Open Word

FIRST READING

1 Kings 6:1-4, 21-22

Verse 1. In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. Verse 2. The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. Verse 3. The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple. Verse 4. He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple. Verse 21. So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. Verse 22. So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary.

PSALM

Psalm 84

For the choirmaster. According to Gittith. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of Hosts!

My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she places her young near Your altars, O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.

How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You.

Blessed are those whose strength is in You, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.

As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; even the autumn rain covers it with pools.

They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.

O LORD God of Hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob.

Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.

For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.

O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!

SECOND READING

1 Corinthians 3:10-23

Verse 10. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. Verse 11. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. Verse 12. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, Verse 13. his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. Verse 14. If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. Verse 15. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. Verse 16. Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? Verse 17. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Verse 18. Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. Verse 19. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” Verse 20. And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” Verse 21. Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, Verse 22. whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, Verse 23. and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.