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Sunday, February 7th Worship & Faith Formation eBlast

First Reading:  Isaiah 40:21-31

²¹Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²²It is God who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
²³who brings the great to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when God blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
The one who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because God is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
The LORD does not faint or grow weary;
the understanding of God is unsearchable.
²⁹The LORD gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
³⁰Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
³¹but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.

Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.

The Psalm may be sung or read in response to the First Reading.

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

¹Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises ^| to our God!
How pleasant it is to honor ^| God with praise!
²The LORD re- ^| builds Jerusalem,
and gathers the ex- ^| iles of Israel.
³The LORD heals the ^| brokenhearted
and binds ^| up their wounds.
⁴The LORD counts the number ^| of the stars
and calls them all ^| by their names.
⁵Great is our LORD and might- ^| y in power;
there is no limit ^| to God’s wisdom.
⁶The LORD lifts ^| up the lowly,
but casts the wicked ^| to the ground.
⁷Sing to the LORD ^| with thanksgiving;
make music upon the harp ^| to our God,
⁸who covers the heav- ^| ens with clouds
and prepares rain for the earth, making grass to grow up- ^| on the mountains.
⁹God provides food ^| for the cattle
and for the young ravens ^| when they cry.
¹⁰God is not impressed by the might ^| of a horse,
and has no pleasure in the speed ^| of a runner,
¹¹but finds pleasure in those who ^| fear the LORD,
in those who await God’s steadfast love. ^{20c |} Hallelujah!

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

¹⁶If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jewish people I became as a Jew, in order to win the Jewish people. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.

Gospel: Mark 1:29-39

The holy gospel according to Mark.
Glory to you, O Lord.

²⁹As soon as Jesus and the disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.