Entrance Hymn:  LBW #126 “Where Charity and Love Prevail”

Prayer of the day: 

Almighty God, You know we live in the midst of so many dangers that in our frailty we cannot stand upright. Grant strength and protection to support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations; 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:

Deuteronomy 18:15–20

¹⁵“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. ²⁰But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’”

Psalm 32:1–2, 5–7; antiphon: v. 10

L: Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
C: but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
L: Blessèd is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
C: whose sin is covered.
L: Blessèd is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
C: and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
L: I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;
C: I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
L: Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
C: surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him.
L: You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble;
C: you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
L: Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
C: but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

Epistle:

1 Corinthians 8:1–13

¹Concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. ²If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. ³But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. ⁴Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” ⁵For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— ⁶yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. ⁷However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ⁸Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. ⁹But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? ¹¹And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. ¹²Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Gospel:

Mark 1:21–28

²¹They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath [Jesus] entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²²And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ²⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Message Hymn:  LBW #364 “Son of God, Eternal Savior”

Closing Hymn:  LBW #90 “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise”