Thursday 6 October 2016 DAILY LECTIONARY

[Daily Lectionary]

Thursday 6 October 2016  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Micah 3:1-8

And I said:
Listen, you heads of Jacob
   and rulers of the house of Israel!
Should you not know justice?— 
   you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin off my people,*
   and the flesh off their bones; 
who eat the flesh of my people,
   flay their skin off them,
break their bones in pieces,
   and chop them up like meat* in a kettle,
   like flesh in a cauldron. 


Then they will cry to the Lord,
   but he will not answer them;
he will hide his face from them at that time,
   because they have acted wickedly. 


Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
   who lead my people astray,
who cry ‘Peace’
   when they have something to eat,
but declare war against those
   who put nothing into their mouths. 
Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
   and darkness to you, without revelation.
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,
   and the day shall be black over them; 
the seers shall be disgraced,
   and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
   for there is no answer from God. 
But as for me, I am filled with power,
   with the spirit of the Lord,
   and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
   and to Israel his sin.
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Acts 24:1-23

Five days later the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an attorney, a certain Tertullus, and they reported their case against Paul to the governor. When Paul* had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying:

‘Your Excellency,* because of you we have long enjoyed peace, and reforms have been made for this people because of your foresight. We welcome this in every way and everywhere with utmost gratitude. But, to detain you no further, I beg you to hear us briefly with your customary graciousness. We have, in fact, found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.* He even tried to profane the temple, and so we seized him.* By examining him yourself you will be able to learn from him concerning everything of which we accuse him.’

 The Jews also joined in the charge by asserting that all this was true.
 When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied:

‘I cheerfully make my defence, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation. As you can find out, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. They did not find me disputing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd either in the synagogues or throughout the city. Neither can they prove to you the charge that they now bring against me. But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets. I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both* the righteous and the unrighteous. Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience towards God and all people. Now after some years I came to bring alms to my nation and to offer sacrifices. While I was doing this, they found me in the temple, completing the rite of purification, without any crowd or disturbance. But there were some Jews from Asia—they ought to be here before you to make an accusation, if they have anything against me. Or let these men here tell what crime they had found when I stood before the council, unless it was this one sentence that I called out while standing before them, “It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.” ’

 But Felix, who was rather well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing with the comment, ‘When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.’ Then he ordered the centurion to keep him in custody, but to let him have some liberty and not to prevent any of his friends from taking care of his needs.
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Luke 7:36-50

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus* to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’ Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ ‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii,* and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus* said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 131, 132, 133

Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
   my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
   too great and too marvellous for me. 
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
   like a weaned child with its mother;
   my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.* 


O Israel, hope in the Lord
   from this time on and for evermore.


Psalm 132

O Lord, remember in David’s favour
   all the hardships he endured; 
how he swore to the Lord
   and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 
‘I will not enter my house
   or get into my bed; 
I will not give sleep to my eyes
   or slumber to my eyelids, 
until I find a place for the Lord,
   a dwelling-place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’ 


We heard of it in Ephrathah;
   we found it in the fields of Jaar. 
‘Let us go to his dwelling-place;
   let us worship at his footstool.’ 


Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting-place,
   you and the ark of your might. 
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
   and let your faithful shout for joy. 
For your servant David’s sake
   do not turn away the face of your anointed one. 


The Lord swore to David a sure oath
   from which he will not turn back:
‘One of the sons of your body
   I will set on your throne. 
If your sons keep my covenant
   and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, for evermore,
   shall sit on your throne.’ 


For the Lord has chosen Zion;
   he has desired it for his habitation: 
‘This is my resting-place for ever;
   here I will reside, for I have desired it. 
I will abundantly bless its provisions;
   I will satisfy its poor with bread. 
Its priests I will clothe with salvation,
   and its faithful will shout for joy. 
There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
   I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one. 
His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
   but on him, his crown will gleam.’


Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is
   when kindred live together in unity! 
It is like the precious oil on the head,
   running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
   running down over the collar of his robes. 
It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
   life for evermore.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 134, 135

Psalm 134

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
   who stand by night in the house of the Lord! 
Lift up your hands to the holy place,
   and bless the Lord. 


May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth,
   bless you from Zion.


Psalm 135

Praise the Lord!
   Praise the name of the Lord;
   give praise, O servants of the Lord, 
you that stand in the house of the Lord,
   in the courts of the house of our God. 
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
   sing to his name, for he is gracious. 
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
   Israel as his own possession. 


For I know that the Lord is great;
   our Lord is above all gods. 
Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
   in heaven and on earth,
   in the seas and all deeps. 
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
   he makes lightnings for the rain
   and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 


He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
   both human beings and animals; 
he sent signs and wonders
   into your midst, O Egypt,
   against Pharaoh and all his servants. 
He struck down many nations
   and killed mighty kings— 
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
   and Og, king of Bashan,
   and all the kingdoms of Canaan— 
and gave their land as a heritage,
   a heritage to his people Israel. 


Your name, O Lord, endures for ever,
   your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. 
For the Lord will vindicate his people,
   and have compassion on his servants. 


The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
   the work of human hands. 
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
   they have eyes, but they do not see; 
they have ears, but they do not hear,
   and there is no breath in their mouths. 
Those who make them
   and all who trust them
   shall become like them. 


O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
   O house of Aaron, bless the Lord! 
O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
   You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord! 
Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
   he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
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