Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost	August 24, 2025
Prayer of the Day
Care for your Church, O Lord, with perpetual mercy. Since we totter and are sure to fall without your grace, remove what will harm us and arrange what will make us whole. 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: Isaiah 66:18-23 
18“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord. 22For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain. 23From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord.”
Psalm 50:1-15 (LBW)
1The Lord, the God of | gods, has spoken;*
	he has called the earth from the rising of the sun | to its setting.
2Out of Zion, perfect | in its beauty,*
	God reveals him- | self in glory.
3Our God will come and will | not keep silence;*
	before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a | raging storm.
4He calls the heavens and the earth | from above*
	to witness the judgment | of his people.
5“Gather before me my | loyal followers,*
	those who have made a covenant with me and sealed | it with sacrifice.”
6Let the heavens declare the rightness | of his cause;*
	for God him- | self is judge.
7Hear, O my people, and I will speak: “O Israel, I will bear wit- | ness against you;*
	for I am | God, your God.
8I do not accuse you because | of your sacrifices;*
	your offerings are al- | ways before me.
9I will take no bull calf | from your stalls,*
	nor he-goats out | of your pens;
10For all the beasts of the for- | est are mine,*
	the herds in their thousands up- | on the hills.
11I know every bird | in the sky,*
	and the creatures of the fields are | in my sight.
12If I were hungry, I | would not tell you,*
	for the whole world is mine and all | that is in it.
13Do you think I eat the | flesh of bulls,*
	or drink the | blood of goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice | of thanksgiving*
	and make good your vows to | the Most High.
15Call upon me in the | day of trouble;*
	I will deliver you, and you shall | honor me.”
Psalm 50:1-15 (ESV)
1The Mighty One, God the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
3Our God comes; he does not keep silence; before him is a devouring fire, around him a mighty tempest.
4He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
5“Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
6The heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge! 
7“Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.
8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.
10For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12“If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,
15and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Second Reading: Hebrews 12:4-24 [25-29] 
4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. 18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. [25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken — that is, things that have been made — in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.]
Gospel: Luke 13:22-30
22{Jesus} went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”
Lessons for Next Week
Proverbs 25:2-10; Psalm 131; Hebrews 13:1-17; Luke 14:1-14