Friday 21 November 2008<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span><!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Malachi 3:1-12</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.* Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you say, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In your tithes and offerings! You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me—the whole nation of you! Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in my house, and thus put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts; see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. I will rebuke the locust* for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not be barren, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will count you happy, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">James 5:7-12</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be patient, therefore, beloved,* until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.* Beloved,* do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See, the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved,* take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Above all, my beloved,* do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘Yes’ be yes and your ‘No’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luke 18:1-8</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then Jesus* told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, “Grant me justice against my opponent.” For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, “Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” ’* And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 102</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 102</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hear my prayer, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let my cry come to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not hide your face from me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on the day of my distress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Incline your ear to me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>answer me speedily on the day when I call.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my days pass away like smoke,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my bones burn like a furnace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My heart is stricken and withered like grass;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am too wasted to eat my bread.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because of my loud groaning</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my bones cling to my skin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am like an owl of the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like a little owl of the waste places.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I lie awake;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All day long my enemies taunt me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those who deride me use my name for a curse.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I eat ashes like bread,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and mingle tears with my drink,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because of your indignation and anger;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My days are like an evening shadow;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I wither away like grass.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you, O Lord, are enthroned for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your name endures to all generations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for it is time to favour it;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the appointed time has come.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For your servants hold its stones dear,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and have pity on its dust.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The nations will fear the name of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all the kings of the earth your glory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the Lord will build up Zion;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he will appear in his glory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He will regard the prayer of the destitute,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and will not despise their prayer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let this be recorded for a generation to come,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that he looked down from his holy height,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to hear the groans of the prisoners,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to set free those who were doomed to die;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and his praise in Jerusalem,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when peoples gather together,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He has broken my strength in mid-course;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he has shortened my days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘O my God,’ I say, ‘do not take me away</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>at the mid-point of my life,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you whose years endure</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>throughout all generations.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the heavens are the work of your hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They will perish, but you endure;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they will all wear out like a garment.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You change them like clothing, and they pass away;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but you are the same, and your years have no end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The children of your servants shall live secure;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their offspring shall be established in your presence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Psalm 107:1-32</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 107:1-32</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those he redeemed from trouble</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and gathered in from the lands,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the east and from the west,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the north and from the south.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some wandered in desert wastes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>finding no way to an inhabited town;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">hungry and thirsty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their soul fainted within them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he delivered them from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he led them by a straight way,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>until they reached an inhabited town.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he satisfies the thirsty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the hungry he fills with good things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some sat in darkness and in gloom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>prisoners in misery and in irons,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for they had rebelled against the words of God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and spurned the counsel of the Most High.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they fell down, with no one to help.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he saved them from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he brought them out of darkness and gloom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and broke their bonds asunder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he shatters the doors of bronze,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and cuts in two the bars of iron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some were sick* through their sinful ways,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and because of their iniquities endured affliction;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they loathed any kind of food,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they drew near to the gates of death.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he saved them from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he sent out his word and healed them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and delivered them from destruction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some went down to the sea in ships,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>doing business on the mighty waters;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they saw the deeds of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his wondrous works in the deep.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>which lifted up the waves of the sea.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their courage melted away in their calamity;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they reeled and staggered like drunkards,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and were at their wits’ end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he brought them out from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he made the storm be still,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the waves of the sea were hushed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they were glad because they had quiet,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he brought them to their desired haven.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and praise him in the assembly of the elders.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<!--EndFragment-->