Readings for the 12th Sunday after Trinity – 23rd August 2026

Collect for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve; pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 51, verses 1 to 6

Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord. Look to the rock from

which you were hewn and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your

father and to Sarah, who bore you, for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him

and made him many. For the Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places

and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and

gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation, for a teaching will go out from my

justice for a light to the peoples. I will bring near my deliverance swiftly; my salvation has

gone out, and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath, for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats, but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans, chapter 12, verses 1 to 8

I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your

bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of

worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind,

so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in

teaching; the encourager, in encouragement; the giver, in sincerity; the leader, in diligence;

the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

A reading from the gospel according to Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13 to 20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Second Collect

God of all mercy, (in this eucharist) you have set aside our sins and given

us your healing; grant that we who are made whole in Christ may bring that healing to this

broken world, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen