Friday 19 March 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">Exodus 2:1-22<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,* ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out* of the water.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labour. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting; and he said to the one who was in the wrong, ‘Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?’ He answered, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘Surely the thing is known.’ When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well. The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. But some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their defence and watered their flock. When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, ‘How is it that you have come back so soon today?’ They said, ‘An Egyptian helped us against the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.’ He said to his daughters, ‘Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Invite him to break bread.’ Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage. She bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, ‘I have been an alien* residing in a foreign land.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 12:27-13:3</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,* but do not have love, I gain nothing.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mark 9:2-13</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one* on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings,* one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved;* listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, ‘Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?’ He said to them, ‘Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 95, 102</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>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 102</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hear my prayer, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let my cry come to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not hide your face from me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on the day of my distress.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Incline your ear to me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>answer me speedily on the day when I call.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my days pass away like smoke,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my bones burn like a furnace.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My heart is stricken and withered like grass;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am too wasted to eat my bread.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Because of my loud groaning</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my bones cling to my skin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am like an owl of the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like a little owl of the waste places.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I lie awake;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am like a lonely bird on the housetop.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All day long my enemies taunt me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those who deride me use my name for a curse.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I eat ashes like bread,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and mingle tears with my drink,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because of your indignation and anger;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you have lifted me up and thrown me aside.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My days are like an evening shadow;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I wither away like grass.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you, O Lord, are enthroned for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your name endures to all generations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You will rise up and have compassion on Zion,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for it is time to favour it;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the appointed time has come.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For your servants hold its stones dear,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and have pity on its dust.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The nations will fear the name of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all the kings of the earth your glory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the Lord will build up Zion;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he will appear in his glory.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He will regard the prayer of the destitute,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and will not despise their prayer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let this be recorded for a generation to come,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that he looked down from his holy height,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to hear the groans of the prisoners,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to set free those who were doomed to die;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">so that the name of the Lord may be declared in Zion,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and his praise in Jerusalem,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when peoples gather together,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He has broken my strength in mid-course;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he has shortened my days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘O my God,’ I say, ‘do not take me away</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>at the mid-point of my life,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you whose years endure</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>throughout all generations.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Long ago you laid the foundation of the earth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the heavens are the work of your hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They will perish, but you endure;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they will all wear out like a garment.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You change them like clothing, and they pass away;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but you are the same, and your years have no end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The children of your servants shall live secure;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their offspring shall be established in your presence.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 107:1-32</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 107:1-32</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those he redeemed from trouble</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and gathered in from the lands,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the east and from the west,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the north and from the south.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some wandered in desert wastes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>finding no way to an inhabited town;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">hungry and thirsty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their soul fainted within them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he delivered them from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he led them by a straight way,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>until they reached an inhabited town.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he satisfies the thirsty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the hungry he fills with good things.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some sat in darkness and in gloom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>prisoners in misery and in irons,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for they had rebelled against the words of God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and spurned the counsel of the Most High.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they fell down, with no one to help.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he saved them from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he brought them out of darkness and gloom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and broke their bonds asunder.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he shatters the doors of bronze,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and cuts in two the bars of iron.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some were sick* through their sinful ways,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and because of their iniquities endured affliction;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they loathed any kind of food,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and they drew near to the gates of death.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he saved them from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he sent out his word and healed them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and delivered them from destruction.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Some went down to the sea in ships,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>doing business on the mighty waters;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they saw the deeds of the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>his wondrous works in the deep.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>which lifted up the waves of the sea.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>their courage melted away in their calamity;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they reeled and staggered like drunkards,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and were at their wits’ end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he brought them out from their distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he made the storm be still,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the waves of the sea were hushed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then they were glad because they had quiet,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and he brought them to their desired haven.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his wonderful works to humankind.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and praise him in the assembly of the elders.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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