Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost	September 22, 2024
Prayer of the Day
Direct our hearts, O Lord, by your merciful reign, because without your help it is impossible to please you. Grant this, we pray, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20
18The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their deeds. 19But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” 20But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.
Psalm 54 (LBW)
1Save me, O God, | by your Name;*
	in your might, de- | fend my cause.
2Hear my | prayer, O God;*
	give ear to the words | of my mouth.
3For the arrogant have risen up against me, and the ruthless have | sought my life,*
	those who have no re- | gard for God.
4Behold, God | is my helper;*
	it is the Lord who sus- | tains my life.
5Render evil to those who | spy on me;*
	in your faithful- | ness, destroy them.
6I will offer you a | freewill sacrifice*
	and praise your name, O Lord, for | it is good.
7For you have rescued me from | every trouble,*
	and my eye has seen the ruin | of my foes.
Psalm 54 (ESV)
1O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
2O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. 
4Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
5He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them.
6With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

Second Reading: James 3:13-4:10 
13Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. 
1What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Gospel: Mark 9:30-37
30{Jesus and his disciples} went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. 33And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Next Week’s Readings:
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Psalm 104:27-35; James 5:[1-12] 13-20; Mark 9:38-50