Thursday 8 March 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 8 March 2007
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 4:9-10,19-28

On that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail the king and the
officials; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.
Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God, how utterly you have deceived this people
and Jerusalem, saying, “It shall be well with you”, even while the
sword is at the throat!’ 


My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
   Oh, the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
   I cannot keep silent;
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
   the alarm of war. 
Disaster overtakes disaster,
   the whole land is laid waste.
Suddenly my tents are destroyed,
   my curtains in a moment. 
How long must I see the standard,
   and hear the sound of the trumpet? 
‘For my people are foolish,
   they do not know me;
they are stupid children,
   they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil,
   but do not know how to do good.’ 


I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
   and to the heavens, and they had no light. 
I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
   and all the hills moved to and fro. 
I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
   and all the birds of the air had fled. 
I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
   and all its cities were laid in ruins
   before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will
not make a full end. 
Because of this the earth shall mourn,
   and the heavens above grow black;
for I have spoken, I have purposed;
   I have not relented nor will I turn back.
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Romans 2:12-24

All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the
law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight,
but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do
not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these,
though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what
the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own
conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will
accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel,
God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your
relation to God and know his will and determine what is best because
you are instructed in the law, and if you are sure that you are a guide
to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the
foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of
knowledge and truth, you, then, that teach others, will you not teach
yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You that
forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you
rob temples? You that boast in the law, do you dishonour God by
breaking the law? For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles because of you.’
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John 5:19-29

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on
his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the
Father does, the Son does likewise. The Father loves the Son and shows
him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works
than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just as the Father
raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to
whomsoever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all
judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they
honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son does not honour
the Father who sent him. Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my
word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come
under judgement, but has passed from death to life.

‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the
dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will
live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the
Son also to have life in himself; and he has given him authority to
execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be astonished
at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will
hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection
of condemnation.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 70, 71

Psalm 70

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
   O Lord, make haste to help me! 
Let those be put to shame and confusion
   who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
   who desire to hurt me. 
Let those who say, ‘Aha, Aha!’
   turn back because of their shame. 


Let all who seek you
   rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
   say evermore, ‘God is great!’ 
But I am poor and needy;
   hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
   O Lord, do not delay!


Psalm 71

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
   let me never be put to shame. 
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
   incline your ear to me and save me. 
Be to me a rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress, to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress. 


Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
   from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
   my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
   it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you. 


I have been like a portent to many,
   but you are my strong refuge. 
My mouth is filled with your praise,
   and with your glory all day long. 
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
   do not forsake me when my strength is spent. 
For my enemies speak concerning me,
   and those who watch for my life consult together. 
They say, ‘Pursue and seize that person
   whom God has forsaken,
   for there is no one to deliver.’ 


O God, do not be far from me;
   O my God, make haste to help me! 
Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
   let those who seek to hurt me
   be covered with scorn and disgrace. 
But I will hope continually,
   and will praise you yet more and more. 
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
   of your deeds of salvation all day long,
   though their number is past my knowledge. 
I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,
   I will praise your righteousness, yours alone. 


O God, from my youth you have taught me,
   and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 
So even to old age and grey hairs,
   O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
   to all the generations to come.
Your power and your righteousness, O God,
   reach the high heavens. 


You who have done great things,
   O God, who is like you? 
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
   will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
   you will bring me up again. 
You will increase my honour,
   and comfort me once again. 


I will also praise you with the harp
   for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
   O Holy One of Israel. 
My lips will shout for joy
   when I sing praises to you;
   my soul also, which you have rescued. 
All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,
for those who tried to do me harm
   have been put to shame, and disgraced.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 74

Psalm 74

O God, why do you cast us off for ever?
   Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 
Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
   which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
   Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell. 
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
   the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. 


Your foes have roared within your holy place;
   they set up their emblems there. 
At the upper entrance they hacked
   the wooden trellis with axes. 
And then, with hatchets and hammers,
   they smashed all its carved work. 
They set your sanctuary on fire;
   they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,
   bringing it to the ground. 
They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;
   they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land. 


We do not see our emblems;
   there is no longer any prophet,
   and there is no one among us who knows how long. 
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
   Is the enemy to revile your name for ever? 
Why do you hold back your hand;
   why do you keep your hand in your bosom? 


Yet God my King is from of old,
   working salvation in the earth. 
You divided the sea by your might;
   you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. 
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
   you gave him as food* for the creatures of the wilderness. 
You cut openings for springs and torrents;
   you dried up ever-flowing streams. 
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
   you established the luminaries and the sun. 
You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
   you made summer and winter. 


Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
   and an impious people reviles your name. 
Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
   do not forget the life of your poor for ever. 


Have regard for your covenant,
   for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence. 
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
   let the poor and needy praise your name. 
Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
   remember how the impious scoff at you all day long. 
Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
   the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.
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