Monday 21 September 2009<!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">2 Kings 5:1-19<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favour with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy.* Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’* So Naaman* went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. And the king of Aram said, ‘Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, ‘When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.’* When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, ‘Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?* Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ‘Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.’ But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, ‘I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy!* Are not Abana* and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?’ He turned and went away in a rage. But his servants approached and said to him, ‘Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company; he came and stood before him and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel; please accept a present from your servant.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will accept nothing!’ He urged him to accept, but he refused. Then Naaman said, ‘If not, please let two mule-loads of earth be given to your servant; for your servant will no longer offer burnt-offering or sacrifice to any god except the Lord. But may the Lord pardon your servant on one count: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, leaning on my arm, and I bow down in the house of Rimmon, when I do bow down in the house of Rimmon, may the Lord pardon your servant on this one count.’ He said to him, ‘Go in peace.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">But when Naaman had gone from him a short distance,</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 4:8-21</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent* you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 5:21-26</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister,* you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult* a brother or sister,* you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell* of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister* has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister,* and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court* with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 80</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 80</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you who lead Joseph like a flock!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Stir up your might,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and come to save us!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Restore us, O God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let your face shine, that we may be saved.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord God of hosts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have fed them with the bread of tears,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and given them tears to drink in full measure.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You make us the scorn* of our neighbours;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>our enemies laugh among themselves.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Restore us, O God of hosts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let your face shine, that we may be saved.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">You brought a vine out of Egypt;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you drove out the nations and planted it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You cleared the ground for it;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it took deep root and filled the land.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The mountains were covered with its shade,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the mighty cedars with its branches;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">it sent out its branches to the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and its shoots to the River.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Why then have you broken down its walls,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The boar from the forest ravages it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all that move in the field feed on it.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Turn again, O God of hosts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>look down from heaven, and see;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">have regard for this vine,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the stock that your right hand planted.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the one whom you made strong for yourself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then we will never turn back from you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>give us life, and we will call on your name.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let your face shine, that we may be saved.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 77</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 77</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I cry aloud to God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>aloud to God, that he may hear me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my soul refuses to be comforted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I think of God, and I moan;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I meditate, and my spirit faints.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">You keep my eyelids from closing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am so troubled that I cannot speak.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I consider the days of old,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and remember the years of long ago.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I commune* with my heart in the night;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I meditate and search my spirit:*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Will the Lord spurn for ever,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and never again be favourable?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Are his promises at an end for all time?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Has God forgotten to be gracious?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Has he in anger shut up his compassion?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And I say, ‘It is my grief</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that the right hand of the Most High has changed.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will remember your wonders of old.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will meditate on all your work,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and muse on your mighty deeds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your way, O God, is holy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>What god is so great as our God?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You are the God who works wonders;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have displayed your might among the peoples.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With your strong arm you redeemed your people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">When the waters saw you, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when the waters saw you, they were afraid;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the very deep trembled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The clouds poured out water;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the skies thundered;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your arrows flashed on every side.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your lightnings lit up the world;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the earth trembled and shook.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your way was through the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your path, through the mighty waters;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>yet your footprints were unseen.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You led your people like a flock</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>by the hand of Moses and Aaron.</p>
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