Collect: Proper 22

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen

Lamentations 1:1-6 . . .  Recalling the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of her people to Babylon.

Psalm 137 . . . lament in exile, with longing for Zion and desire for vengeance

2 Timothy 1:1-14 . . . the opening letter of Paul to his friend and coworker Timothy, whom he keeps always in his prayers.

LUKE 17: 5-10. . . Jesus tells his disciples of faith’s great power, and reminds them that servants must not expect special privileges or thanks merely for doing their duty.

Sermon by Jim Somerville

“If I were making a list of all the things I wish Jesus never said, this saying about having faith the size of a mustard seed would be near the top…because it makes people think of faith as a quantity,” begins Jim Somerville, Pastor of Richmond, Virginia’s, First Baptist Church and Co-founder of A Sermon for Every Sunday. Somerville asks us to reshape our thoughts about Luke 17:5-10, not in terms of quantity of faith, but in terms of in whom we put our faith. Listen as he flashes out how we might go about doing this and how it can impact our lives