Saturday 9 May 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">Wisdom 7:1-14<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I also am mortal, like everyone else,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a descendant of the first-formed child of earth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and in the womb of a mother I was moulded into flesh,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and fell upon the kindred earth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For no king has had a different beginning of existence;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I preferred her to sceptres and thrones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and silver will be accounted as clay before her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I loved her more than health and beauty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and I chose to have her rather than light,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because her radiance never ceases.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All good things came to me along with her,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and in her hands uncounted wealth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but I did not know that she was their mother.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I learned without guile and I impart without grudging;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I do not hide her wealth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">those who get it obtain friendship with God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">commended for the gifts that come from instruction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Colossians 3:12-17</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord* has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ* dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.* And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luke 7:18-35</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ’ Jesus* had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus* began to speak to the crowds about John:* ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone* dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who will prepare your way before you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’ (And all the people who heard this, including the tax-collectors, acknowledged the justice of God,* because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we wailed, and you did not weep.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 55</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 55</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Give ear to my prayer, O God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not hide yourself from my supplication.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Attend to me, and answer me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am troubled in my complaint.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of the clamour of the wicked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they bring* trouble upon me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and in anger they cherish enmity against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My heart is in anguish within me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the terrors of death have fallen upon me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Fear and trembling come upon me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and horror overwhelms me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would fly away and be at rest;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">truly, I would flee far away;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I would lodge in the wilderness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would hurry to find a shelter for myself</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the raging wind and tempest.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I see violence and strife in the city.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Day and night they go around it</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on its walls,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and iniquity and trouble are within it;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ruin is in its midst;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">oppression and fraud</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not depart from its market-place.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is not enemies who taunt me—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I could bear that;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I could hide from them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But it is you, my equal,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my companion, my familiar friend,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with whom I kept pleasant company;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>we walked in the house of God with the throng.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let death come upon them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them go down alive to Sheol;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I call upon God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the Lord will save me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening and morning and at noon</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I utter my complaint and moan,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he will hear my voice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He will redeem me unharmed</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the battle that I wage,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for many are arrayed against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">God, who is enthroned from of old,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>will hear, and will humble them—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because they do not change,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not fear God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My companion laid hands on a friend</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and violated a covenant with me*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with speech smoother than butter,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but with a heart set on war;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with words that were softer than oil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but in fact were drawn swords.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cast your burden* on the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he will sustain you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he will never permit</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the righteous to be moved.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you, O God, will cast them down</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>into the lowest pit;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the bloodthirsty and treacherous</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>shall not live out half their days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I will trust in you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 138, 139:1-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 138</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before the gods I sing your praise;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I bow down towards your holy temple</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you have exalted your name and your word</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>above everything.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the day I called, you answered me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you increased my strength of soul.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for they have heard the words of your mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for great is the glory of the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the haughty he perceives from far away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Though I walk in the midst of trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you stretch out your hand,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your right hand delivers me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not forsake the work of your hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 139:1-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, you have searched me and known me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You know when I sit down and when I rise up;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you discern my thoughts from far away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You search out my path and my lying down,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and are acquainted with all my ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even before a word is on my tongue,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, you know it completely.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You hem me in, behind and before,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lay your hand upon me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it is so high that I cannot attain it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Where can I go from your spirit?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Or where can I flee from your presence?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I ascend to heaven, you are there;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I take the wings of the morning</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">even there your hand shall lead me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your right hand shall hold me fast.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the light around me become night’,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">even the darkness is not dark to you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the night is as bright as the day,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for darkness is as light to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For it was you who formed my inward parts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you knit me together in my mother’s womb.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Wonderful are your works;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that I know very well.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>My frame was not hidden from you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when I was being made in secret,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>intricately woven in the depths of the earth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In your book were written</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all the days that were formed for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when none of them as yet existed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How vast is the sum of them!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I try to count them—they are more than the sand;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I come to the end*—I am still with you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O that you would kill the wicked, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">those who speak of you maliciously,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lift themselves up against you for evil!*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hate them with perfect hatred;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I count them my enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Search me, O God, and know my heart;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>test me and know my thoughts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See if there is any wicked* way in me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and lead me in the way everlasting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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