The Lord GOD showed me a basket of freshly picked quince and asked, “Amos, what do you see?”
I answered, “A basket of quince.”

Then the LORD said:

“I am calling it quits with my people Israel.
I will not turn a blind eye again.
I, the Lord GOD, say that on that day,
instead of singing in the temple
they will be sobbing and howling.
The city will be littered with bodies;
too many to bury.
So shut up and listen to me!

“Listen to me, you who wipe your feet on those in need;
you who destroy the poor for your own gain.
You resent religious holidays
because they interrupt your wheeling and dealing.
You demand twenty-four hour, seven-day trading,
so that you can rip people off without ceasing.
Your advertising is all deceit and delusion.
You rig the odds and the interest rates.
You lure the poor into crippling debt
until you own them – body and soul –
and then charge them again for owing you money.

“I, the LORD, swear on the Bible you so proudly wave,
that I will not forget a single one of your mongrel actions.

Think about it and mourn,
for it will pull the bottom out of your world.
It will devastate you like a flood,
sweeping everything away and leaving nothing but mud.

“I, the Lord GOD, say that on that day,
I will black out the sun in the middle of the day
and turn broad daylight into deepest darkness.

“I will make that day as bitter for you
as if your son and his bride had died at the altar.
Your parties will become wakes.
Your dance music will become a dirge.
Your suits and frocks will all be sombre grey
and you will tear your hair out.

“I, the Lord GOD, can assure you of this,
that the time is coming when everyone will be starving;
hungering and thirsting, not for bread and water,
but for a word from me, the LORD.

“They will wander in confusion across the land,
from coast to coast, from mountain to desert,
desperately seeking a place where I can be heard,
but they will find nothing but my silence.”

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Why, God, do powerful people boast of evil
when your love can be trusted day after day?

They fill their time planning acts of destruction.

They wield words like weapons,
back-stabbing anyone who gets in their way.

They prize evil, and discredit good;
they reward cunning lies, and despise the truth.

They lust after dirt – fact or fiction —
that will give them the power to destroy someone.

Cut them down to size, God!
Tear them from their pedestals!
Uproot them and toss them out to die!

Those who trust your love and walk the straight and narrow
will watch in awe as you deal with them.
They will laugh and say:
“See what happens to those who back the wrong horse;
trusting their money and power
instead of finding their strength in God.”

We put our trust in your rock-solid love, God,
knowing it will last forever.
We sink our roots deeply into the soil of your presence
and flourish like a well tended tree.

We will never stop thanking you
for all you have done.
We will enjoy the company of those who are loyal to you,
and give due honour to your good name.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Jesus Christ is the spitting image
of the God we cannot see.
Christ is the genuine original;
the blueprint for all creation.

Everything else that exists had its origin in Christ:
physical things and spiritual things;
visible things and invisible things;
things that govern the universe;
things that regulate our lives;
forces, powers and energies.
Absolutely everything that exists
was founded in Christ
and has its purpose in Christ.

Christ preceded everything else,
and Christ is the glue that holds everything else together.

Christ is to the church
as the head is to the body.
Life itself began with Christ
and new life – born from the dead – began with Christ too.
Christ was, is, and will be Number One in everything.

God was fully present in Christ, and gladly so;
reconciling everything in creation with its creator;
bearing the cost personally in the blood shed on the cross,
to restore the peace between heaven and earth.

You yourselves are a good example of what this is all about. You used to be at odds with God. Your attitude to God was hostile and your conduct was corrupt. But Christ took action to reconcile you to God, even putting his own body on the line to see the job through. It cost him his life, but Christ succeeded in getting you back on side with God. Now you can stand before God with your heads held high as though you had never set a foot wrong in your lives and your every thought, word and deed had been above reproach. This is, of course, assuming that you stay firmly on track and rock-solid in the faith now, and that you don’t give up hope and turn your backs on all that you have been promised. These promises were contained in the message you heard; a message which has been announced to every creature in the universe; a message which I am dedicated to serving.
I wear my present suffering gladly, as a badge of honour, because I know that it is the price of getting the message out to you. For the sake of Christ’s body – the church – I’m happy to suffer in my own body anything that will contribute to the completion of the business left unfinished in Christ’s copping of abuse. For your benefit, God commissioned me to serve the church by making God’s message fully known for the first time. Throughout history, the world has been in the dark about this mystery, but now it has been made as clear as day to God’s people. God decided to let them in on the whole fabulous picture – the wondrous mystery of the means by which God’s love embraces everyone, regardless of race or religion. And what is revealed is simply that Christ is in you. And because Christ is in you, you can confidently expect to share in the glory of Christ’s future. It is Christ, and Christ alone, that we are on about all the time. We preach Christ to everyone, warning them and teaching them with all the wisdom we can muster, so as to help them grow to the fullness of their potential as people of maturity and integrity – the spitting image of Christ!

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

On their way to Jerusalem, Jesus and his followers passed through a certain village and accepted the invitation of a woman named Martha to share a meal in her home. Martha had a sister named Mary, who sat down on the floor the moment Jesus arrived and hung on every word he said. Martha, on the other hand, was trying to do everything and was getting more and more flustered about it. She came in and said to Jesus, “Lord, doesn’t it bother you that my sister has left all the work to me? Tell her to get off her butt and give me a hand.”

But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are letting so many things stress you out. There is really only one thing that everyone needs. Mary has made the right choice and it is not going to be taken away from her.”

©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.

One blazing hot summer afternoon, Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, when the LORD appeared to him. Looking up, Abraham saw three strangers approaching him. He immediately jumped up and hurried to welcome them as honoured guests. He said, “Please allow me the honour of sharing the hospitality of my home with you. Come in. Take a bath. Put your feet up for a bit. Let me serve you up a meal so that you can leave refreshed and strengthened. I would count it a favour to have the opportunity to serve you in this way.”

So they said, “Thank you, we accept.”

Abraham hurried into the tent and said, “Sarah. Quick! Knock up a batch of scones while I organise the barbecue.”

Then he ran out to his grazing herd and butchered a prime calf. He instructed one of his workers to prepare the best cuts for the barbecue. When it was all ready, he served it up for his guests with a yoghurt dip and plenty to drink, and waited on them while they ate.

During the meal, they said to him, “Where is your wife, Sarah?”

Abraham replied, “She’s inside; in the tent.”

Then one of the three said, “Mark my words! I’ll be back this way in about a year’s time, and by then your wife Sarah will have a son.”

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

LORD, who is welcome at your table?
Who can stay in the place you call your own?

You have given us the answer, LORD.
It is those who walk with integrity
and do the right thing;
those who speak the honest truth
and do not use their words to wound;
those who do not exploit their friends
or put down their neighbours.
It is those who hate corruption
and look up to those who honour you, LORD;
those who give their word
and stand by it even if it costs them;
those who lend freely, without seeking a profit,
and cannot be bribed into shafting the innocent.

You honour such people, LORD,
and anchor them on unshakable ground.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

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 have revealed to us the mystery,
hidden throughout the ages,
which is Christ in us, the hope of glory.

In him, you created heaven and earth,
and in him, all things are held together.
Through your law and prophets you called us to your ways,
and when you saw the needy trampled and the poor ruined,
you punished us with a famine of hearing your word.

But in Christ — your image made visible —
you have reached out even to those who did evil,
calling us to sit at your feet
and listen to your words of peace.
When his blood was poured out in death on the cross,
you raised him as firstborn from the dead,
reconciling all things to yourself in him
and establishing us securely
in the faith and hope of the gospel.

Therefore with .....

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

We thank you for revealing to us
the mystery, hidden throughout the ages:
Christ in us, the hope of glory,
reconciling all things to you
and establishing us securely
in the faith and hope of the gospel.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
for you have revealed to us the mystery,
hidden throughout the ages,
which is Christ in us, the hope of glory.

In him, you created heaven and earth,
and in him, all things are held together.
Through your law and prophets you called us to your ways,
and when you saw the needy trampled and the poor ruined,
you punished us with a famine of hearing your word.

But in Christ — your image made visible —
you have reached out even to those who did evil,
calling us to sit at your feet
and listen to your words of peace.
When his blood was poured out in death on the cross,
you raised him as firstborn from the dead,
reconciling all things to yourself in him
and establishing us securely
in the faith and hope of the gospel.

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

Though we were once estranged from God,
Christ has now reconciled us in his own body,
so as to present us holy, blameless and irreproachable
into the presence God.

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

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Go now, trusting in God’s love forever
and always giving thanks.
Do not be worried or distracted,
nor shift from the hope promised in the gospel,
but choose the better way,
uprooting injustice
and proclaiming Christ with all wisdom.

And may God establish you securely in the faith;
May Christ Jesus make you holy and blameless before God;
And may the Holy Spirit raise you to maturity in Christ.

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

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net