Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Episcopalian Daily Readings For Wednesday, 16 March

From satucket.com, wapedia.com, oremus.org:

Daily Readings:


Saints/Martyrs/Heroes/Feasts/Fasts to be observed/commemmorated/celebrated:  Lent


Scriptural Readings:


Morning Office:

Psalm 119:49-72

49 Remember your word to your servant,


in which you have made me hope.

50 This is my comfort in my distress,

that your promise gives me life.

51 The arrogant utterly deride me,

but I do not turn away from your law.

52 When I think of your ordinances from of old,

I take comfort, O Lord.

53 Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked,

those who forsake your law.

54 Your statutes have been my songs

wherever I make my home.

55 I remember your name in the night, O Lord,

and keep your law.

56 This blessing has fallen to me,

for I have kept your precepts.





57 The Lord is my portion;

I promise to keep your words.

58 I implore your favour with all my heart;

be gracious to me according to your promise.

59 When I think of your ways,

I turn my feet to your decrees;

60 I hurry and do not delay

to keep your commandments.

61 Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me,

I do not forget your law.

62 At midnight I rise to praise you,

because of your righteous ordinances.

63 I am a companion of all who fear you,

of those who keep your precepts.

64 The earth, O Lord, is full of your steadfast love;

teach me your statutes.





65 You have dealt well with your servant,

O Lord, according to your word.

66 Teach me good judgement and knowledge,

for I believe in your commandments.

67 Before I was humbled I went astray,

but now I keep your word.

68 You are good and do good;

teach me your statutes.

69 The arrogant smear me with lies,

but with my whole heart I keep your precepts.

70 Their hearts are fat and gross,

but I delight in your law.

71 It is good for me that I was humbled,

so that I might learn your statutes.

72 The law of your mouth is better to me

than thousands of gold and silver pieces.



Deuteronomy 9:13-2113Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen that this people is indeed a stubborn people. 14Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’


15 So I turned and went down from the mountain, while the mountain was ablaze; the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes. 18Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the Lord by doing what was evil in his sight. 19For I was afraid that the anger that the Lord bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. 20The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time. 21Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust; and I threw the dust of it into the stream that runs down the mountain.

 
Hebrews 3:12-19


12Take care, brothers and sisters,* that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today’, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. 15As it is said,

‘Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’

16Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? 17But with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? 19So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

 
 
Evening Office:
 
Psalm 49


The Folly of Trust in RichesTo the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

1 Hear this, all you peoples;

give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

2 both low and high,

rich and poor together.

3 My mouth shall speak wisdom;

the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.





5 Why should I fear in times of trouble,

when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,

6 those who trust in their wealth

and boast of the abundance of their riches?

7 Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life,*

there is no price one can give to God for it.

8 For the ransom of life is costly,

and can never suffice,

9 that one should live on for ever

and never see the grave.*





10 When we look at the wise, they die;

fool and dolt perish together

and leave their wealth to others.

11 Their graves* are their homes for ever,

their dwelling-places to all generations,

though they named lands their own.

12 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;

they are like the animals that perish.





13 Such is the fate of the foolhardy,

the end of those* who are pleased with their lot.

Selah

14 Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

Death shall be their shepherd;

straight to the grave they descend,*

and their form shall waste away;

Sheol shall be their home.*

15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will receive me.

Selah





16 Do not be afraid when some become rich,

when the wealth of their houses increases.

17 For when they die they will carry nothing away;

their wealth will not go down after them.

18 Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy

—for you are praised when you do well for yourself—

19 they* will go to the company of their ancestors,

who will never again see the light.

20 Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;

they are like the animals that perish.

 
Psalm 53


Denunciation of GodlessnessTo the leader: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David.

1 Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’

They are corrupt, they commit abominable acts;

there is no one who does good.





2 God looks down from heaven on humankind

to see if there are any who are wise,

who seek after God.





3 They have all fallen away, they are all alike perverse;

there is no one who does good,

no, not one.





4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,

who eat up my people as they eat bread,

and do not call upon God?





5 There they shall be in great terror,

in terror such as has not been.

For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly;*

they will be put to shame,* for God has rejected them.





6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!

When God restores the fortunes of his people,

Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.

 
John 2:23-3:15


23 When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.

Nicodemus Visits Jesus3Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. 2He came to Jesus* by night and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ 3Jesus answered him, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.’* 4Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’ 5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. 6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.* 7Do not be astonished that I said to you, “You* must be born from above.”* 8The wind* blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’ 9Nicodemus said to him, ‘How can these things be?’ 10Jesus answered him, ‘Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

11 ‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you* do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.* 14And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.*

 
 
Eucharistic Office:
 
Psalm 51:10-17
 
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,


and put a new and right* spirit within me.

11 Do not cast me away from your presence,

and do not take your holy spirit from me.

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,

and sustain in me a willing* spirit.





13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.





15 O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;

if I were to give a burnt-offering, you would not be pleased.

17 The sacrifice acceptable to God* is a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.



Jonah 3:1-10


Conversion of Nineveh3The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.’ 3So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, ‘Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ 5And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.’

10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

 
Luke 11:29-32


The Sign of Jonah29 When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, ‘This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. 30For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be to this generation. 31The queen of the South will rise at the judgement with the people of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here! 32The people of Nineveh will rise up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the proclamation of Jonah, and see, something greater than Jonah is here!
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Foreward Movement:

Today's Meditation


WEDNESDAY, March 16

John 2:23—3:15. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God [KJV].



Having grown up in a small town in the American South, I was often asked the born-again question. Had I been born again? Many of my schoolmates could tell you the date and time when they had been, and they spoke as if they’d been “lost” until that moment but “saved” ever since. I couldn’t identify with that, and I sometimes wondered whether I was a real Christian.



Years later, I found my answer to the born-again question. It is: “Yes, I’ve been born again. And again, and again, and again.” Every time I’ve thought I was within sight of Christian maturity, God has done something to me, usually something I didn’t expect and often something I wouldn’t have asked for. God has dismantled and reconstructed me and my faith several times, and I can identify the people through whom God has done it. Moreover, I doubt that God’s finished. For all I know, God will continue to work on me in the next life. In fact, I hope so. I wouldn’t care for a life—on earth, in heaven, or anywhere—that’s always the same, with nothing new to learn, no cutting edges, no challenges to face, no new revelations of the goodness of God.



PRAY for the Missionary District of Oeste-Brasil (Brazil)



Ps 119:49-72 * 49, [53]; Deuteronomy 9:13-21; Hebrews 3:12-19



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