Sunday 6th September,  Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

The Old Testament reading is taken from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 55, beginning at verse 12 to 13. 

For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you, shall burst into song,
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
 instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
 and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
 for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

This is the word of the Lord

The New Testament reading is taken from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians chapter 1, beginning at verse 15 to 20. 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

This is the word of the Lord

 

Gospel: John 1:1-14

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him.  But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,  who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.