak to the nations on my behalf.”

I replied, “LORD God, you’re making a big mistake! I am a lousy public speaker and I’m too young for anybody to take me seriously.”

But the LORD said to me,

“Don’t put yourself down because of your age.
Just go to whoever I send you to,
and say whatever I tell you to say.

Don’t let yourself feel intimidated by anyone,
because I’ll be there to back you up.
You’ll be okay; take my word for it.”

Then the LORD reached out and touched my mouth, saying to me,

“With my own hand I am putting my words into your mouth.
Here and now I am appointing you to the job.
I give you the authority to speak to the nations for me;
to speak words that will wreak havoc,
words that will crush and demolish and devastate,
and words that will heal and rebuild and give life.”

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

I run to you for protection, LORD,
please don’t ever let me down.

You always do the right thing,
so please be there for me when I need you.
Hear me when I call for help
and step in quickly to bail me out.

Keep me safe when I need somewhere to hide.
You are like a mountain hideaway to me;
like a bunker than nothing can blast open.

If I fall into hostile hands,
be my God and rescue me;
Don’t let the callous and cruel
get their claws into me.

You are my only hope,
the only one I can depend on, LORD;
I’ve trusted you since I was a kid.

I’ve leaned on you for support
since the day I was born.
You were the midwife who delivered me from my mother’s womb,
the safe hands who pulled me gasping into life.
I’ll never stop thanking you for that!

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

The place where you have arrived is not like Mount Sinai was when your ancestors arrived there — rumbling like thunder and spewing fire and thick darkness. On arrival they heard a trumpet blast from the mountain and then the sound of a voice so terrifying that they begged for it to stop. The little they did hear was bad enough — that if even an animal was to touch the mountain it must die. What they witnessed was so terrifying that even Moses admitted that he was reduced to jelly.

You have arrived at Mount Zion, heaven’s own Jerusalem, and it is completely different. This is the city where God lives, and it is populated by angels — too many to count — and by the whole assembly of God’s beloved children who are signed-up in heaven. All of them, angels and people, are gathered there to celebrate God, and you have arrived to join them, for it is here that all those who committed themselves to doing right are finally made complete in love and integrity. God is here and, here, what God says goes. Jesus is here too, putting in place the new alliance between us and God. The memory of how Jesus was killed is strong here, but it is remembered most for what he achieved in the process rather than just as tragedy like Abel’s death.

So, now that you’re here, make sure you don’t reject what God is saying to you. If our ancestors couldn’t get away with rejecting what God told them to do at Mount Sinai, then what chance would we have if we turn a deaf ear to God on arrival in heaven? Back then, God’s voice shook the earth to its foundations, but what’s coming will be even more awesome. God’s promise is clear: “One final time I will shake up both earth and heaven.” When God says, “One final time”, it is clear that this final shaking will get rid of everything that has no lasting value and leave behind only those things that will last forever.

So we are being given a homeland where God reigns — a homeland that will stand rock-solid when everything else is shaken. No wonder we are so grateful. We simply overflow with thanks and fall to our knees before God, overcome with awe. This is our worship, for we offer ourselves into the consuming fire of love that is God.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

One Sabbath day, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue. There was a woman in the congregation there who had been afflicted for eighteen years by a crippling and untreatable condition. It twisted her body and kept her bent over all the time. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are now set free from what has crippled you.”

He placed his hands on her and, right then and there, she straightened up to her full height and burst into a song of praise to God. The president of the synagogue, though, was spitting chips, because the day on which Jesus had carried out this work of healing was the Sabbath rest day. Desperate to get the crowd back on side, he kept saying, “God has given us six days a week for work to be done, so you have plenty of opportunity to come and be healed. There is no need to break the Sabbath for it.”

But the Lord took him on over this, saying, “You two-faced frauds! Don’t tell me that each of you doesn’t unchain your dog on the Sabbath just as you do every other day, so that it can stretch it’s legs and get a drink. This woman is a daughter of Abraham who the satan has kept chained up for eighteen years. So doesn’t it seem all the more fitting that it be on the Sabbath day that she be freed from her chains?”

His words left his critics with egg all over their faces. To the rest of the congregation though, his actions were cause for wonder and celebration.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prior to the revision of the Lectionary in 1992, the 1st reading and the psalm that responded to it were chosen to link thematically with the gospel reading. After hearing the critique of those who said that the Hebrew Scriptures, from which the first reading is usually chosen, should be allowed to speak with their own voice rather than just add support to the gospel reading, the Lectionary was revised so that during Ordinary Time, the 1st reading runs in its own semi-continuous series, working through various books of the Hebrew Bible. The older themed series continues to be available as an alternative.

The weekly prayers offered here at LaughingBird Resources are based on the four readings above, and do not draw on the themed 1st reading and psalm.

The LORD says:

“If you abandon all forms of exploitation,
and avoid bad-mouthing others to gain an edge;
if you share what you have with those in need,
and respond to the real needs of suffering communities;
then you’ll find that the world will light up for you
and life will be one beautiful day after another.

“I, the LORD, will always be there to guide you;
even in the grip of drought,
I’ll keep you healthy and well fed.
You’ll be like an irrigated vineyard with its own deep bore,
green and lush and full of life!

“Your ruined houses will be renovated and new;
you’ll be able to restore the homes
that have been in your families for generations.
You’ll get a reputation for making dreams possible,
for enabling everyone to find a good place to live.

“If you stop making a mockery of the sabbath
by using the holy day to push your own agendas;
if you bring your words and your actions
into line with one another
by bringing the life you live during the week
into line with the worship you offer on that day;
then I will be close to you and be your delight,
and you will be highly regarded all over the earth.
The land I gave to your ancestors
will continue to bring forth life
for you and your children.

“I, the LORD, have spoken.”

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

With all our hearts, we praise you, LORD,
from the depths of our being
we name you as our one and only.

With all that we are we sings your praises, LORD;
how could we ever forget all you have done for us?

When we do wrong, you forgive us;
when we are sick, you make us well;
when our lives fall apart, you put us back together.

With love and mercy, you treat us like royalty;
you shower us with good things all our lives;
you makes us feel as young and free as an eagle.

You are there for those who are victimised, LORD;
you clear their names and bring them justice.

Through Moses, you let us know what you are on about;
through Israel, you let us see what you can do.

Your mercy and generosity are extravagant, LORD;
your patience and love are as solid as rock.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
for you are our rock and haven;
the tower of strength to whom we can always turn.

You created the heavens and earth,
and the sound of your voice shakes all things.
You put your words in the mouths of the prophets
to destroy wickedness and overthrow the ruthless,
and to build justice and plant righteousness.

Your child, Jesus Christ, came among us
with words of freedom, hope and healing
which so scandalised the powerful that they crucified him,
but you raised him to new life
and appointed him as the mediator of a new covenant.
Before we were formed in the womb, you knew us
and now you are bringing us into your holy city
with the angels and saints and the faithful of every age
to rejoice together at the wonderful things you are doing.

Therefore with .....

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

We thank your for your words of freedom, hope and healing
by which you are bringing us into your holy city
with the angels and saints and the faithful of every age
to rejoice together at the wonderful things you are doing.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you are our rock and haven;
the tower of strength to whom we can always turn.

You created the heavens and earth,
and the sound of your voice shakes all things.
You put your words in the mouths of the prophets
to destroy wickedness and overthrow the ruthless,
and to build justice and plant righteousness.

Your child, Jesus Christ, came among us
with words of freedom, hope and healing
which so scandalised the powerful that they crucified him,
but you raised him to new life
and appointed him as the mediator of a new covenant.
Before we were formed in the womb, you knew us
and now you are bringing us into your holy city
with the angels and saints and the faithful of every age
to rejoice together at the wonderful things you are doing.

Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

The Lord is our hope from the moment of birth.
Jesus Christ, the mediator of the new covenant,
is pleased to free us from all that has bound us.

Sisters and Brothers,
  your sins are forgiven;
    be at peace.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Go now to speak the words God gives you
to all those to whom God sends you.
Offer your worship to God
with thanksgiving
and with works of freedom and mercy.

And may God be your shelter to keep you safe;
May Christ Jesus set you free from all that cripples you;
And may the Holy Spirit be with you to deliver you
and to make you perfect with all God’s faithful ones.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
   In the name of Christ. Amen.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

  1. Embracing the Sacred
    A sermon on Luke 13:10-17 & Jeremiah 1: 4-10 by Nathan Nettleton
  2. To Free or Not to Free
    A sermon on Luke 13:10-17 by Nathan Nettleton
  3. Put To Shame
    A sermon on Luke 13:10-17 by Nathan Nettleton
  4. “Love is more demanding than the Law”
    A sermon on Luke 13:10-17 by John Fowler

Details

Date:
24 August 2025
Series: