It took a year to read the Bible, then almost 9 months to read the Apocrypha. Now, I'm going to try to offer reflections on the Narrative Lectionary. But, I won't be posting daily--at least, for a while.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Daily Prayer, Sunday, March 18, 2012

We thank you, Lord,  for your steadfast love,
for your wonderful works to humankind.

Morning
Invitatory Psalm 130
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
  to the voice of my supplications!
If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
  Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with you,
  so that you may be revered.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
  and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
  more than those who watch for the morning,
  more than those who watch for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord!
For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
  and with him is great power to redeem.
It is he who will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Psalm 90
A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
Lord, you have been our dwelling-place
  in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
  or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
  from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

You turn us back to dust,
  and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
For a thousand years in your sight
  are like yesterday when it is past,
  or like a watch in the night.

You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
  like grass that is renewed in the morning;
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
  in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are consumed by your anger;
  by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
You have set our iniquities before you,
  our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

For all our days pass away under your wrath;
  our years come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our life are seventy years,
  or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span is only toil and trouble;
  they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Who considers the power of your anger?
  Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
So teach us to count our days
  that we may gain a wise heart.

Turn, O Lord! How long?
  Have compassion on your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
  so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
  and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let your work be manifest to your servants,
  and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
  and prosper for us the work of our hands—
  O prosper the work of our hands!

Psalm 92
It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
  to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
  and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
  to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
  at the works of your hands I sing for joy.

How great are your works, O Lord!
  Your thoughts are very deep!
The dullard cannot know,
  the stupid cannot understand this:
though the wicked sprout like grass
  and all evildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction for ever,
  but you, O Lord, are on high for ever.
For your enemies, O Lord,
  for your enemies shall perish;
  all evildoers shall be scattered.

But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
  you have poured over me fresh oil.
My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
  my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

The righteous flourish like the palm tree,
  and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord;
  they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit;
  they are always green and full of sap,
showing that the Lord is upright;
  he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Psalm 93
The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
  the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
  your throne is established from of old;
  you are from everlasting.

The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
  the floods have lifted up their voice;
  the floods lift up their roaring.
More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
  more majestic than the waves of the sea,
  majestic on high is the Lord!

Your decrees are very sure;
  holiness befits your house,
  O Lord, for evermore.

Daily Lectionary Reading, Ephesians 2:8-10
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. (d) This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed. 9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of. 10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives. 

 _________________________________________________
d Or through his faithfulness
[Common English Bible]

Prayer for Today: God, we give thanks to you for the grace you have shown us. Inspire us now and always to use the faith you have instilled in us to accomplish the purposes you intend. Amen.


Evening
Psalm 108
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn.
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples,
   and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
   and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
   and let your glory be over all the earth.
Give victory with your right hand, and answer me,
   so that those whom you love may be rescued.
God has promised in his sanctuary:
   “With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
    and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
   Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter.
   Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe;
   over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
Who will bring me to the fortified city?
Who will lead me to Edom?
Have you not rejected us, O God?
You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
O grant us help against the foe,
   for human help is worthless.
With God we shall do valiantly;
it is he who will tread down our foes.

Psalm 109
Do not be silent, O God of my praise.
For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
   speaking against me with lying tongues.
They beset me with words of hate,
   and attack me without cause.
In return for my love they accuse me,
   even while I make prayer for them.
So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him;
   let an accuser stand on his right.
When he is tried, let him be found guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin.
May his days be few;
may another seize his position.
May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.
May his children wander about and beg;
may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.
May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.
May there be no one to do him a kindness,
   nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.
May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation.
May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the Lord,
   and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.
Let them be before the Lord continually,
   and may his memory be cut off from the earth.
For he did not remember to show kindness,
   but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death.
He loved to curse; let curses come on him.
He did not like blessing; may it be far from him.
He clothed himself with cursing as his coat,
   may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones.
May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself,
   like a belt that he wears every day.”
May that be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
   of those who speak evil against my life.
But you, O Lord my Lord, act on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.
For I am poor and needy,
   and my heart is pierced within me.
I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt.
I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they shake their heads.

Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love.
Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O Lord, have done it.
Let them curse, but you will bless.
Let my assailants be put to shame;
may your servant be glad.
May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a mantle.
With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy,
 to save them from those who would condemn them to death.

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