Monday 30 March 2009<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">Jeremiah 24:1-10</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the artisans, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. And the Lord said to me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ I said, ‘Figs, the good figs very good, and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then the word of the Lord came to me: Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But thus says the Lord: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth—a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they are utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Romans 9:19-33</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You will say to me then, ‘Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’ But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue with God? Will what is moulded say to the one who moulds it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction; and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says in Hosea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Those who were not my people I will call “my people”,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and her who was not beloved I will call “beloved”. ’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there they shall be called children of the living God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.’* And as Isaiah predicted,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors* to us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we would have fared like Sodom</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and been made like Gomorrah.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith; but Israel, who did strive for the righteousness that is based on the law, did not succeed in fulfilling that law. Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling-stone, as it is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and whoever believes in him* will not be put to shame.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John 9:1-17</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We* must work the works of him who sent me* while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 31</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 31</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not let me ever be put to shame;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in your righteousness deliver me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Incline your ear to me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>rescue me speedily.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be a rock of refuge for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a strong fortress to save me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You are indeed my rock and my fortress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">take me out of the net that is hidden for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you are my refuge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Into your hand I commit my spirit;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You hate* those who pay regard to worthless idols,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but I trust in the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because you have seen my affliction;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have taken heed of my adversities,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have set my feet in a broad place.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my eye wastes away from grief,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my soul and body also.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my life is spent with sorrow,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my years with sighing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my strength fails because of my misery,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my bones waste away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am the scorn of all my adversaries,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a horror* to my neighbours,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">an object of dread to my acquaintances;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those who see me in the street flee from me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I have become like a broken vessel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I hear the whispering of many—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>terror all around!—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as they scheme together against me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as they plot to take my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I trust in you, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I say, ‘You are my God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My times are in your hand;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let your face shine upon your servant;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>save me in your steadfast love.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I call on you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let the wicked be put to shame;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the lying lips be stilled</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that speak insolently against the righteous</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with pride and contempt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O how abundant is your goodness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that you have laid up for those who fear you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the sight of everyone!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the shelter of your presence you hide them</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from human plots;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you hold them safe under your shelter</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from contentious tongues.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blessed be the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I was beset as a city under siege.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had said in my alarm,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I am driven far* from your sight.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you heard my supplications</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I cried out to you for help.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Love the Lord, all you his saints.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Lord preserves the faithful,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be strong, and let your heart take courage,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all you who wait for the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 35</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 35</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>fight against those who fight against me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Take hold of shield and buckler,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and rise up to help me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Draw the spear and javelin</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>against my pursuers;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">say to my soul,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I am your salvation.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be put to shame and dishonour</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who seek after my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be turned back and confounded</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who devise evil against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be like chaff before the wind,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with the angel of the Lord driving them on.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let their way be dark and slippery,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For without cause they hid their net* for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>without cause they dug a pit* for my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let ruin come on them unawares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And let the net that they hid ensnare them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them fall in it—to their ruin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>exulting in his deliverance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All my bones shall say,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘O Lord, who is like you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You deliver the weak</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from those too strong for them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the weak and needy from those who despoil them.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Malicious witnesses rise up;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they ask me about things I do not know.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They repay me evil for good;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my soul is forlorn.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But as for me, when they were sick,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I wore sackcloth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I afflicted myself with fasting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I prayed with head bowed* on my bosom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I went about as one who laments for a mother,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>bowed down and in mourning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they gathered together against me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">ruffians whom I did not know</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tore at me without ceasing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they impiously mocked more and more,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>gnashing at me with their teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How long, O Lord, will you look on?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rescue me from their ravages,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my life from the lions!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I will thank you in the great congregation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the mighty throng I will praise you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they do not speak peace,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but they conceive deceitful words</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>against those who are quiet in the land.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They open wide their mouths against me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they say, ‘Aha, Aha,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>our eyes have seen it.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, do not be far from me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defence,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for my cause, my God and my Lord!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>according to your righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not let them rejoice over me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let them say to themselves,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Aha, we have our heart’s desire.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let them say, ‘We have swallowed you* up.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let all those who rejoice at my calamity</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be put to shame and confusion;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let those who exalt themselves against me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be clothed with shame and dishonour.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let those who desire my vindication</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>shout for joy and be glad,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and say evermore,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Great is the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who delights in the welfare of his servant.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and of your praise all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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