Scripture readings:

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 

Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 

Psalm 86

A Prayer of David. 

Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, 
for I am poor and needy. 
Preserve my life, for I am godly; 
save your servant, who trusts in you—you are my God.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day. 
Gladden the soul of your servant, 
for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, 
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you. 
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; 
listen to my plea for grace. 
In the day of my trouble I call upon you, 
for you answer me. 

There is none like you among the gods, O Lord, 
nor are there any works like yours. 
All the nations you have made shall come 
and worship before you, O Lord, 
and shall glorify your name. 
For you are great and do wondrous things; 
you alone are God. 
Teach me your way, O Lord, 
that I may walk in your truth; 
unite my heart to fear your name. 
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, 
and I will glorify your name forever. 
For great is your steadfast love toward me; 
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. 

O God, insolent men have risen up against me; 
a band of ruthless men seeks my life, 
and they do not set you before them. 
But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, 
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. 
Turn to me and be gracious to me; 
give your strength to your servant, 
and save the son of your maidservant. 
Show me a sign of your favor, 
that those who hate me may see and be put to shame 
because you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016).