Saturday 28 July 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Saturday 28 July 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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2 Samuel 1:1-13

After the death of Saul, when David had returned from defeating the
Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag. On the third day, a man
came from Saul's camp, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. When
he came to David, he fell to the ground and did obeisance. David said to
him, 'Where have you come from?' He said to him, 'I have escaped from
the camp of Israel.' David said to him, 'How did things go? Tell me!' He
answered, 'The army fled from the battle, but also many of the army fell
and died; and Saul and his son Jonathan also died.' Then David asked the
young man who was reporting to him, 'How do you know that Saul and his
son Jonathan died?' The young man reporting to him said, 'I happened to
be on Mount Gilboa; and there was Saul leaning on his spear, while the
chariots and the horsemen drew close to him. When he looked behind him,
he saw me, and called to me. I answered, "Here, sir." And he said to me,
"Who are you?" I answered him, "I am an Amalekite." He said to me,
"Come, stand over me and kill me; for convulsions have seized me, and
yet my life still lingers." So I stood over him, and killed him, for I
knew that he could not live after he had fallen. I took the crown that
was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought
them here to my lord.' 
Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them; and all the men who
were with him did the same. They mourned and wept, and fasted until
evening for Saul and for his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord
and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. David
said to the young man who had reported to him, 'Where do you come from?'
He answered, 'I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.'
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Acts 15:22-35

Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church,
decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to
Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and
Silas, leaders among the brothers, with the following letter: 'The
brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile
origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. Since we have heard
that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no
instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled
your minds, we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and
send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have
risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have
therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same
things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and
to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials: that you
abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from
what is strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves from
these, you will do well. Farewell.' 
So they were sent off and went down to Antioch. When they gathered the
congregation together, they delivered the letter. When its members read
it, they rejoiced at the exhortation. Judas and Silas, who were
themselves prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the
believers. After they had been there for some time, they were sent off
in peace by the believers to those who had sent them. But Paul and
Barnabas remained in Antioch, and there, with many others, they taught
and proclaimed the word of the Lord. 
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Mark 6:1-13

He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed
him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who
heard him were astounded. They said, 'Where did this man get all this?
What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are
being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and
brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters
here with us?' And they took offence at him. Then Jesus said to them,
'Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among
their own kin, and in their own house.' And he could do no deed of power
there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured
them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. 


Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and
began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the
unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey
except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear
sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, 'Wherever you
enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will
not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the
dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.' So they went out
and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and
anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 55

Psalm 55

Give ear to my prayer, O God;
   do not hide yourself from my supplication. 
Attend to me, and answer me;
   I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
   because of the clamour of the wicked.
For they bring trouble upon me,
   and in anger they cherish enmity against me. 


My heart is in anguish within me,
   the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 
Fear and trembling come upon me,
   and horror overwhelms me. 
And I say, 'O that I had wings like a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest; 
truly, I would flee far away;
   I would lodge in the wilderness;
          Selah 
I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
   from the raging wind and tempest.' 


Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
   for I see violence and strife in the city. 
Day and night they go around it
   on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it; 
   ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
   do not depart from its market-place. 


It is not enemies who taunt me-
   I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me-
   I could hide from them. 
But it is you, my equal,
   my companion, my familiar friend, 
with whom I kept pleasant company;
   we walked in the house of God with the throng. 
Let death come upon them;
   let them go down alive to Sheol;
   for evil is in their homes and in their hearts. 


But I call upon God,
   and the Lord will save me. 
Evening and morning and at noon
   I utter my complaint and moan,
   and he will hear my voice. 
He will redeem me unharmed
   from the battle that I wage,
   for many are arrayed against me. 
God, who is enthroned from of old,
          Selah
   will hear, and will humble them-
because they do not change,
   and do not fear God. 


My companion laid hands on a friend
   and violated a covenant with me 
with speech smoother than butter,
   but with a heart set on war;
with words that were softer than oil,
   but in fact were drawn swords. 


Cast your burden on the Lord,
   and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
   the righteous to be moved. 


But you, O God, will cast them down
   into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
   shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 138, 139:1-23

Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
   before the gods I sing your praise; 
I bow down towards your holy temple
   and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your
faithfulness;
   for you have exalted your name and your word
   above everything. 
On the day I called, you answered me,
   you increased my strength of soul. 


All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
   for they have heard the words of your mouth. 
They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
   for great is the glory of the Lord. 
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
   but the haughty he perceives from far away. 


Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
   you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
   and your right hand delivers me. 
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
   your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
   Do not forsake the work of your hands.



Psalm 139:1-23

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away. 
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways. 
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely. 
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me. 
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it. 


Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night', 
even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 


For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother's womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well. 
   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
   all the days that were formed for me,
   when none of them as yet existed. 
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 
I try to count them-they are more than the sand;
   I come to the end-I am still with you. 


O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me- 
those who speak of you maliciously,
   and lift themselves up against you for evil! 
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
   And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 
I hate them with perfect hatred;
   I count them my enemies. 
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my thoughts.
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