Collect
Almighty God, who seest that we have no power of
ourselves to help ourselves; Keep us both outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly
in our souls; that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to
the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
1st Reading
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country
and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I
will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name
great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless
you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the
earth shall bless themselves.” So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot
went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And
Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their
possessions which they had gathered, and the persons that they had gotten in
Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to
the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to
the oak of
Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to
Abram, and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built there
an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Thence he removed to the
mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west
and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the
name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. Genesis 12: 1-9 (RSV)
2nd Reading
Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him,
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these
signs that you do, unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly,
I say to you, unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a
second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly,
I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the
kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to
you, ‘You must be born anew.’ The
wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of
it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every
one who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can this be?”
Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand
this? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to
what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you
earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you
heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from
heaven, the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him
may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For
God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world
might be saved through him. John
3: 1-17 (RSV)
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