Thursday 3 June 2010<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">Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, wickedness was there as well. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and for every work. I said in my heart with regard to human beings that God is testing them to show that they are but animals. For the fate of humans and the fate of animals is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and humans have no advantage over the animals; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knows whether the human spirit goes upwards and the spirit of animals goes downwards to the earth? So I saw that there is nothing better than that all should enjoy their work, for that is their lot; who can bring them to see what will be after them?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Again I saw all the oppressions that are practised under the sun. Look, the tears of the oppressed—with no one to comfort them! On the side of their oppressors there was power—with no one to comfort them. And I thought the dead, who have already died, more fortunate than the living, who are still alive; but better than both is the one who has not yet been, and has not seen the evil deeds that are done under the sun.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Galatians 3:1-14</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh? Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing. Well then, does God* supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.’ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’* But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, ‘Whoever does the works of the law* will live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 14:13-21</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 50</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 50</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The mighty one, God the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>speaks and summons the earth</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from the rising of the sun to its setting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>God shines forth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Our God comes and does not keep silence,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>before him is a devouring fire,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a mighty tempest all around him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He calls to the heavens above</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and to the earth, that he may judge his people:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Gather to me my faithful ones,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The heavens declare his righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for God himself is judge.</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">‘Hear, O my people, and I will speak,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Israel, I will testify against you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am God, your God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your burnt-offerings are continually before me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will not accept a bull from your house,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or goats from your folds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For every wild animal of the forest is mine,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the cattle on a thousand hills.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I know all the birds of the air,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and all that moves in the field is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘If I were hungry, I would not tell you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the world and all that is in it is mine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do I eat the flesh of bulls,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or drink the blood of goats?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and pay your vows to the Most High.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Call on me in the day of trouble;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But to the wicked God says:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘What right have you to recite my statutes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or take my covenant on your lips?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For you hate discipline,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you cast my words behind you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You make friends with a thief when you see one,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and you keep company with adulterers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘You give your mouth free rein for evil,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your tongue frames deceit.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You sit and speak against your kin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you slander your own mother’s child.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These things you have done and I have been silent;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you thought that I was one just like yourself.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Mark this, then, you who forget God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to those who go the right way*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I will show the salvation of God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 8, 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 8</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, our Sovereign,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>how majestic is your name in all the earth!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have set your glory above the heavens.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Out of the mouths of babes and infants</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to silence the enemy and the avenger.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the moon and the stars that you have established;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">what are human beings that you are mindful of them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>mortals* that you care for them?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Yet you have made them a little lower than God,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and crowned them with glory and honour.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have put all things under their feet,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">all sheep and oxen,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and also the beasts of the field,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>whatever passes along the paths of the seas.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, our Sovereign,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>how majestic is your name in all the earth!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 84</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How lovely is your dwelling place,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord of hosts!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My soul longs, indeed it faints</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the courts of the Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my heart and my flesh sing for joy</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to the living God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Even the sparrow finds a home,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and the swallow a nest for herself,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>where she may lay her young,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">at your altars, O Lord of hosts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my King and my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Happy are those who live in your house,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>ever singing your praise.</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">Happy are those whose strength is in you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in whose heart are the highways to Zion.*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">As they go through the valley of Baca</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they make it a place of springs;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the early rain also covers it with pools.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They go from strength to strength;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the God of gods will be seen in Zion.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>give ear, O God of Jacob!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Behold our shield, O God;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>look on the face of your anointed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For a day in your courts is better</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>than a thousand elsewhere.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>than live in the tents of wickedness.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For the Lord God is a sun and shield;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he bestows favour and honour.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">No good thing does the Lord withhold</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from those who walk uprightly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord of hosts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>happy is everyone who trusts in you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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