FIRST LESSON Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am

God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me

and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ Then Abram fell on his face; and God

said to him, ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude

of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have

made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I

will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between

me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting

covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be

her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she

shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’

GOSPEL LESSON Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be

rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise

again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But

turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you

are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers,

let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save

their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the

gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their

life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of

my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be

ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’