Thursday 10 January 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 10 January 2008 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Jeremiah 23:1-8

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!
says the Lord. 2Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel,
concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have
scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended
to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord.
3Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands
where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and
they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over
them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be
dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. 
The Righteous Branch of David5 The days are surely coming, says the
Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall
reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel
will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called:
'The Lord is our righteousness.' 
7 Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no
longer be said, 'As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up
out of the land of Egypt', 8but 'As the Lord lives who brought out and
led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north
and out of all the lands where he* had driven them.' Then they shall
live in their own land. 
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Colossians 2:8-23

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty
deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits
of the universe,* and not according to Christ. 9For in him the whole
fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10and you have come to fullness in him,
who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11In him also you were
circumcised with a spiritual circumcision,* by putting off the body of
the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12when you were buried with him
in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of
God, who raised him from the dead. 13And when you were dead in
trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God* made you* alive
together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14erasing the
record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside,
nailing it to the cross. 15He disarmed* the rulers and authorities and
made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. 
16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink
or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17These are only a
shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Do not
let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of
angels, dwelling* on visions,* puffed up without cause by a human way of
thinking,* 19and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body,
nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a
growth that is from God. 
Warnings against False Teachers20 If with Christ you died to the
elemental spirits of the universe,* why do you live as if you still
belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 21'Do not
handle, Do not taste, Do not touch'? 22All these regulations refer to
things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and
teachings. 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting
self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they
are of no value in checking self-indulgence.* 
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John 10:7-17

So again Jesus said to them, 'Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for
the sheep. 8All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the
sheep did not listen to them. 9I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will
be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10The thief
comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have
life, and have it abundantly. 
11 'I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the
sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away-and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The hired hand runs away because
a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I am the good shepherd. I
know my own and my own know me, 15just as the Father knows me and I know
the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16I have other sheep
that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will
listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17For this
reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take
it up again.
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Morning 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; 
2I 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.* 
3On the day I called, you answered me,
   you increased my strength of soul.* 


4All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
   for they have heard the words of your mouth. 
5They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
   for great is the glory of the Lord. 
6For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
   but the haughty he perceives from far away. 


7Though 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. 
8The 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

1O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away. 
3You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways. 
4Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely. 
5You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me. 
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it. 


7Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
8If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
9If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
10even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
11If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night', 
12even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 


13For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother's womb. 
14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well. 
15   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
16Your 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. 
17How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 
18I try to count them-they are more than the sand;
   I come to the end*-I am still with you. 


19O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me- 
20those who speak of you maliciously,
   and lift themselves up against you for evil!* 
21Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
   And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 
22I hate them with perfect hatred;
   I count them my enemies. 
23Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my thoughts. 
24See if there is any wicked* way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.*
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 147

Psalm 147

Praise the Lord!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
   for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. 
2The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
   he gathers the outcasts of Israel. 
3He heals the broken-hearted,
   and binds up their wounds. 
4He determines the number of the stars;
   he gives to all of them their names. 
5Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
   his understanding is beyond measure. 
6The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
   he casts the wicked to the ground. 


7Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
   make melody to our God on the lyre. 
8He covers the heavens with clouds,
   prepares rain for the earth,
   makes grass grow on the hills. 
9He gives to the animals their food,
   and to the young ravens when they cry. 
10His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
   nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;* 
11but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
   in those who hope in his steadfast love. 


12Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
   Praise your God, O Zion! 
13For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
   he blesses your children within you. 
14He grants peace* within your borders;
   he fills you with the finest of wheat. 
15He sends out his command to the earth;
   his word runs swiftly. 
16He gives snow like wool;
   he scatters frost like ashes. 
17He hurls down hail like crumbs-
   who can stand before his cold? 
18He sends out his word, and melts them;
   he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow. 
19He declares his word to Jacob,
   his statutes and ordinances to Israel. 
20He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
   they do not know his ordinances.
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