​​​​​​​​​​​​​8TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
SUNDAY, AUGUST 3RD, 2025

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INTRODUCTION​

Today’s texts offer instruction and encouragement for all who are occasionally
     overwhelmed by the “unhappy business” of life. Jesus urges us to take care and
     be on guard against all kinds of greed. We who have died with Christ in holy
     baptism have also been raised with him and are encouraged to elevate our
     thinking, seeking the “things that are above.” To that end we seek the sustenance
     of the Lord’s supper and the encouragement of God’s word.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Benevolent God, you are the source, the guide, and the goal of our lives. Teach
     us to love what is worth loving, to reject what is offensive to you, and to treasure
     what is precious in your sight, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.​

FIRST READING

ECCLESIASTES 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
    The teacher of wisdom who wrote Ecclesiastes sees that working for mere
     accumulation of wealth turns life into an empty game, a “vanity of vanities.”
     Nevertheless, he asserts in the next verse, it is good to find enjoyment in one’s
     work because such enjoyment is a gift from God.

R. 2 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

     12 I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to
     seek and to search out by wisdom all that is done under heaven; it is an unhappy
     business that God has given to humans to be busy with. 14 I saw all the deeds
     that are done under the sun, and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

     2:18 I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must
     leave it to my successor, 19 and who knows whether he will be wise or foolish?
     Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun.
     This also is vanity. 20 So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all
     the toil of my labors under the sun, 21 because sometimes one who has toiled
     with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another
     who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. 22 What do mortals get
     from all the toil and strain with which they toil under the sun? 23 For all their days
     are full of pain, and their work is a vexation; even at night their minds do not rest.
     This also is vanity.​

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PSALM

PSALM 49:1-12
(Response) My mouth shall speak of wisdom. (Ps. 49:3)

1 Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all you who dwell in the world,
2 you of high degree and low,
rich and poor together.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom,
and my heart shall meditate on understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb
and set forth my riddle upon the harp.
(Response) My mouth shall speak of wisdom. (Ps. 49:3)

5 Why should I be afraid in evil days,
when the wickedness of those at my heels surrounds me,
6 the wickedness of those who put their trust in their own prowess,
and boast of their great riches?
7 One can never redeem another,
or give to God the ransom for another’s life;
8 for the ransom of a life is so great
that there would never be enough to pay it,
9 in order to live forever and ever
and never see the grave.
10 For we see that the wise die also; like the dull and stupid they perish
and leave their wealth to those who come after them.
11 Their graves shall be their homes forever, their dwelling places from
        generation to generation, though they had named lands after themselves.
12 Even though honored, they cannot live forever;
they are like the beasts that perish.
(Response) My mouth shall speak of wisdom. (Ps. 49:3)

SECOND READING

COLOSSIANS 3:1-11
        Life in Christ includes a radical reorientation of our values. Just as the newly
     baptized shed their old clothes and put on new garments, so Christians are called
     to let go of greed and take hold of a life shaped by God’s love in Christ.

1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where
     Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on the things that are
     above, not on the things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is
     hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you
     also will be revealed with him in glory.

     5 Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity,
     passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the
     wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you
     also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of
     all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your
     mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self
     with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being
     renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal
     there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian,
     Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!

​​​​GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia. (Matt. 5:3)

GOSPEL READING

LUKE 12:13-21
In God’s reign, the “rich will be sent away empty.” Jesus uses a parable to warn
     against identifying the worth of one’s life with the value of one’s possessions
     rather than one’s relationship with God.

13 Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus,] “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the
     family inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a
     judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your
     guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance
     of possessions.” 16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man
     produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have
     no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my
     barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
     19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years;
     relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your
     life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they
     be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich
     toward God.”

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