Thursday 5 January 2023 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 5 January 2023
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Joshua 1:1-9

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to
Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ‘My servant Moses is
dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into
the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that
the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I
promised to Moses. From the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the
great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, to the
Great Sea in the west shall be your territory. No one shall be able to
stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I
will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and
courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land
that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very
courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that
my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand
or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This
book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate
on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance
with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way
prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby command you: Be
strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.’
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Hebrews 11:32-12:2

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon,
Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who
through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained
promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the
edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war,
put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by
resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in
order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and
flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death,
they were sawn in two,* they were killed by the sword; they went about
in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— of
whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains,
and in caves and holes in the ground.

 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not
receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so
that they would not, without us, be made perfect.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so
closely,* and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before
us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for
the sake of* the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of
the throne of God.
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John 15:1-16

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes
every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit
he prunes* to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed*
by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you.
Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the
vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are
the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me
is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered,
thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become*
my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide
in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love,
just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that
your joy may be complete.

 ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved
you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for
one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do
not call you servants* any longer, because the servant* does not know
what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I
have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and
bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you
whatever you ask him in my name.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 2, 110

Psalm 2

Why do the nations conspire,
   and the peoples plot in vain? 
The kings of the earth set themselves,
   and the rulers take counsel together,
   against the Lord and his anointed, saying, 
‘Let us burst their bonds asunder,
   and cast their cords from us.’ 

He who sits in the heavens laughs;
   the Lord has them in derision. 
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
   and terrify them in his fury, saying, 
‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.’ 

I will tell of the decree of the Lord:
He said to me, ‘You are my son;
   today I have begotten you. 
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
   and the ends of the earth your possession. 
You shall break them with a rod of iron,
   and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ 

Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
   be warned, O rulers of the earth. 
Serve the Lord with fear,
   with trembling kiss his feet,*
or he will be angry, and you will perish in the way;
   for his wrath is quickly kindled. 

Happy are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 110

The Lord says to my lord,
   ‘Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.’ 

The Lord sends out from Zion
   your mighty sceptre.
   Rule in the midst of your foes. 
Your people will offer themselves willingly
   on the day you lead your forces
   on the holy mountains.*
>From the womb of the morning,
   like dew, your youth* will come to you. 
The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,
   ‘You are a priest for ever according to the order of
Melchizedek.’* 

The Lord is at your right hand;
   he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 
He will execute judgement among the nations,
   filling them with corpses;
he will shatter heads
   over the wide earth. 
He will drink from the stream by the path;
   therefore he will lift up his head.
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EVE OF EPIPHANY

Isaiah 66:18-23

For I know* their works and their thoughts, and I am* coming to gather
all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory,
and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to
the nations, to Tarshish, Put,* and Lud—which draw the bow—to
Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my
fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the
nations. They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an
offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and
on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the
Lord, just as the Israelites bring a grain-offering in a clean vessel
to the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them as priests
and as Levites, says the Lord. 

For as the new heavens and the new earth,
   which I will make,
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
   so shall your descendants and your name remain. 
>From new moon to new moon,
   and from sabbath to sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
says the Lord.

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Romans 15:7-13

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for
the glory of God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of
the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might
confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, and in order that the
Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess* you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’; 
and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’; 
and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’; 
and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’ 
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so
that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

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Evening Psalms: Psalm 29, 98

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,*
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 
Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;
   worship the Lord in holy splendour. 

The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
   the God of glory thunders,
   the Lord, over mighty waters. 
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
   the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
   the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
   and Sirion like a young wild ox. 

The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
   the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 

The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,*
   and strips the forest bare;
   and in his temple all say, ‘Glory!’ 

The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
   the Lord sits enthroned as king for ever. 
May the Lord give strength to his people!
   May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Psalm 98

O sing to the Lord a new song,
   for he has done marvellous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
   have gained him victory. 
The Lord has made known his victory;
   he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations. 
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
   to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
   the victory of our God. 

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
   break forth into joyous song and sing praises. 
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
   with the lyre and the sound of melody. 
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
   make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord. 

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   the world and those who live in it. 
Let the floods clap their hands;
   let the hills sing together for joy 
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
   to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with equity.
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