Reading 1
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans
8:19-25
I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us. For creation awaits with eager expectation
the revelation of the children of God;
for creation was made subject to futility,
not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself would be set free
from slavery to corruption
and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves,
who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that sees for itself is not hope.
For who hopes for what one sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait with endurance. The word of the Lord.
Reading 2
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Philippians
1:2-11
I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you, praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, because of your partnership for the Gospel
from the first day until now.
I am confident of this,
that the one who began a good work in you
will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right that I should think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart,
you who are all partners with me in grace,
both in my imprisonment
and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel.
For God is my witness,
how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer:
that your love may increase ever more and more
in knowledge and every kind of perception,
to discern what is of value,
so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God. The word of the Lord.
Reading 3
A reading from the Second Letter of Paul to Timothy
4:6-8
Beloved: I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.
I have competed well;
I have finished the race;
I have kept the faith.
From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me,
but to all who have longed for his appearance.
The word of the Lord.
Reading 4
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians
3: 14-21
I kneel before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love,
may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask or imagine, by the power at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
The word of the Lord.
Reading 5
A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 12:31-13:1-8,13
Brothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, love is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
The word of the Lord.
Reading 6
A reading from the First Letter of Peter
4:8-11
Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Be hospitable to one another without complaining.
As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
The Word of the Lord
Reading 7
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians
1:3-12
We always give thanks to God,
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when we pray for you,
for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus
and the love that you have for all the holy ones
because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.
Of this you have already heard through the word of truth, the gospel, that has come to you.
Just as in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing, so also among you, from the day you heard it
and came to know the grace of God in truth,
therefore, from the day we heard this,
we do not cease praying for you
and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding
to live in a manner worthy of the Lord,
so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work
bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with every power,
in accord with his glorious might,
for all endurance and patience,
with joy giving thanks to the Father,
who has made you fit to share
in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.
The word of the Lord
Reading 8
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians 3:12-17
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness,
humility, gentleness, and patience,
bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another;
as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,
the peace into which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,
as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs
with gratitude in your hearts to God.
And whatever you do, in word or in deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
The word of the Lord
Reading 9
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Philippians
3:7-12,20,21
But whatever gains I had,
these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things
and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ,
the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection
and the sharing of his sufferings
by being conformed to his death,
if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. It is not that I have already taken hold of it or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it,
since I have indeed been taken possession of by Christ Jesus. But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
The word of the Lord
Reading 10
A reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 4:8-18
We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed;
always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus
may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
So death is at work in us, but life in you.
Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith,
according to what is written,
"I believed, therefore I spoke,"
we too believe and therefore speak,
knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with Jesus
and place us with you in his presence.
Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people
may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God. Therefore, we are not discouraged;
rather, although our outer self is wasting away,
our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For this momentary light affliction
is producing for us an eternal weight of glory
beyond all comparison,
as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.
The word of the Lord
Reading 11
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans
8:28-39
We know that all things work for good
for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined he also called;
and those he called he also justified;
and those he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to this?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son
but handed him over for us all,
how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?
It is God who acquits us.
Who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died,
rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.
What will separate us from the love of Christ?
Will anguish, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
As it is written: "For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered."
No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities,
nor present things, nor future things,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The word of the Lord
Reading 12
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans
6:3-9
Brothers and sisters:
Are you unaware
that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life. For if we have grown into union with him
through a death like his,
we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him,
so that our sinful body might be done away with,
that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.
For a dead person has been absolved from sin.
If, then, we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him.
We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him.
The word of the Lord
Reading 13
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans
5:1-11
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access (by faith)
to this grace in which we stand,
and we boast in hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions,
knowing that affliction produces endurance,
and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For Christ, while we were still helpless,
yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly.
Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person
one might even find courage to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. How much more then, since we are now justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath.
Indeed, if, while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, once reconciled, will we be saved by his life. Not only that,
but we also boast of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The word of the Lord
Reading 14
A reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 5:1,6-10,17,20
For we know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent,
should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven. So we are always courageous,
although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Yet we are courageous,
and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord. Therefore, we aspire to please him,
whether we are at home or away.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense,
according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil. So whoever is in Christ is a new creation:
the old things have passed away;
behold, new things have come.
So we are ambassadors for Christ,
as if God were appealing through us.
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. The word of the Lord
Reading 15
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Philippians 3:20,21
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself. The word of the Lord
Reading 16
A reading from the First Letter of John 3:1,2
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed
we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
The word of the Lord
Reading 17
A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 4:13-18
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep,
so that you may not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose,
so too will God, through Jesus,
bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive,
who are left until the coming of the Lord,
will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself, with a word of command,
with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven,
and the dead in Christ will rise first.
Then we who are alive, who are left,
will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
Thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore, console one another with these words. The word of the Lord
Reading 18
A reading from the Book of Revelation
21:1-7
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"Behold, God's dwelling is with the human race.
He will dwell with them and they will be his people
and God himself will always be with them.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes,
and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away."
The one who sat on the throne said,
"Behold, I make all things new."
Then he said,
"Write these words down, for they are trustworthy and true." He said to me,
"They are accomplished.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end.
To the thirsty I will give a gift
from the spring of life-giving water.
The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son.
The word of the Lord
Reading 19
A reading from the Book of Revelation
14:13
I heard a voice from heaven say,
"Write this:
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," said the Spirit, "let them find rest from their labors, for their works accompany them."
The word of the Lord