Sunday 11 March 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Sunday 11 March 2007
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 6:9-15

Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Glean thoroughly as a vine
   the remnant of Israel;
like a grape-gatherer, pass your hand again
   over its branches. 


To whom shall I speak and give warning,
   that they may hear?
See, their ears are closed,
   they cannot listen.
The word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
   they take no pleasure in it. 
But I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
   I am weary of holding it in. 


Pour it out on the children in the street,
   and on the gatherings of young men as well;
both husband and wife shall be taken,
   the old folk and the very aged. 
Their houses shall be turned over to others,
   their fields and wives together;
for I will stretch out my hand
   against the inhabitants of the land,

says the Lord. 


For from the least to the greatest of them,
   everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
   everyone deals falsely. 
They have treated the wound of my people carelessly,
   saying, ‘Peace, peace’,
   when there is no peace. 
They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
   yet they were not ashamed,
   they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
   at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the Lord.
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1 Corinthians 6:12-20

‘All things are lawful for me’, but not all things are beneficial. ‘All
things are lawful for me’, but I will not be dominated by anything.
‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food’, and God will
destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication
but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord
and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies
are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ
and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that
whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is
said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’ But anyone united to the Lord
becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person
commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body
itself. Or do you not know that your body is a temple* of the Holy
Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your
own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your
body.
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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 93, 96

Psalm 93

The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
   the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved; 
   your throne is established from of old;
   you are from everlasting. 


The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
   the floods have lifted up their voice;
   the floods lift up their roaring. 
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
   more majestic than the waves of the sea,
   majestic on high is the Lord! 


Your decrees are very sure;
   holiness befits your house,
   O Lord, for evermore.


Psalm 96

O sing to the Lord a new song;
   sing to the Lord, all the earth. 
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
   tell of his salvation from day to day. 
Declare his glory among the nations,
   his marvellous works among all the peoples. 
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
   he is to be revered above all gods. 
For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
   but the Lord made the heavens. 
Honour and majesty are before him;
   strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. 


Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
   bring an offering, and come into his courts. 
Worship the Lord in holy splendour;
   tremble before him, all the earth. 


Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!
   The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
   He will judge the peoples with equity.’ 
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
   let the sea roar, and all that fills it; 
   let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy 
   before the Lord; for he is coming,
   for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with his truth.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 34

Psalm 34

I will bless the Lord at all times;
   his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
   let the humble hear and be glad. 
O magnify the Lord with me,
   and let us exalt his name together. 


I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
   and delivered me from all my fears. 
Look to him, and be radiant;
   so your faces shall never be ashamed. 
This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
   and was saved from every trouble. 
The angel of the Lord encamps
   around those who fear him, and delivers them. 
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
   happy are those who take refuge in him. 
O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
   for those who fear him have no want. 
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
   but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 


Come, O children, listen to me;
   I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 
Which of you desires life,
   and covets many days to enjoy good? 
Keep your tongue from evil,
   and your lips from speaking deceit. 
Depart from evil, and do good;
   seek peace, and pursue it. 


The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
   and his ears are open to their cry. 
The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
   to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. 
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
   and rescues them from all their troubles. 
The Lord is near to the broken-hearted,
   and saves the crushed in spirit. 


Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
   but the Lord rescues them from them all. 
He keeps all their bones;
   not one of them will be broken. 
Evil brings death to the wicked,
   and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
   none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
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