SUNDAY 28th June 2026 Fourth Sunday after Trinity
FIRST READING Jeremiah 28.5–9
A reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah.
The prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah
in the presence of the priests
and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD;
and the prophet Jeremiah said,
‘Amen! May the LORD do so;
may the LORD fulfil the words that you have prophesied,
and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD,
and all the exiles.
But listen now to this word
that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.
The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times
prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.
As for the prophet who prophesies peace,
when the word of that prophet comes true,
then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.’
PSALM Psalm 89.1–4, 15–18
R Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing.
1 Your love, O Lord, for ever will I sing;
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
2 For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever;
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens. R
3 ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
4 “I will establish your line for ever,
and preserve your throne for all generations.”’ R
15 Happy are the people who know the festal shout!
they walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence.
16 They rejoice daily in your name;
they are jubilant in your righteousness. R
17 For you are the glory of their strength,
and by your favour our might is exalted.
18 Truly, the Lord is our ruler;
the Holy One of Israel is our king. R
SECOND READING Romans 6.12–23
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
Do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies,
to make you obey their passions.
No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness,
but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life,
and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you,
since you are not under law but under grace.
What then?
Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
By no means!
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
you are slaves of the one whom you obey,
either of sin, which leads to death,
or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that you,
having once been slaves of sin,
have become obedient from the heart
to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted,
and that you,
having been set free from sin,
have become slaves of righteousness.
I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations.
For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity
and to greater and greater iniquity,
so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
So what advantage did you then get from the things
of which you now are ashamed?
The end of those things is death.
But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.
The end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the free gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOSPEL Matthew 10.40–42
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew.
Jesus said to the twelve:
‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,
and whoever welcomes me
welcomes the one who sent me.
Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward;
and whoever welcomes a righteous person
in the name of a righteous person
will receive the reward of the righteous;
and whoever gives even a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple –
truly I tell you,
none of these will lose their reward.’