Friday 26 February 2010<!--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">Genesis 40:1-23<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined. The captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he waited on them; and they continued for some time in custody. One night they both dreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own meaning. When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled. So he asked Pharaoh’s officers, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, ‘Why are your faces downcast today?’ They said to him, ‘We have had dreams, and there is no one to interpret them.’ And Joseph said to them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, ‘In my dream there was a vine before me, and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms came out and the clusters ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.’ Then Joseph said to him, ‘This is its interpretation: the three branches are three days; within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office; and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, just as you used to do when you were his cupbearer. But remember me when it is well with you; please do me the kindness to make mention of me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this place. For in fact I was stolen out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also I have done nothing that they should have put me into the dungeon.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favourable, he said to Joseph, ‘I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.’ And Joseph answered, ‘This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days; within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a pole; and the birds will eat the flesh from you.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants, and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. He restored the chief cupbearer to his cupbearing, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; but the chief baker he hanged, just as Joseph had interpreted to them. Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 3:16-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?* If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘He catches the wise in their craftiness’,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and again,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that they are futile.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mark 2:13-22</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus* went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And as he sat at dinner* in Levi’s* house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting* with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of* the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat* with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people* came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 95, 40, 54</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 95</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O come, let us sing to the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the Lord is a great God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a great King above all gods.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In his hand are the depths of the earth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the heights of the mountains are his also.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sea is his, for he made it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the dry land, which his hands have formed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O come, let us worship and bow down,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he is our God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and we are the people of his pasture,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the sheep of his hand.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O that today you would listen to his voice!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when your ancestors tested me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For forty years I loathed that generation</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they do not regard my ways.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Therefore in my anger I swore,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘They shall not enter my rest.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 40</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I waited patiently for the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he inclined to me and heard my cry.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He drew me up from the desolate pit,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>out of the miry bog,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and set my feet upon a rock,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>making my steps secure.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He put a new song in my mouth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a song of praise to our God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many will see and fear,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and put their trust in the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those who make</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord their trust,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who do not turn to the proud,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to those who go astray after false gods.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have multiplied, O Lord my God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your wondrous deeds and your thoughts towards us;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>none can compare with you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Were I to proclaim and tell of them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they would be more than can be counted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but you have given me an open ear.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Burnt-offering and sin-offering</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have not required.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I said, ‘Here I am;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the scroll of the book it is written of me.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I delight to do your will, O my God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your law is within my heart.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have told the glad news of deliverance</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the great congregation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">see, I have not restrained my lips,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as you know, O Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the great congregation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not, O Lord, withhold</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your mercy from me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let your steadfast love and your faithfulness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>keep me safe for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For evils have encompassed me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>without number;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my iniquities have overtaken me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>until I cannot see;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they are more than the hairs of my head,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my heart fails me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, make haste to help me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let all those be put to shame and confusion</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who seek to snatch away my life;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let those be turned back and brought to dishonour</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who desire my hurt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let those be appalled because of their shame</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who say to me, ‘Aha, Aha!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But may all who seek you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>rejoice and be glad in you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">may those who love your salvation</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>say continually, ‘Great is the Lord!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As for me, I am poor and needy,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but the Lord takes thought for me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You are my help and my deliverer;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not delay, O my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 54</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Save me, O God, by your name,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and vindicate me by your might.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hear my prayer, O God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>give ear to the words of my mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the insolent have risen against me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the ruthless seek my life;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they do not set God before them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But surely, God is my helper;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord is the upholder of* my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He will repay my enemies for their evil.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In your faithfulness, put an end to them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">With a freewill-offering I will sacrifice to you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he has delivered me from every trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 51</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 51</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Have mercy on me, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>according to your steadfast love;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">according to your abundant mercy</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>blot out my transgressions.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and cleanse me from my sin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I know my transgressions,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my sin is ever before me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Against you, you alone, have I sinned,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and done what is evil in your sight,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so that you are justified in your sentence</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and blameless when you pass judgement.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Indeed, I was born guilty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a sinner when my mother conceived me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You desire truth in the inward being;*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let me hear joy and gladness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hide your face from my sins,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and blot out all my iniquities.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Create in me a clean heart, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and put a new and right* spirit within me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not cast me away from your presence,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not take your holy spirit from me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Restore to me the joy of your salvation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and sustain in me a willing* spirit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I will teach transgressors your ways,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and sinners will return to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O God of my salvation,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, open my lips,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my mouth will declare your praise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you have no delight in sacrifice;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sacrifice acceptable to God* is a broken spirit;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">then you will delight in right sacrifices,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in burnt-offerings and whole burnt-offerings;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>then bulls will be offered on your altar.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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