The Texts for Sunday June 21st, the 4th Sunday After Pentecost, 2015

First Reading: Job 38:1–11

Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

²"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

  ³Gird up your loins like a man,

I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

  ⁴"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?

Tell me, if you have understanding.

  ⁵Who determined its measurements — surely you know!

Or who stretched the line upon it?

  ⁶On what were its bases sunk,

or who laid its cornerstone

  ⁷when the morning stars sang together

and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?

  ⁸"Or who shut in the sea with doors

when it burst out from the womb? — 

  ⁹when I made the clouds its garment,

and thick darkness its swaddling band,

  ¹⁰and prescribed bounds for it,

and set bars and doors,

  ¹¹and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther,

and here shall your proud waves be stopped'?\

The Word of the Lord

Psalm 107:1–3, 23–32

¹Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

and his mercy endures forever.

²Let all those whom the LORD has redeemed proclaim

that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.

³He gathered them out of the lands;

from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south

²³Some went down to the sea in ships

and plied their trade in deep waters;

²⁴they beheld the works of the LORD

and his wonders in the deep.

²⁵Then he spoke, and a stormy wind arose,

which tossed high the waves of the sea.

²⁶They mounted up to the heavens and fell back to the depths;

their hearts melted because of their peril.

²⁷They reeled and staggered like drunkards

and were at their wits' end.

²⁸Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

²⁹He stilled the storm to a whisper

and quieted the waves of the sea.

³⁰Then were they glad because of the calm,

and he brought them to the harbor they were bound for.

³¹Let them give thanks to the LORD for his mercy

and the wonders he does for his children.

³²Let them exalt him in the congregation of the people

and praise him in the council of the elders.

Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1–13

As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain.  ²For he says,

"At an acceptable time I have listened to you,

and on a day of salvation I have helped you."

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!  ³We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry,  ⁴but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,  ⁵beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger;  ⁶by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love,  ⁷truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;  ⁸in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true;  ⁹as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see — we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed;  ¹⁰as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

¹¹We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you.  ¹²There is no restriction in our affections, but only in yours.  ¹³In return — I speak as to children — open wide your hearts also.

The Word of the Lord

Gospel: Mark 4:35–41

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side."  ³⁶And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.  ³⁷A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  ³⁸But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"  ³⁹He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.  ⁴⁰He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?"  ⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"