09/29 – Leviticus 23:23-25 – Rosh Hashanah – ראש השנה – Head of the Year

Old Testament: Leviticus 23:23-25

The Lord spoke to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, on the first day of the seventh month hold a day of solemn rest. It will be a memorial day, a holy assembly announced by the blowing of rams’ horns. Don’t do any regular work. Bring a sacrifice by fire to the Lord.”

Epistle Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don’t want you to grieve like other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and came back to life. We also believe that through Jesus God will bring back those who have died. They will come back with Jesus.

We are telling you what the Lord taught. We who are still alive when the Lord comes will not go into his kingdom ahead of those who have already died. The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First the dead in Christ will come back to life. Then together with them we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord. So then comfort each other with these words!

Gospel Reading: Matthew 24:15-31

The prophet Daniel said that the disgusting thing that will cause destruction will stand in the holy place. When you see this (let the reader take note), those of you in Judea should flee to the mountains. Those who are on the roof should not come down to get anything out of their houses. Those who are in the field should not turn back to get their coats.

“How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days. Pray that it will not be winter or a day of rest—a holy day, when you flee. There will be a lot of misery at that time, a kind of misery that has not happened from the beginning of the world until now and will certainly never happen again. If God does not reduce the number of those days no one will be saved, but those days will be reduced because of those whom God has chosen.

At that time don’t believe anyone who tells you, ‘Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ False messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will work spectacular, miraculous signs and do wonderful things to deceive, if possible, even those whom God has chosen. Listen! I have told you this before it happens. So if someone tells you, ‘He is in the desert!’ don’t go out looking for him. And don’t believe anyone who says, ‘He is in a secret place!’ The Son of Man will come again just as lightning flashes from east to west. Vultures will gather wherever there is a dead body.

Immediately after the misery of those days, the sun will turn dark, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the universe will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. All the people on earth will cry in agony when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in the sky with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call and from every direction under the sky, they will gather those whom God has chosen.

Introit: Psalm 81:1-3; Antiphon Psalm 81:4

This is a law for Israel,
a legal decision from the God of Jacob.

Sing joyfully to God, our strength.
Shout happily to the God of Jacob.
Begin a psalm, and strike a tambourine.
Play lyres and harps with their pleasant music.
Blow the ram’s horn on the day of the new moon,
on the day of the full moon, on our festival days.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.

This is a law for Israel,
a legal decision from the God of Jacob.