Taize service, October

I organized the customary first-Friday service, held two days ago. We had cello and flute accompaniment, in addition to the guitar. These were the scriptural readings.

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PSALM 126

When the Lord delivered us from captivity,
it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter;
on our lips there were songs.

Foreigners said:
“What marvels their God has worked for them!”
What marvels the Lord worked for us indeed!
For this, we were glad.

Deliver us, Lord, from our captivity
like streams rushing forth into a dry land.
Those who now sow their fields in tears
will sing when they reap the harvest.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,
carrying seed for the sowing.
They come back, they come back, full of song,
carrying their sheaves.

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1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-8, 13

If I speak in tongues—even the language of angels—
but I do not have love,
my speaking is nothing more than noise.

If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries,
and have faith powerful enough to move mountains,
but I do not have love,
I am nothing.

If I give away all my possessions—
if I hand over my very body to be martyred—
but I do not have love,
I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind.
Love is not envious, or boastful, or arrogant, or rude.
Love does not insist on its own way.
Love is not irritable or resentful.
Love takes no pleasure in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.
Prophecies? They will come to an end.
Tongues? They will cease.
Knowledge? It will pass away.
But faith, hope, and love—these three go on forever,
and the greatest of the three is love.

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JOHN 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.

The Word was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through the Word—
without the Word, not one thing came into being.

In the Word, life came into being—
life and light for all people.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness could not overcome it.