Thursday 14 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>
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<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wisdom 14:27-15:3<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the worship of idols not to be named</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For their worshippers* either rave in exultation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for because they trust in lifeless idols</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because they thought wrongly about God in devoting themselves to idols,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For it is not the power of the things by which people swear,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but the just penalty for those who sin,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you, our God, are kind and true,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">patient, and ruling all things* in mercy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but we will not sin, because we know that you acknowledge us as yours.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For to know you is complete righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and to know your power is the root of immortality.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Romans 14:1-12</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Welcome those who are weak in faith,* but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgement on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgement on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord* is able to make them stand.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those who observe the day, observe it in honour of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honour of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honour of the Lord and give thanks to God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Why do you pass judgement on your brother or sister?* Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?* For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God.* For it is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and every tongue shall give praise to* God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So then, each of us will be accountable to God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Luke 8:26-39</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes,* which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn* no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus* had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons* begged Jesus* to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes* asked Jesus* to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus* sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 71</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 71</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In you, O Lord, I take refuge;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let me never be put to shame.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>incline your ear to me and save me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be to me a rock of refuge,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a strong fortress,* to save me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you are my rock and my fortress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you, O Lord, are my hope,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my trust, O Lord, from my youth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Upon you I have leaned from my birth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My praise is continually of you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have been like a portent to many,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but you are my strong refuge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My mouth is filled with your praise,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and with your glory all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not cast me off in the time of old age;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not forsake me when my strength is spent.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my enemies speak concerning me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and those who watch for my life consult together.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They say, ‘Pursue and seize that person</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>whom God has forsaken,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for there is no one to deliver.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O God, do not be far from me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O my God, make haste to help me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let those who seek to hurt me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be covered with scorn and disgrace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I will hope continually,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and will praise you yet more and more.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>of your deeds of salvation all day long,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>though their number is past my knowledge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will come praising the mighty deeds of the Lord God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will praise your righteousness, yours alone.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O God, from my youth you have taught me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So even to old age and grey hairs,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O God, do not forsake me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">until I proclaim your might</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to all the generations to come.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your power and your righteousness, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>reach the high heavens.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You who have done great things,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O God, who is like you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You who have made me see many troubles and calamities</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>will revive me again;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from the depths of the earth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you will bring me up again.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You will increase my honour,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and comfort me once again.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will also praise you with the harp</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for your faithfulness, O my God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will sing praises to you with the lyre,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Holy One of Israel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My lips will shout for joy</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I sing praises to you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my soul also, which you have rescued.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All day long my tongue will talk of your righteous help,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for those who tried to do me harm</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>have been put to shame, and disgraced.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 74</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 74</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O God, why do you cast us off for ever?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>which you redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Remember Mount Zion, where you came to dwell.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your foes have roared within your holy place;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they set up their emblems there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the upper entrance they hacked</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the wooden trellis with axes.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And then, with hatchets and hammers,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they smashed all its carved work.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They set your sanctuary on fire;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they desecrated the dwelling-place of your name,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>bringing it to the ground.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They said to themselves, ‘We will utterly subdue them’;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they burned all the meeting-places of God in the land.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We do not see our emblems;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>there is no longer any prophet,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and there is no one among us who knows how long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Is the enemy to revile your name for ever?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why do you hold back your hand;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>why do you keep your hand in* your bosom?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet God my King is from of old,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>working salvation in the earth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You divided the sea by your might;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you broke the heads of the dragons in the waters.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You crushed the heads of Leviathan;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you gave him as food* for the creatures of the wilderness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You cut openings for springs and torrents;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you dried up ever-flowing streams.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yours is the day, yours also the night;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you established the luminaries* and the sun.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have fixed all the bounds of the earth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you made summer and winter.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and an impious people reviles your name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild animals;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not forget the life of your poor for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Have regard for your* covenant,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the dark places of the land are full of the haunts of violence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let the downtrodden be put to shame;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let the poor and needy praise your name.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rise up, O God, plead your cause;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>remember how the impious scoff at you all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not forget the clamour of your foes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the uproar of your adversaries that goes up continually.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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