Tuesday 3 September 2024 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 3 September 2024  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Job 12:1, 13:3-17,21-27

Then Job answered: 
But I would speak to the Almighty,*
   and I desire to argue my case with God. 
As for you, you whitewash with lies;
   all of you are worthless physicians. 
If you would only keep silent,
   that would be your wisdom! 
Hear now my reasoning,
   and listen to the pleadings of my lips. 
Will you speak falsely for God,
   and speak deceitfully for him? 
Will you show partiality towards him,
   will you plead the case for God? 
Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
   Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another? 
He will surely rebuke you
   if in secret you show partiality. 
Will not his majesty terrify you,
   and the dread of him fall upon you? 
Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
   your defences are defences of clay. 

‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
   and let come on me what may. 
I will take my flesh in my teeth,
   and put my life in my hand.* 
See, he will kill me; I have no hope;*
   but I will defend my ways to his face. 
This will be my salvation,
   that the godless shall not come before him. 
Listen carefully to my words,
   and let my declaration be in your ears. 
withdraw your hand far from me,
   and do not let dread of you terrify me. 
Then call, and I will answer;
   or let me speak, and you reply to me. 
How many are my iniquities and my sins?
   Make me know my transgression and my sin. 
Why do you hide your face,
   and count me as your enemy? 
Will you frighten a windblown leaf
   and pursue dry chaff? 
For you write bitter things against me,
   and make me reap* the iniquities of my youth. 
You put my feet in the stocks,
   and watch all my paths;
   you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
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Acts 12:1-17

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged
to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the
sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest
Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When
he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four
squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the
people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church
prayed fervently to God for him.
 The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound
with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in
front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an
angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped
Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the
chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, ‘Fasten your belt
and put on your sandals.’ He did so. Then he said to him, ‘Wrap
your cloak around you and follow me.’ Peter* went out and followed
him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s
help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had
passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate
leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they
went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left
him. Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the
Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and
from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’

 As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the
mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and
were praying. When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda
came to answer. On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed
that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter
was standing at the gate. They said to her, ‘You are out of your
mind!’ But she insisted that it was so. They said, ‘It is his
angel.’ Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking; and when they opened
the gate, they saw him and were amazed. He motioned to them with his
hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him
out of the prison. And he added, ‘Tell this to James and to the
believers.’* Then he left and went to another place.
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John 8:33-47

They answered him, ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never
been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made
free”?’

 Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits
sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in
the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes
you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of
Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is
no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the
Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard
from the Father.’*
 They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said to them,
‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing* what Abraham
did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the
truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are
indeed doing what your father does.’ They said to him, ‘We are not
illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’ Jesus said
to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came
from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.
Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept
my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your
father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not
stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he
speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of
lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of
you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe
me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not
hear them is that you are not from God.’
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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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