Saturday 29 May 2021 DAILY LECTIONARY

Sat May 29 02:00:02 EDT 2021

Saturday 29 May 2021

DAILY LECTIONARY

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Deuteronomy 5:22-33

These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders; and you said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to someone and the person may still live. So now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and remained alive? Go near, you yourself, and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and do it.’ 

The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they are right in all that they have spoken. If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children for ever! Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances, that you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.

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2 Corinthians 4:13-5:10

But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with scripture—‘I believed, and so I spoke’—we also believe, and so we speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and will bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 

So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. 

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling— if indeed, when we have taken it off we will not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan under our burden, because we wish not to be unclothed but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. 

So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

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Luke 16:19-31

‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’

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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 30, 32

Psalm 30

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,

   and did not let my foes rejoice over me. 

O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,

   and you have healed me. 

O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,

   restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. 

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,

   and give thanks to his holy name. 

For his anger is but for a moment;

   his favour is for a lifetime.

Weeping may linger for the night,

   but joy comes with the morning. 

As for me, I said in my prosperity,

   ‘I shall never be moved.’ 

By your favour, O Lord,

   you had established me as a strong mountain;

you hid your face;

   I was dismayed. 

To you, O Lord, I cried,

   and to the Lord I made supplication: 

‘What profit is there in my death,

   if I go down to the Pit?

Will the dust praise you?

   Will it tell of your faithfulness? 

Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!

   O Lord, be my helper!’ 

You have turned my mourning into dancing;

   you have taken off my sackcloth

   and clothed me with joy, 

so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.

   O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.

Psalm 32

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,

   whose sin is covered. 

Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,

   and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 

While I kept silence, my body wasted away

   through my groaning all day long. 

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;

   my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

          Selah 

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,

   and I did not hide my iniquity;

I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’,

   and you forgave the guilt of my sin.

          Selah 

Therefore let all who are faithful

   offer prayer to you;

at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters

   shall not reach them. 

You are a hiding-place for me;

   you preserve me from trouble;

   you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.

          Selah 

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;

   I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 

Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,

   whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,

   else it will not stay near you. 

Many are the torments of the wicked,

   but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. 

Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,

   and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

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Evening Psalms: Psalm 42, 43

Psalm 42

As a deer longs for flowing streams,

   so my soul longs for you, O God. 

My soul thirsts for God,

   for the living God.

When shall I come and behold

   the face of God? 

My tears have been my food

   day and night,

while people say to me continually,

   ‘Where is your God?’ 

These things I remember,

   as I pour out my soul:

how I went with the throng,

   and led them in procession to the house of God,

with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,

   a multitude keeping festival. 

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

   and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

   my help and my God. 

My soul is cast down within me;

   therefore I remember you

from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,

   from Mount Mizar. 

Deep calls to deep

   at the thunder of your cataracts;

all your waves and your billows

   have gone over me. 

By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,

   and at night his song is with me,

   a prayer to the God of my life. 

I say to God, my rock,

   ‘Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I walk about mournfully

   because the enemy oppresses me?’ 

As with a deadly wound in my body,

   my adversaries taunt me,

while they say to me continually,

   ‘Where is your God?’ 

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

   and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

   my help and my God.

Psalm 43

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause

   against an ungodly people;

from those who are deceitful and unjust

   deliver me! 

For you are the God in whom I take refuge;

   why have you cast me off?

Why must I walk about mournfully

   because of the oppression of the enemy? 

O send out your light and your truth;

   let them lead me;

let them bring me to your holy hill

   and to your dwelling. 

Then I will go to the altar of God,

   to God my exceeding joy;

and I will praise you with the harp,

   O God, my God. 

Why are you cast down, O my soul,

   and why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,

   my help and my God.

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EVE OF TRINITY SUNDAY

Ecclesiasticus 42:15-25

I will now call to mind the works of the Lord,
   and will declare what I have seen.
By the word of the Lord his works are made;
   and all his creatures do his will.* 
The sun looks down on everything with its light,
   and the work of the Lord is full of his glory. 
The Lord has not empowered even his holy ones
   to recount all his marvellous works,
which the Lord the Almighty has established
   so that the universe may stand firm in his glory. 
He searches out the abyss and the human heart;
   he understands their innermost secrets.
For the Most High knows all that may be known;
   he sees from of old the things that are to come.* 
He discloses what has been and what is to be,
   and he reveals the traces of hidden things. 
No thought escapes him,
   and nothing is hidden from him. 
He has set in order the splendours of his wisdom;
   he is from all eternity one and the same.
Nothing can be added or taken away,
   and he needs no one to be his counsellor. 
How desirable are all his works,
   and how sparkling they are to see!* 
All these things live and remain for ever;
   each creature is preserved to meet a particular need.* 
All things come in pairs, one opposite to the other,
   and he has made nothing incomplete. 
Each supplements the virtues of the other.
   Who could ever tire of seeing his glory? 

Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,* from whom every
family* in heaven and on earth takes its name. I pray that,
according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be
strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being
rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to
comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and
height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses
knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish
abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory
in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and
ever. Amen. 

Psalm 104

Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honour and majesty, 
   wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent, 
you set the beams of your* chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your* chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind, 
you make the winds your* messengers,
fire and flame your* ministers. 

You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken. 
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains. 
At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight. 
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys
to the place that you appointed for them. 
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth. 

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills, 
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst. 
By the streams* the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches. 
>From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. 

You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,*
to bring forth food from the earth, 
   and wine to gladden the human heart,
oil to make the face shine,
and bread to strengthen the human heart. 
The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees. 
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys. 
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting. 
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. 
The young lions roar for their prey,
seeking their food from God. 
When the sun rises, they withdraw
and lie down in their dens. 
People go out to their work
and to their labour until the evening. 

O Lord, how manifold are your works!
   In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures. 
Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
   creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great. 
There go the ships,
and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it. 

These all look to you
to give them their food in due season; 
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
   when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust. 
When you send forth your spirit,* they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground. 

May the glory of the Lord endure for ever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works— 
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke. 
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord. 
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
   and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord!

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