SUNDAY, JUNE 21ST, 2026

​4TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

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INTRODUCTION​

God does not promise that the path of the disciple will be easy. Jeremiah feels the
     pain of rejection from those who do not want to hear what he has to say. Jesus
     declares that his words may bring stark division. Even so, we need not be afraid
     for God accounts for each hair on our heads. Though we may experience
     rejection, frustration, division, and death, God’s grace and love make us a new
     creation each day. Marked with the cross and filled with holy food, we are sent
     from worship to witness to Christ in the world.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Teach us, good Lord God, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count
     the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to
     labor and not to ask for reward, except that of knowing that we do your will,
     through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.​

FIRST READING

JEREMIAH 20:7-13
Jeremiah accuses God of forcing him into a ministry that brings him only
     contempt and persecution. Yet Jeremiah is confident that God will be a strong
     protector against his enemies and commits his life into God’s hands.

7 O Lord, you have enticed me,
and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
everyone mocks me.
8 For whenever I speak, I must cry out;
I must shout, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the Lord has become for me
a reproach and derision all day long.
9 If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
then within me there is something like a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary with holding it in,
and I cannot.
10 For I hear many whispering:
“Terror is all around!
  Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
  All my close friends
  are watching for me to stumble.
  “Perhaps he can be enticed,
  and we can prevail against him
  and take our revenge on him.”
  11 But the Lord is with me like a terrifying warrior;
  therefore my persecutors will stumble,
  and they will not prevail.
  They will be greatly shamed,
  for they will not succeed.
  Their eternal dishonor
  will never be forgotten.
  12 O Lord of hosts, you test the righteous;
  you see the heart and the mind;
  let me see your retribution upon them,
  for to you I have committed my cause.

  13 Sing to the Lord;
  praise the Lord!
  For he has delivered the life of the needy
  from the hands of evildoers.

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PSALM

PSALM 69:7-10 [11-15] 16-18
(Response) Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind. (Ps. 69:16)

7 Surely, for your sake I have suffered reproach,
and shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my own kindred,
an alien to my mother’s children.
9 Zeal for your house has eaten me up;
the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
10 I humbled myself with fasting,
but that was turned to my reproach.
(Response) Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind. (Ps. 69:16)

[11 I put on sackcloth also,
and became a byword among them.
12 Those who sit at the gate murmur against me,
  and the drunkards make songs about me.
  13 But as for me, this is my prayer to you, at the time you have set, O Lord:
“In your great mercy, O God, answer me with your unfailing help.
  14 Save me from the mire; do not let me sink;
let me be rescued from those who hate me and out of the deep waters.
(Response) Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind. (Ps. 69:16)

15 Let not the torrent of waters wash over me,
        neither let the deep swallow me up;
do not let the pit shut its mouth upon me.]
  16 Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind;
  in your great compassion, turn to me.
  17 Hide not your face from your servant;
  be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.
  18 Draw near to me and redeem me;
  because of my enemies deliver me.
(Response) Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind. (Ps. 69:16)

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SECOND READING

ROMANS 6:1b-11
     In baptism we were incorporated into the reality of Christ’s death and
     resurrection. We have been made new in Christ through his death and
     resurrection to live freed from sin.

1b Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? 2 By no means!
     How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us
     who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore
     we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised
     from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

     5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be
     united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified
     with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be
     enslaved to sin. 7 For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8 But if we died with
     Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being
     raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
     10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.
     11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.​

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​​​​GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. Jesus says, The Spirit of the Lord will testify on my behalf, and you
     also are to testify. Alleluia. (John 15:26, 27)

GOSPEL READING

MATTHEW 10:24-39
Jesus warns his disciples that their ministry in his name will meet with opposition.
     However, he assures them that they need not fear for the truth will come to light.
     Life is found in Christ.

[Jesus said to the twelve:] 24 “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave

     above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the
     slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how
     much more will they malign those of his household!

     26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered
     and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark,
     tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do
     not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who
     can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
     Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the
     hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value
     than many sparrows.

     32 “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will
     acknowledge before my Father in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before
     others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

     34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to
     bring peace but a sword.
      35 For I have come to set a man against his father,
      and a daughter against her mother,
      and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,
      36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
     37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and    
     whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, 38 and
     whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those
     who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”​

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LICENSES & EXPIRATION DATES
Worship Service Content is used via permission through Augsburg Fortress Liturgies

Annual License #SB144368. The next Subscription Renewal Date is 2/28/2027.
Our Hymns and Worship Music are used via permission through CCLI One
License #11327166. The next Subscription Renewal Date is 1/31/2027.

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BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 21ST, 2026