Thursday 11 May 2023 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 11 May 2023  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Wisdom 14:27-15:3

For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil. 
For their worshippers* either rave in exultation,
or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury; 
for because they trust in lifeless idols
they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm. 
But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:
because they thought wrongly about God in devoting themselves to
idols,
and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for
holiness. 
For it is not the power of the things by which people swear,*
but the just penalty for those who sin,
that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous. 

But you, our God, are kind and true,
patient, and ruling all things* in mercy. 
For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power;
but we will not sin, because we know that you acknowledge us as
yours. 
For to know you is complete righteousness,
and to know your power is the root of immortality.
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Romans 14:1-12

Welcome those who are weak in faith,* but not for the purpose of
quarrelling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the
weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who
abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who
eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgement on
servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or
fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord* is able to make them
stand.

 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all
days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those
who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord. Also those who
eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while
those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to
God.

 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we
live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then,
whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this
end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the
dead and the living.

 Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister?* Or you, why do
you despise your brother or sister?* For we will all stand before the
judgement seat of God.* For it is written,
‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
   and every tongue shall give praise to* God.’ 
So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
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Luke 8:26-39
 
Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes,* which is opposite
Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons
met him. For a long time he had worn* no clothes, and he did not live
in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before
him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with
me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment
me’— for Jesus* had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of
the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard
and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and
be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What
is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered
him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the
demons* begged Jesus* to let them enter these. So he gave them
permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine,
and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it
in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had
happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom
the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his
right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how
the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the
people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes* asked Jesus* to
leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the
boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that
he might be with him; but Jesus* sent him away, saying, ‘Return to
your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went
away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 70, 71

Psalm 70

Be pleased, O God, to deliver me.
   O Lord, make haste to help me! 
Let those be put to shame and confusion
   who seek my life.
Let those be turned back and brought to dishonour
   who desire to hurt me. 
Let those who say, ‘Aha, Aha!’
   turn back because of their shame. 

Let all who seek you
   rejoice and be glad in you.
Let those who love your salvation
   say evermore, ‘God is great!’ 
But I am poor and needy;
   hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
   O Lord, do not delay!

Psalm 71

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
   let me never be put to shame. 
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
   incline your ear to me and save me. 
Be to me a rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress,* to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress. 

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
   from the grasp of the unjust and cruel. 
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
   my trust, O Lord, from my youth. 
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
   it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you. 

I have been like a portent to many,
   but you are my strong refuge. 
My mouth is filled with your praise,
   and with your glory all day long. 
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
   do not forsake me when my strength is spent. 
For my enemies speak concerning me,
   and those who watch for my life consult together. 
They say, ‘Pursue and seize that person
   whom God has forsaken,
   for there is no one to deliver.’ 

O God, do not be far from me;
   O my God, make haste to help me! 
Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
   let those who seek to hurt me
   be covered with scorn and disgrace. 
But I will hope continually,
   and will praise you yet more and more. 
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
   of your deeds of salvation all day long,
   though their number is past my knowledge. 
I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,
   I will praise your righteousness, yours alone. 

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
   and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 
So even to old age and grey hairs,
   O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might
   to all the generations to come.*
Your power and your righteousness, O God,
   reach the high heavens. 

You who have done great things,
   O God, who is like you? 
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
   will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
   you will bring me up again. 
You will increase my honour,
   and comfort me once again. 

I will also praise you with the harp
   for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
   O Holy One of Israel. 
My lips will shout for joy
   when I sing praises to you;
   my soul also, which you have rescued. 
All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,
for those who tried to do me harm
   have been put to shame, and disgraced.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 74

Psalm 74

O God, why do you cast us off for ever?
   Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? 
Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,
   which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.
   Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell. 
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
   the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary. 

Your foes have roared within your holy place;
   they set up their emblems there. 
At the upper entrance they hacked
   the wooden trellis with axes.* 
And then, with hatchets and hammers,
   they smashed all its carved work. 
They set your sanctuary on fire;
   they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,
   bringing it to the ground. 
They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;
   they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land. 

We do not see our emblems;
   there is no longer any prophet,
   and there is no one among us who knows how long. 
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
   Is the enemy to revile your name for ever? 
Why do you hold back your hand;
   why do you keep your hand in* your bosom? 

Yet God my King is from of old,
   working salvation in the earth. 
You divided the sea by your might;
   you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters. 
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
   you gave him as food* for the creatures of the wilderness. 
You cut openings for springs and torrents;
   you dried up ever-flowing streams. 
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
   you established the luminaries* and the sun. 
You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;
   you made summer and winter. 

Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
   and an impious people reviles your name. 
Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;
   do not forget the life of your poor for ever. 

Have regard for your* covenant,
   for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of
violence. 
Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;
   let the poor and needy praise your name. 
Rise up, O God, plead your cause;
   remember how the impious scoff at you all day long. 
Do not forget the clamour of your foes,
   the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.
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