Thursday 26 July 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 26 July 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Samuel 28:3-20

Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him
in Ramah, his own city. Saul had expelled the mediums and the wizards
from the land. The Philistines assembled, and came and encamped at
Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul
saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled
greatly. When Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him,
not by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. Then Saul said to his
servants, 'Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to
her and inquire of her.' His servants said to him, 'There is a medium at
Endor.' 
So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went there, he
and two men with him. They came to the woman by night. And he said,
'Consult a spirit for me, and bring up for me the one whom I name to
you.' The woman said to him, 'Surely you know what Saul has done, how he
has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you
laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?' But Saul swore to
her by the Lord, 'As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you
for this thing.' Then the woman said, 'Whom shall I bring up for you?'
He answered, 'Bring up Samuel for me.' When the woman saw Samuel, she
cried out with a loud voice; and the woman said to Saul, 'Why have you
deceived me? You are Saul!' The king said to her, 'Have no fear; what do
you see?' The woman said to Saul, 'I see a divine being coming up out of
the ground.' He said to her, 'What is his appearance?' She said, 'An old
man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe.' So Saul knew that it was
Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. 
Then Samuel said to Saul, 'Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?'
Saul answered, 'I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring
against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more,
either by prophets or by dreams; so I have summoned you to tell me what
I should do.' Samuel said, 'Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has
turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you just as
he spoke by me; for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and
given it to your neighbour David. Because you did not obey the voice of
the Lord, and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek,
therefore the Lord has done this thing to you today. Moreover, the Lord
will give Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines; and
tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me; the Lord will also give the
army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.' 
Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear
because of the words of Samuel; and there was no strength in him, for he
had eaten nothing all day and all night.
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Acts 15:1-11

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the
brothers, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses,
you cannot be saved.' And after Paul and Barnabas had no small
dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the
others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question
with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the
church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they
reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all
the believers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the
church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God
had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the
Pharisees stood up and said, 'It is necessary for them to be circumcised
and ordered to keep the law of Moses.' 
The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After
there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, 'My
brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you,
that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the
message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the
human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as
he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no
distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God
to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither
our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe
that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they
will.'
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Mark 5:1-20

They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the
Gerasenes. And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man
out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. He lived among the
tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; for he
had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he
wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the
strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the
mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. When
he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; and he
shouted at the top of his voice, 'What have you to do with me, Jesus,
Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.' For
he had said to him, 'Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!' Then
Jesus asked him, 'What is your name?' He replied, 'My name is Legion;
for we are many.' He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the
country. Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding;
and the unclean spirits begged him, 'Send us into the swine; let us
enter them.' So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came
out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand,
rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake. 
The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then
people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and
saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very
man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. Those who had seen
what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. Then
they began to beg Jesus to leave their neighbourhood. As he was getting
into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that
he might be with him. But Jesus refused, and said to him, 'Go home to
your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what
mercy he has shown you.' And he went away and began to proclaim in the
Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 50

Psalm 50

The mighty one, God the Lord,
   speaks and summons the earth
   from the rising of the sun to its setting. 
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
   God shines forth. 


Our God comes and does not keep silence,
   before him is a devouring fire,
   and a mighty tempest all around him. 
He calls to the heavens above
   and to the earth, that he may judge his people: 
'Gather to me my faithful ones,
   who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!' 
The heavens declare his righteousness,
   for God himself is judge.
          Selah 


'Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
   O Israel, I will testify against you.
   I am God, your God. 
Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
   your burnt-offerings are continually before me. 
I will not accept a bull from your house,
   or goats from your folds. 
For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
   the cattle on a thousand hills. 
I know all the birds of the air,
   and all that moves in the field is mine. 


'If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
   for the world and all that is in it is mine. 
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
   or drink the blood of goats? 
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
   and pay your vows to the Most High. 
Call on me in the day of trouble;
   I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.' 


But to the wicked God says:
   'What right have you to recite my statutes,
   or take my covenant on your lips? 
For you hate discipline,
   and you cast my words behind you. 
You make friends with a thief when you see one,
   and you keep company with adulterers. 


'You give your mouth free rein for evil,
   and your tongue frames deceit. 
You sit and speak against your kin;
   you slander your own mother's child. 
These things you have done and I have been silent;
   you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. 


'Mark this, then, you who forget God,
   or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver. 
Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;
   to those who go the right way
   I will show the salvation of God.'
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 8, 84

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 


You have set your glory above the heavens. 
   Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger. 


When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established; 
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals that you care for them? 


Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
   and crowned them with glory and honour. 
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet, 
all sheep and oxen,
   and also the beasts of the field, 
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
   whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 


O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!



Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O Lord of hosts! 
My soul longs, indeed it faints
   for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
   to the living God. 


Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
   my King and my God. 
Happy are those who live in your house,
   ever singing your praise.
          Selah 


Happy are those whose strength is in you,
   in whose heart are the highways to Zion. 
As they go through the valley of Baca
   they make it a place of springs;
   the early rain also covers it with pools. 
They go from strength to strength;
   the God of gods will be seen in Zion. 


O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   give ear, O God of Jacob!
          Selah 
Behold our shield, O God;
   look on the face of your anointed. 


For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than live in the tents of wickedness. 
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
   he bestows favour and honour.
No good thing does the Lord withhold
   from those who walk uprightly. 
O Lord of hosts,
   happy is everyone who trusts in you.
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