Tuesday 3 April 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 3 April 2007
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 15:10-21

Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and
contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet
all of them curse me. The Lord said: Surely I have intervened in your
life for good, surely I have imposed enemies on you in a time of
trouble and in a time of distress. Can iron and bronze break iron from
the north? 
Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price,
for all your sins, throughout all your territory. I will make you serve
your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is
kindled that shall burn for ever. 
O Lord, you know;
   remember me and visit me,
   and bring down retribution for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance do not take me away;
   know that on your account I suffer insult. 
Your words were found, and I ate them,
   and your words became to me a joy
   and the delight of my heart;
for I am called by your name,
   O Lord, God of hosts. 
I did not sit in the company of merrymakers,
   nor did I rejoice;
under the weight of your hand I sat alone,
   for you had filled me with indignation. 
Why is my pain unceasing,
   my wound incurable,
   refusing to be healed?
Truly, you are to me like a deceitful brook,
   like waters that fail. 


Therefore, thus says the Lord:
If you turn back, I will take you back,
   and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
   you shall serve as my mouth.
It is they who will turn to you,
   not you who will turn to them. 
And I will make you to this people
   a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
   but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
   to save you and deliver you, 
says the Lord. 
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
   and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.
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Philippians 3:15-21

Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you
think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. Only
let us hold fast to what we have attained. 
Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live
according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of
the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you
even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and
their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are
expecting a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body
of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his
glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to
himself.
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John 12:20-26

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him,
‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew
and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, ‘The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a
grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single
grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life
lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for
eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there
will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 6, 12

Psalm 6

To the leader: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A
Psalm of David.
O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,
   or discipline me in your wrath. 
Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
   O Lord, heal me, for my bones are shaking with terror. 
My soul also is struck with terror,
   while you, O Lord—how long? 


Turn, O Lord, save my life;
   deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love. 
For in death there is no remembrance of you;
   in Sheol who can give you praise? 


I am weary with my moaning;
   every night I flood my bed with tears;
   I drench my couch with my weeping. 
My eyes waste away because of grief;
   they grow weak because of all my foes. 


Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
   for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 
The Lord has heard my supplication;
   the Lord accepts my prayer. 
All my enemies shall be ashamed and struck with terror;
   they shall turn back, and in a moment be put to shame.



Psalm 12

Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
   the faithful have disappeared from humankind. 
They utter lies to each other;
   with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 


May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
   the tongue that makes great boasts, 
those who say, ‘With our tongues we will prevail;
   our lips are our own—who is our master?’ 


‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
   I will now rise up,’ says the Lord;
   ‘I will place them in the safety for which they long.’ 
The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
   silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
   purified seven times. 


You, O Lord, will protect us;
   you will guard us from this generation for ever. 
On every side the wicked prowl,
   as vileness is exalted among humankind.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 94

Psalm 94

O Lord, you God of vengeance,
   you God of vengeance, shine forth! 
Rise up, O judge of the earth;
   give to the proud what they deserve! 
O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
   how long shall the wicked exult? 


They pour out their arrogant words;
   all the evildoers boast. 
They crush your people, O Lord,
   and afflict your heritage. 
They kill the widow and the stranger,
   they murder the orphan, 
and they say, ‘The Lord does not see;
   the God of Jacob does not perceive.’ 


Understand, O dullest of the people;
   fools, when will you be wise? 
He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see? 
He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
   does he not chastise? 
The Lord knows our thoughts,
   that they are but an empty breath. 


Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord,
   and whom you teach out of your law, 
giving them respite from days of trouble,
   until a pit is dug for the wicked. 
For the Lord will not forsake his people;
   he will not abandon his heritage; 
for justice will return to the righteous,
   and all the upright in heart will follow it. 


Who rises up for me against the wicked?
   Who stands up for me against evildoers? 
If the Lord had not been my help,
   my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 
When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping’,
   your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. 
When the cares of my heart are many,
   your consolations cheer my soul. 
Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
   those who contrive mischief by statute? 
They band together against the life of the righteous,
   and condemn the innocent to death. 
But the Lord has become my stronghold,
   and my God the rock of my refuge. 
He will repay them for their iniquity
   and wipe them out for their wickedness;
   the Lord our God will wipe them out.
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