Tuesday 21 September 2010 DAILY LECTIONARY

Tue Sep 21 02:00:16 EDT 2010

 Tuesday 21 September 2010 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Esther 5:1-14

On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king’s palace, opposite the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace. As soon as the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won his favour and he held out to her the golden sceptre that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the top of the sceptre. The king said to her, ‘What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? It shall be given you, even to the half of my kingdom.’ Then Esther said, ‘If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to a banquet that I have prepared for the king.’ Then the king said, ‘Bring Haman quickly, so that we may do as Esther desires.’ So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. While they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, ‘What is your petition? It shall be granted you. And what is your request? Even to the half of my kingdom, it shall be fulfilled.’ Then Esther said, ‘This is my petition and request: If I have won the king’s favour, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfil my request, let the king and Haman come tomorrow to the banquet that I will prepare for them, and then I will do as the king has said.’
 Haman went out that day happy and in good spirits. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, and observed that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was infuriated with Mordecai; nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. Then he sent and called for his friends and his wife Zeresh, and Haman recounted to them the splendour of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honoured him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the ministers of the king. Haman added, ‘Even Queen Esther let no one but myself come with the king to the banquet that she prepared. Tomorrow also I am invited by her, together with the king. Yet all this does me no good so long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.’ Then his wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, ‘Let a gallows fifty cubits high be made, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it; then go with the king to the banquet in good spirits.’ This advice pleased Haman, and he had the gallows made.
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Acts 18:12-28

But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal. They said, ‘This man is persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the law.’ Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, ‘If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.’ And he dismissed them from the tribunal. Then all of them* seized Sosthenes, the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things.
 After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the believers* and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow. When they reached Ephesus, he left them there, but first he himself went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. When they asked him to stay longer, he declined; but on taking leave of them, he said, ‘I* will return to you, if God wills.’ Then he set sail from Ephesus.

 When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem* and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia* and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
 Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers* encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah* is Jesus.
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Luke 3:15-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,* John answered all of them by saying, ‘I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.’

 So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler,* who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.
 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;* with you I am well pleased.’*
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 78:1-39

Psalm 78:1-39

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
   that our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their children;
   we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
   and the wonders that he has done.

He established a decree in Jacob,
   and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
   to teach to their children;
that the next generation might know them,
   the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
   so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
   but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
   a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
   whose spirit was not faithful to God.

The Ephraimites, armed with* the bow,
   turned back on the day of battle.
They did not keep God’s covenant,
   but refused to walk according to his law.
They forgot what he had done,
   and the miracles that he had shown them.
In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
   in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
   and made the waters stand like a heap.
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
   and all night long with a fiery light.
He split rocks open in the wilderness,
   and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
He made streams come out of the rock,
   and caused waters to flow down like rivers.

Yet they sinned still more against him,
   rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
They tested God in their heart
   by demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God, saying,
   ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
   and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
   or provide meat for his people?’

Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
   a fire was kindled against Jacob,
   his anger mounted against Israel,
because they had no faith in God,
   and did not trust his saving power.
Yet he commanded the skies above,
   and opened the doors of heaven;
he rained down on them manna to eat,
   and gave them the grain of heaven.
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
   he sent them food in abundance.
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
   and by his power he led out the south wind;
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
   winged birds like the sand of the seas;
he let them fall within their camp,
   all around their dwellings.
And they ate and were well filled,
   for he gave them what they craved.
But before they had satisfied their craving,
   while the food was still in their mouths,
the anger of God rose against them
   and he killed the strongest of them,
   and laid low the flower of Israel.

In spite of all this they still sinned;
   they did not believe in his wonders.
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
   and their years in terror.
When he killed them, they sought for him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly.
They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer.
But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues.
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
   they were not true to his covenant.
Yet he, being compassionate,
   forgave their iniquity,
   and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
   and did not stir up all his wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
   a wind that passes and does not come again.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 78:40-72

Psalm 78:40-72

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
   and grieved him in the desert!
They tested God again and again,
   and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
They did not keep in mind his power,
   or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;
when he displayed his signs in Egypt,
   and his miracles in the fields of Zoan.
He turned their rivers to blood,
   so that they could not drink of their streams.
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
   and frogs, which destroyed them.
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
   and the fruit of their labour to the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail,
   and their sycomores with frost.
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
   and their flocks to thunderbolts.
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
   wrath, indignation, and distress,
   a company of destroying angels.
He made a path for his anger;
   he did not spare them from death,
   but gave their lives over to the plague.
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
   the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham.
Then he led out his people like sheep,
   and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;
   but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
And he brought them to his holy hill,
   to the mountain that his right hand had won.
He drove out nations before them;
   he apportioned them for a possession
   and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

Yet they tested the Most High God,
   and rebelled against him.
   They did not observe his decrees,
but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
   they twisted like a treacherous bow.
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
   they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
   and he utterly rejected Israel.
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
   the tent where he dwelt among mortals,
and delivered his power to captivity,
   his glory to the hand of the foe.
He gave his people to the sword,
   and vented his wrath on his heritage.
Fire devoured their young men,
   and their girls had no marriage song.
Their priests fell by the sword,
   and their widows made no lamentation.
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
   like a warrior shouting because of wine.
He put his adversaries to rout;
   he put them to everlasting disgrace.

He rejected the tent of Joseph,
   he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
   Mount Zion, which he loves.
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
   like the earth, which he has founded for ever.
He chose his servant David,
   and took him from the sheepfolds;
from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
   to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
   of Israel, his inheritance.
With upright heart he tended them,
   and guided them with skilful hand.
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