The Lord is Holy...

 therefore...

Verse for the week: “To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”  Psalm 25.1

Prayer for the week: Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long; through your Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Bible reading for the day: Leviticus 19 (The special topic of Leviticus is the appointment of the priesthood. A priestly office is instituted because of sin, to disclose sin to the people and make atonement before God; its entire function is to deal with sin and sinners.)   

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ³ Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. ⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

⁵ “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. ⁷ If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted, ⁸ and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.

⁹ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. ¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

¹¹ “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. ¹² You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

¹³ “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. ¹⁴ You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

¹⁵ “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. ¹⁶ You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

¹⁷ “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. ¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

¹⁹ “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

²⁰ “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; ²¹ but he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. ²² And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

²³ “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. ²⁴ And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. ²⁵ But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.

²⁶ “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. ²⁷ You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. ²⁸ You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

²⁹ “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. ³⁰ You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

³¹ “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

³² “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

³³ “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. ³⁴ You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

³⁵ “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. ³⁶ You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷ And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”

Prayer for the week: Gracious and almighty Father, thank you that you alone are Lord and God and you will brook no other for us. Thank you for rescuing us from the world and our own willfulness by interposing the precious blood of Christ once and for all. Establish and guard our families in him that as he is holy, we may be set apart from the world and our own sin for your use in the neighborhood, as we wait with confidence for him to return. Through the same, Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.

Hymn: follow this link to a new rendition of Luther’s great hymn in which we sinners are rescued from our sin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP_9wO8LQy0&ab_channel=BrianSauv%C3%A9

“Hallowed be thy name…”

What does this mean for us?

God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we ask in this prayer that we may keep it holy.

When does this happen?  God’s name is hallowed whenever his word is taught in its truth and purity and we as children of God live in harmony with it. Help us to do this, heavenly Father! But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to the word of God dishonors God’s name among us. Keep us from doing this, heavenly Father! (from The Small Catechism, by Martin Luther)

Benediction: I am the Lord your God and you shall be my people. Amen.

 

*This is now our congregation’s 99^th year in the Word. In 2025, we are reading from Genesis to Revelation, with a few interludes along the way.