Morning Prayer: November 2nd, 2022

Proverbs 23

23   When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what is before you,
2   and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
3   Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.
4   Do not toil to acquire wealth;
    be discerning enough to desist.
5   When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
    for suddenly it sprouts wings,
    flying like an eagle toward heaven.
6   Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
    do not desire his delicacies,
7   for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
    “Eat and drink!” he says to you,
    but his heart is not with you.
8   You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
    and waste your pleasant words.
9   Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
    for he will despise the good sense of your words.
10   Do not move an ancient landmark
    or enter the fields of the fatherless,
11   for their Redeemer is strong;
    he will plead their cause against you.
12   Apply your heart to instruction
    and your ear to words of knowledge.
13   Do not withhold discipline from a child;
    if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
14   If you strike him with the rod,
    you will save his soul from Sheol.
15   My son, if your heart is wise,
    my heart too will be glad.
16   My inmost being will exult
    when your lips speak what is right.
17   Let not your heart envy sinners,
    but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day.
18   Surely there is a future,
    and your hope will not be cut off.


19   Hear, my son, and be wise,
    and direct your heart in the way.
20   Be not among drunkards
    or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
21   for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
    and slumber will clothe them with rags.


22   Listen to your father who gave you life,
    and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23   Buy truth, and do not sell it;
    buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.
24   The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;
    he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.
25   Let your father and mother be glad;
    let her who bore you rejoice.


26   My son, give me your heart,
    and let your eyes observe my ways.
27   For a prostitute is a deep pit;
    an adulteress is a narrow well.
28   She lies in wait like a robber
    and increases the traitors among mankind.


29   Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
    Who has strife? Who has complaining?
  Who has wounds without cause?
    Who has redness of eyes?
30   Those who tarry long over wine;
    those who go to try mixed wine.
31   Do not look at wine when it is red,
    when it sparkles in the cup
    and goes down smoothly.
32   In the end it bites like a serpent
    and stings like an adder.
33   Your eyes will see strange things,
    and your heart utter perverse things.
34   You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
    like one who lies on the top of a mast.
35   “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;
    they beat me, but I did not feel it.
  When shall I awake?
    I must have another drink.”

ESV

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A brief silence is kept after the reading.
Please pause the service if you would like more time.

Matthew 15

15 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

8   “‘This people honors me with their lips,
    but their heart is far from me;
9   in vain do they worship me,
    teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”

10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

21 And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

29 Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, 31 so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

32 Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And I am unwilling to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” 33 And the disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd?” 34 And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 And directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 37 And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces left over. 38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 And after sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

ESV

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

A brief silence is kept after the reading.