Saturday 27 January 2024 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Saturday 27 January 2024 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Genesis 18:1-16

The Lord appeared to Abraham* by the oaks* of Mamre, as he sat at the
entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw
three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent
entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My
lord, if I find favour with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a
little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under
the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh
yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to
your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham
hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three
measures* of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to
the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the
servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and
the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by
them under the tree while they ate.

 They said to him, ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ And he said,
‘There, in the tent.’ Then one said, ‘I will surely return to
you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.’ And Sarah
was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah
were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the
manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I have
grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?’ The Lord
said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, and say, “Shall I indeed
bear a child, now that I am old?” Is anything too wonderful for the
Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah
shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied, saying, ‘I did not laugh’;
for she was afraid. He said, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’
 Then the men set out from there, and they looked towards Sodom; and
Abraham went with them to set them on their way.
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Hebrews 10:26-39

For if we wilfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge
of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a
fearful prospect of judgement, and a fury of fire that will consume
the adversaries. Anyone who has violated the law of Moses dies without
mercy ‘on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ How much worse
punishment do you think will be deserved by those who have spurned the
Son of God, profaned the blood of the covenant by which they were
sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who
said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord
will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands
of the living God.

 But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened,
you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly
exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with
those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison,
and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions,
knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more
lasting. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it
brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have
done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet
‘in a very little while,
   the one who is coming will come and will not delay; 
but my righteous one will live by faith.
   My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.’ 
But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among
those who have faith and so are saved.
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John 6:16-27

When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake, got into a
boat, and started across the lake to Capernaum. It was now dark, and
Jesus had not yet come to them. The lake became rough because a strong
wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles,* they
saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming near the boat, and they were
terrified. But he said to them, ‘It is I;* do not be afraid.’ Then
they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat
reached the land towards which they were going.
 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the lake
saw that there had been only one boat there. They also saw that Jesus
had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples
had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place
where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.* So
when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for
Jesus.

 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him,
‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very
truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs,
but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food
that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which
the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has
set his seal.’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 55

Psalm 55

Give ear to my prayer, O God;
   do not hide yourself from my supplication. 
Attend to me, and answer me;
   I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
   because of the clamour of the wicked.
For they bring* trouble upon me,
   and in anger they cherish enmity against me. 

My heart is in anguish within me,
   the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 
Fear and trembling come upon me,
   and horror overwhelms me. 
And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest; 
truly, I would flee far away;
   I would lodge in the wilderness;
          Selah 
I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
   from the raging wind and tempest.’ 

Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
   for I see violence and strife in the city. 
Day and night they go around it
   on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it; 
   ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
   do not depart from its market-place. 

It is not enemies who taunt me—
   I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—
   I could hide from them. 
But it is you, my equal,
   my companion, my familiar friend, 
with whom I kept pleasant company;
   we walked in the house of God with the throng. 
Let death come upon them;
   let them go down alive to Sheol;
   for evil is in their homes and in their hearts. 

But I call upon God,
   and the Lord will save me. 
Evening and morning and at noon
   I utter my complaint and moan,
   and he will hear my voice. 
He will redeem me unharmed
   from the battle that I wage,
   for many are arrayed against me. 
God, who is enthroned from of old,
          Selah
   will hear, and will humble them—
because they do not change,
   and do not fear God. 

My companion laid hands on a friend
   and violated a covenant with me* 
with speech smoother than butter,
   but with a heart set on war;
with words that were softer than oil,
   but in fact were drawn swords. 

Cast your burden* on the Lord,
   and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
   the righteous to be moved. 

But you, O God, will cast them down
   into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
   shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 138, 139

Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
   before the gods I sing your praise; 
I bow down towards your holy temple
   and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your
faithfulness;
   for you have exalted your name and your word
   above everything.* 
On the day I called, you answered me,
   you increased my strength of soul.* 

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
   for they have heard the words of your mouth. 
They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
   for great is the glory of the Lord. 
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
   but the haughty he perceives from far away. 

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
   you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
   and your right hand delivers me. 
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
   your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
   Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away. 
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways. 
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely. 
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me. 
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it. 

Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’, 
even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well. 
   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
   all the days that were formed for me,
   when none of them as yet existed. 
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
   I come to the end*—I am still with you. 

O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me— 
those who speak of you maliciously,
   and lift themselves up against you for evil!* 
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
   And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 
I hate them with perfect hatred;
   I count them my enemies. 
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my thoughts. 
See if there is any wicked* way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.
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