O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

⁸ The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. ¹⁰So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ ¹¹The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹²But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. ¹³As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ ¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

¹⁵ When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Alternate: 
Jeremiah 20:7-13

⁷ O Lord, you have enticed me,
   and I was enticed;
you have overpowered me,
   and you have prevailed.
I have become a laughing-stock 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 dread warrior;
   therefore my persecutors will stumble,
   and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly shamed,
   for they will not succeed.
Their eternal dishonour
   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.

¹ Bow down your ear, O Lord, and answer me, *
       for I am poor and in misery.
² Keep watch over my life, for I am faithful; *
       save your servant who puts his trust in you.
³ Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God; *
       I call upon you all the day long.
⁴ Gladden the soul of your servant, *
       for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
⁵ For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, *
       and great is your love toward all who call upon you.
⁶ Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer, *
       and attend to the voice of my supplications.
⁷ In the time of my trouble I will call upon you, *
       for you will answer me.
⁸ Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, *
       nor anything like your works.
⁹ All nations you have made will come and worship you, O Lord, *
       and glorify your Name.
¹⁰ For you are great;
   you do wondrous things; *
       and you alone are God.
¹⁶ Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *
       give your strength to your servant;
       and save the child of your handmaid.
¹⁷ Show me a sign of your favor,
   so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *
       because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

Alternate: 
Psalm 69: 8-11, (12-17), 18-20

⁸ Surely, for your sake have I suffered reproach, *
       and shame has covered my face.
⁹ I have become a stranger to my own kindred, *
       an alien to my mother's children.
¹⁰ Zeal for your house has eaten me up; *
       the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
¹¹ I humbled myself with fasting, *
       but that was turned to my reproach.
[¹² I put on sack-cloth also, *
       and became a byword among them.
¹³ Those who sit at the gate murmur against me, *
       and the drunkards make songs about me.
¹⁴ But as for me, this is my prayer to you, *
       at the time you have set, O Lord:
¹⁵ "In your great mercy, O God, *
       answer me with your unfailing help.
¹⁶ 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.
¹⁷ 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.]
¹⁸ Answer me, O Lord, for your love is kind; *
       in your great compassion, turn to me.'
¹⁹ "Hide not your face from your servant; *
       be swift and answer me, for I am in distress.
²⁰ Draw near to me and redeem me; *
       because of my enemies deliver me.

¹ Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we have been 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 too 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. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

²⁴ ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; ²⁵it 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. ²⁷What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹So 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; ³³but 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.
³⁷Whoever 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; ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

The Old Testament, New Testament and Gospels readings are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright 1989, 1995, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Collects, Psalms and Canticles are from the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.