Diocese of Oxford

Be the people of the future [in today’s Babylon]

First Reading       Isaiah 43.16–21

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior; 
they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? 
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 
The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; 
for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.  

This is the word of the Lord 
All    Thanks be to God