35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.'
39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Officiant: The Word of the Lord.
The People: Thanks be to God.
Deacon: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you. Or And with your spirit.
Deacon: May the Lord be on our minds, on our lips, and on our hearts as we hear His Holy Gospel. The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John.
People: Glory to You, Lord Christ.
Deacon: We are reading from John's Gospel chapter 20, beginning at verse 24.
24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' So he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.' 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!' 27 Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.' 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!' 29 Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'
After the Gospel reading, the deacon can elevate the book and says:
Deacon: The Gospel of the Lord.People: Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.
