Tuesday 19 October 2021 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 19 October 2021
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Lamentations 1:1-12

How lonely sits the city
   that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
   she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
   has become a vassal. 

She weeps bitterly in the night,
   with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers
   she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her,
   they have become her enemies. 

Judah has gone into exile with suffering
   and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations,
   and finds no resting-place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
   in the midst of her distress. 

The roads to Zion mourn,
   for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate,
   her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,*
   and her lot is bitter. 

Her foes have become the masters,
   her enemies prosper,
because the Lord has made her suffer
   for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
   captives before the foe. 

>From daughter Zion has departed
   all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
   that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
   before the pursuer. 

Jerusalem remembers,
   in the days of her affliction and wandering,
all the precious things
   that were hers in days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the foe,
   and there was no one to help her,
the foe looked on mocking
   over her downfall. 

Jerusalem sinned grievously,
   so she has become a mockery;
all who honoured her despise her,
   for they have seen her nakedness;
she herself groans,
   and turns her face away. 

Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
   she took no thought of her future;
her downfall was appalling,
   with none to comfort her.
‘O Lord, look at my affliction,
   for the enemy has triumphed!’ 

Enemies have stretched out their hands
   over all her precious things;
she has even seen the nations
   invade her sanctuary,
those whom you forbade
   to enter your congregation. 

All her people groan
   as they search for bread;
they trade their treasures for food
   to revive their strength.
Look, O Lord, and see
   how worthless I have become. 

Is it nothing to you,* all you who pass by?
   Look and see
if there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
   which was brought upon me,
which the Lord inflicted
   on the day of his fierce anger.
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1 Corinthians 15:41-50

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and
another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.

 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is
perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour,
it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is
a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written,
‘The first man, Adam, became a living being’; the last Adam became
a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but
the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the
earth, a man of dust; the second man is* from heaven. As was the man
of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of
heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the
image of the man of dust, we will* also bear the image of the man of
heaven.

 What I am saying, brothers and sisters,* is this: flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable.
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Matthew 11:25-30
 
At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank* you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the
intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such
was your gracious will.* All things have been handed over to me by my
Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows
the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal
him.

 ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy
burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 26, 28

Psalm 26

Vindicate me, O Lord,
   for I have walked in my integrity,
   and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
   test my heart and mind. 
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
   and I walk in faithfulness to you.* 

I do not sit with the worthless,
   nor do I consort with hypocrites; 
I hate the company of evildoers,
   and will not sit with the wicked. 

I wash my hands in innocence,
   and go around your altar, O Lord, 
singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
   and telling all your wondrous deeds. 

O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
   and the place where your glory abides. 
Do not sweep me away with sinners,
   nor my life with the bloodthirsty, 
those in whose hands are evil devices,
   and whose right hands are full of bribes. 

But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
   redeem me, and be gracious to me. 
My foot stands on level ground;
   in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.

Psalm 28

To you, O Lord, I call;
   my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
for if you are silent to me,
   I shall be like those who go down to the Pit. 
Hear the voice of my supplication,
   as I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
   towards your most holy sanctuary.* 

Do not drag me away with the wicked,
   with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbours,
   while mischief is in their hearts. 
Repay them according to their work,
   and according to the evil of their deeds;
repay them according to the work of their hands;
   render them their due reward. 
Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
   or the work of his hands,
he will break them down and build them up no more. 

Blessed be the Lord,
   for he has heard the sound of my pleadings. 
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
   in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
   and with my song I give thanks to him. 

The Lord is the strength of his people;
   he is the saving refuge of his anointed. 
O save your people, and bless your heritage;
   be their shepherd, and carry them for ever.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 36, 39

Psalm 36

Transgression speaks to the wicked
   deep in their hearts;
there is no fear of God
   before their eyes. 
For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
   that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated. 
The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
   they have ceased to act wisely and do good. 
They plot mischief while on their beds;
   they are set on a way that is not good;
   they do not reject evil. 

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the clouds. 
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
   your judgements are like the great deep;
   you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. 

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 
They feast on the abundance of your house,
   and you give them drink from the river of your delights. 
For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light. 

O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
   and your salvation to the upright of heart! 
Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
   or the hand of the wicked drive me away. 
There the evildoers lie prostrate;
   they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Psalm 39

I said, ‘I will guard my ways
   that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
   as long as the wicked are in my presence.’ 
I was silent and still;
   I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse, 
   my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
   then I spoke with my tongue: 

‘Lord, let me know my end,
   and what is the measure of my days;
   let me know how fleeting my life is. 
You have made my days a few handbreadths,
   and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. 
          Selah 
   Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
   they heap up, and do not know who will gather. 

‘And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
   My hope is in you. 
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
   Do not make me the scorn of the fool. 
I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
   for it is you who have done it. 
Remove your stroke from me;
   I am worn down by the blows* of your hand. 

‘You chastise mortals
   in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
   surely everyone is a mere breath. 
          Selah

‘Hear my prayer, O Lord,
   and give ear to my cry;
   do not hold your peace at my tears.
For I am your passing guest,
   an alien, like all my forebears. 
Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
   before I depart and am no more.’
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