Monday 31 December 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Monday 31 December 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Kings 3:5-14

At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God
said, 'Ask what I should give you.' 6And Solomon said, 'You have shown
great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he
walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness
of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast
love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. 7And now, O
Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father
David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or
come in. 8And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have
chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted.
9Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your
people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this
your great people?' 
10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11God said to him,
'Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life
or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself
understanding to discern what is right, 12I now do according to your
word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has
been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. 13I give you
also what you have not asked, both riches and honour all your life; no
other king shall compare with you. 14If you will walk in my ways,
keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked,
then I will lengthen your life.'
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James 4:13-17;5:7-11

Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a
town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.' 14Yet you
do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you
are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead
you ought to say, 'If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or
that.' 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is
evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do
it, commits sin. 
Patience in Suffering7 Be patient, therefore, beloved,* until the coming
of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth,
being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
8You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the
Lord is near.* 9Beloved,* do not grumble against one another, so that
you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! 10As an
example of suffering and patience, beloved,* take the prophets who spoke
in the name of the Lord. 11Indeed we call blessed those who showed
endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the
purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
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John 5:1-15

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to
Jerusalem. 
2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew*
Beth-zatha,* which has five porticoes. 3In these lay many
invalids-blind, lame, and paralysed.* 5One man was there who had been
ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew
that he had been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be
made well?' 7The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me
into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my
way, someone else steps down ahead of me.' 8Jesus said to him, 'Stand
up, take your mat and walk.' 9At once the man was made well, and he took
up his mat and began to walk.
Now that day was a sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who had been
cured, 'It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.'
11But he answered them, 'The man who made me well said to me, "Take up
your mat and walk." ' 12They asked him, 'Who is the man who said to you,
"Take it up and walk"?' 13Now the man who had been healed did not know
who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in* the crowd that was there.
14Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'See, you have
been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to
you.' 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had
made him well.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 46, 48

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present* help in trouble. 
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 
3though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
          Selah 


4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High. 
5God is in the midst of the city;* it shall not be moved;
   God will help it when the morning dawns. 
6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts. 
7The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.*
          Selah 


8Come, behold the works of the Lord;
   see what desolations he has brought on the earth. 
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire. 
10'Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.' 
11The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.*
          Selah


Psalm 48

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
   in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, 2beautiful in elevation,
   is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
   the city of the great King. 
3Within its citadels God
   has shown himself a sure defence. 


4Then the kings assembled,
   they came on together. 
5As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
   they were in panic, they took to flight; 
6trembling took hold of them there,
   pains as of a woman in labour, 
7as when an east wind shatters
   the ships of Tarshish. 
8As we have heard, so have we seen
   in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
   which God establishes for ever.
          Selah 


9We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
   in the midst of your temple. 
10Your name, O God, like your praise,
   reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with victory. 
11   Let Mount Zion be glad,
let the towns* of Judah rejoice
   because of your judgements. 


12Walk about Zion, go all around it,
   count its towers, 
13consider well its ramparts;
   go through its citadels,
that you may tell the next generation 
14   that this is God,
our God for ever and ever.
   He will be our guide for ever.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 90

Psalm 90

Lord, you have been our dwelling-place*
   in all generations. 
2Before the mountains were brought forth,
   or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
   from everlasting to everlasting you are God. 


3You turn us* back to dust,
   and say, 'Turn back, you mortals.' 
4For a thousand years in your sight
   are like yesterday when it is past,
   or like a watch in the night. 


5You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
   like grass that is renewed in the morning; 
6in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
   in the evening it fades and withers. 


7For we are consumed by your anger;
   by your wrath we are overwhelmed. 
8You have set our iniquities before you,
   our secret sins in the light of your countenance. 


9For all our days pass away under your wrath;
   our years come to an end* like a sigh. 
10The days of our life are seventy years,
   or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span* is only toil and trouble;
   they are soon gone, and we fly away. 


11Who considers the power of your anger?
   Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you. 
12So teach us to count our days
   that we may gain a wise heart. 


13Turn, O Lord! How long?
   Have compassion on your servants! 
14Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
   so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 
15Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
   and for as many years as we have seen evil. 
16Let your work be manifest to your servants,
   and your glorious power to their children. 
17Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
   and prosper for us the work of our hands-
   O prosper the work of our hands!
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