Monday 14 June 2010<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><!--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">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Numbers 9:15-23, 10:29-36<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant;* and from evening until morning it was over the tabernacle, having the appearance of fire. It was always so: the cloud covered it by day* and the appearance of fire by night. Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, then the Israelites would set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the Israelites would camp. At the command of the Lord the Israelites would set out, and at the command of the Lord they would camp. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they would remain in camp. Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle for many days, the Israelites would keep the charge of the Lord, and would not set out. Sometimes the cloud would remain for a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the Lord they would remain in camp; then according to the command of the Lord they would set out. Sometimes the cloud would remain from evening until morning; and when the cloud lifted in the morning, they would set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they would set out. Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, resting upon it, the Israelites would remain in camp and would not set out; but when it lifted they would set out. At the command of the Lord they would camp, and at the command of the Lord they would set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law, ‘We are setting out for the place of which the Lord said, “I will give it to you”; come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has promised good to Israel.’ But he said to him, ‘I will not go, but I will go back to my own land and to my kindred.’ He said, ‘Do not leave us, for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will serve as eyes for us. Moreover, if you go with us, whatever good the Lord does for us, the same we will do for you.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>So they set out from the mount of the Lord on three days’ journey with the ark of the covenant of the Lord going before them for three days’ journey, to seek out a resting-place for them, the cloud of the Lord being over them by day when they set out from the camp.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Arise, O Lord, let your enemies be scattered,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your foes flee before you.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And whenever it came to rest, he would say,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Return, O Lord of the ten thousand thousands of Israel.’<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Romans 1:1-15</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Paul, a servant* of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit* of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel* of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers and sisters,* that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as I have among the rest of the Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish — hence my eagerness to proclaim the gospel to you also who are in Rome.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 17:14-21</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, ‘Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.’ Jesus answered, ‘You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me.’ And Jesus rebuked the demon,* and it* came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a* mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’<o:p></o:p></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>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
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