Saturday 7 June 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Saturday 7 June 2008  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Ecclesiastes 5:8-20

If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of
justice and right, do not be amazed at the matter; for the high official
is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them. But all
things considered, this is an advantage for a land: a king for a
ploughed field.*

 The lover of money will not be satisfied with money; nor the lover of
wealth, with gain. This also is vanity.

 When goods increase, those who eat them increase; and what gain has
their owner but to see them with his eyes?

 Sweet is the sleep of labourers, whether they eat little or much; but
the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep.

 There is a grievous ill that I have seen under the sun: riches were
kept by their owners to their hurt, and those riches were lost in a bad
venture; though they are parents of children, they have nothing in their
hands. As they came from their mother's womb, so they shall go again,
naked as they came; they shall take nothing for their toil, which they
may carry away with their hands. This also is a grievous ill: just as
they came, so shall they go; and what gain do they have from toiling for
the wind? Besides, all their days they eat in darkness, in much vexation
and sickness and resentment.

 This is what I have seen to be good: it is fitting to eat and drink and
find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the
few days of the life God gives us; for this is our lot. Likewise all to
whom God gives wealth and possessions and whom he enables to enjoy them,
and to accept their lot and find enjoyment in their toil-this is the
gift of God. For they will scarcely brood over the days of their lives,
because God keeps them occupied with the joy of their hearts.
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Galatians 3:23-4:11

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law
until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian
until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that
faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in
Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you
as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There
is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no
longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if
you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,* heirs according
to the promise.

My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than
slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; but they remain
under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with
us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits* of
the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And
because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our*
hearts, crying, 'Abba!* Father!' So you are no longer a slave but a
child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.*
 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that
by nature are not gods. Now, however, that you have come to know God, or
rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and
beggarly elemental spirits?* How can you want to be enslaved to them
again? You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and
years. I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.
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Matthew 15:1-20

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 'Why
do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not
wash their hands before they eat.' He answered them, 'And why do you
break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God
said,* "Honour your father and your mother," and, "Whoever speaks evil
of father or mother must surely die." But you say that whoever tells
father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is given
to God",* then that person need not honour the father.* So, for the sake
of your tradition, you make void the word* of God. You hypocrites!
Isaiah prophesied rightly about you when he said: 
"This people honours me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me; 
in vain do they worship me,
   teaching human precepts as doctrines." '
 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, 'Listen and
understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person,
but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.' Then the disciples
approached and said to him, 'Do you know that the Pharisees took offence
when they heard what you said?' He answered, 'Every plant that my
heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they
are blind guides of the blind.* And if one blind person guides another,
both will fall into a pit.' But Peter said to him, 'Explain this parable
to us.' Then he said, 'Are you also still without understanding? Do you
not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes
out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the
heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil
intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness,
slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands
does not defile.'
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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. 
See if there is any wicked* way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.*
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