Saturday 8 March 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Saturday 8 March 2008 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Exodus 2:23-3:15

After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under
their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose
up to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and
God took notice of them. 
Moses at the Burning Bush3Moses was keeping the flock of his
father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the
wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked,
and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, 'I
must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is
not burned up.' 4When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God
called to him out of the bush, 'Moses, Moses!' And he said, 'Here I am.'
5Then he said, 'Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for
the place on which you are standing is holy ground.' 6He said further,
'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at
God. 
7 Then the Lord said, 'I have observed the misery of my people who are
in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.
Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8and I have come down to deliver them
from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and
broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and
the Jebusites. 9The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have
also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to
Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.' 11But Moses
said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt?' 12He said, 'I will be with you; and this shall
be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the
people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.' 
The Divine Name Revealed13 But Moses said to God, 'If I come to the
Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to
you", and they ask me, "What is his name?" what shall I say to them?'
14God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.'* He said further, 'Thus you shall
say to the Israelites, "I am has sent me to you." ' 15God also said to
Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the Israelites, "The Lord,* the God of
your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob, has sent me to you":
This is my name for ever,
and this my title for all generations.
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1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have
love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic
powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am
nothing. 3If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body
so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing. 
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or
arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices
in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things. 
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as
for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10but when the
complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11When I was a child, I
spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see
in a mirror, dimly,* but then we will see face to face. Now I know only
in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13And
now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these
is love.
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Mark 9:14-29

When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and
some scribes arguing with them. 15When the whole crowd saw him, they
were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him.
16He asked them, 'What are you arguing about with them?' 17Someone from
the crowd answered him, 'Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit
that makes him unable to speak; 18and whenever it seizes him, it dashes
him down; and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid; and I
asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.' 19He
answered them, 'You faithless generation, how much longer must I be
among you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.'
20And they brought the boy* to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately
it threw the boy* into convulsions, and he fell on the ground and rolled
about, foaming at the mouth. 21Jesus* asked the father, 'How long has
this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood. 22It has
often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if
you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us.' 23Jesus said
to him, 'If you are able!-All things can be done for the one who
believes.' 24Immediately the father of the child cried out,* 'I believe;
help my unbelief!' 25When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together,
he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, 'You spirit that keep this
boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never
enter him again!' 26After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it
came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, 'He
is dead.' 27But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was
able to stand. 28When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him
privately, 'Why could we not cast it out?' 29He said to them, 'This kind
can come out only through prayer.'*
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 107:33-43

Psalm 107:33-43

He turns rivers into a desert,
   springs of water into thirsty ground, 
34a fruitful land into a salty waste,
   because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. 
35He turns a desert into pools of water,
   a parched land into springs of water. 
36And there he lets the hungry live,
   and they establish a town to live in; 
37they sow fields, and plant vineyards,
   and get a fruitful yield. 
38By his blessing they multiply greatly,
   and he does not let their cattle decrease. 


39When they are diminished and brought low
   through oppression, trouble, and sorrow, 
40he pours contempt on princes
   and makes them wander in trackless wastes; 
41but he raises up the needy out of distress,
   and makes their families like flocks. 
42The upright see it and are glad;
   and all wickedness stops its mouth. 
43Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
   and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 108:1-13, 33

Psalm 108:1-13

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;*
   I will sing and make melody.
   Awake, my soul!* 
2Awake, O harp and lyre!
   I will awake the dawn. 
3I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples,
   and I will sing praises to you among the nations. 
4For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
   and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 


5Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
   and let your glory be over all the earth. 
6Give victory with your right hand, and answer me,
   so that those whom you love may be rescued. 


7God has promised in his sanctuary:*
   'With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
   and portion out the Vale of Succoth. 
8Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
   Ephraim is my helmet;
   Judah is my sceptre. 
9Moab is my wash-basin;
   on Edom I hurl my shoe;
   over Philistia I shout in triumph.' 


10Who will bring me to the fortified city?
   Who will lead me to Edom? 
11Have you not rejected us, O God?
   You do not go out, O God, with our armies. 
12O grant us help against the foe,
   for human help is worthless. 
13With God we shall do valiantly;
   it is he who will tread down our foes.


Psalm 33

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.
   Praise befits the upright. 
2Praise the Lord with the lyre;
   make melody to him with the harp of ten strings. 
3Sing to him a new song;
   play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 


4For the word of the Lord is upright,
   and all his work is done in faithfulness. 
5He loves righteousness and justice;
   the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 


6By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
   and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 
7He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
   he put the deeps in storehouses. 


8Let all the earth fear the Lord;
   let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 
9For he spoke, and it came to be;
   he commanded, and it stood firm. 


10The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
   he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 
11The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
   the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 
12Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,
   the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. 


13The Lord looks down from heaven;
   he sees all humankind. 
14From where he sits enthroned he watches
   all the inhabitants of the earth- 
15he who fashions the hearts of them all,
   and observes all their deeds. 
16A king is not saved by his great army;
   a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 
17The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
   and by its great might it cannot save. 


18Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
   on those who hope in his steadfast love, 
19to deliver their soul from death,
   and to keep them alive in famine. 


20Our soul waits for the Lord;
   he is our help and shield. 
21Our heart is glad in him,
   because we trust in his holy name. 
22Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
   even as we hope in you.
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