Tuesday, March 14, 2023

The Daily Lectionary for Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 

The Daily Lectionary
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Psalm 81; Jeremiah 2:4-13; John 7:14-31, 37-39
(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)
 
A Psalm and A Prayer
Responsive Readings from the Psalms and Prayers
for Public Worship and Private Devotions
We drink from the rock
Exultate Deo

1 Sing with joy to God our strength *
  and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
 
2 Raise a song and sound the timbrel, *
  the merry harp, and the lyre.
 
3 Blow the ramís-horn at the new moon, *
  and at the full moon, the day of our feast.
 
4 For this is a statute for Israel, *
  a law of the God of Jacob.
 
5 He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, *
  when he came out of the land of Egypt.
 
6 I heard an unfamiliar voice saying, *
  “I eased his shoulder from the burden;
    his hands were set free from bearing the load.”
 
7 You called on me in trouble, and I saved you; *
  I answered you from the secret place of thunder
    and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
 
8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: *
  O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
 
9 There shall be no strange god among you; *
  you shall not worship a foreign god.
 
10 I am the LORD your God,
     who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, *
  “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
 
11 And yet my people did not hear my voice, *
   and Israel would not obey me.
 
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, *
   to follow their own devices.
 
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me! *
   that Israel would walk in my ways!
 
14 I should soon subdue their enemies *
   and turn my hand against their foes.
 
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, *
   and their punishment would last for ever.
 
16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat *
   and satisfy him with honey from the rock.
 
O God, we gather in Your presence to praise Your Holy Name, with songs on our lips and love in our hearts. We gather here, because we find joy and love, peace and understanding, among Your people. We seek to serve You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Deliver us from slavery to all sins. Save us from those who would deceive us. Teach us the way that we should go each day. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we might have the comfort of Your presence within us day and night. And now we pray together in Jesus’ Name:
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”

God the living water
 
4 Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
     all you clans of Israel.
 
5 This is what the Lord says:
 
  “What fault did your ancestors find in me,
     that they strayed so far from me?
  They followed worthless idols
     and became worthless themselves.
6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
     who brought us up out of Egypt
  and led us through the barren wilderness,
     through a land of deserts and ravines,
  a land of drought and utter darkness,
     a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
7 I brought you into a fertile land
     to eat its fruit and rich produce.
  But you came and defiled my land
     and made my inheritance detestable.
8 The priests did not ask,
     ‘Where is the Lord?’
  Those who deal with the law did not know me;
     the leaders rebelled against me.
  The prophets prophesied by Baal,
     following worthless idols.
 
9 “Therefore I bring charges against you again,”
  declares the Lord.
     “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
      send to Kedar and observe closely;
      see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever changed its gods?
      (Yet they are not gods at all.)
   But my people have exchanged their glorious God
      for worthless idols.
12 Be appalled at this, you heavens,
      and shudder with great horror,”
   declares the Lord.
13 “My people have committed two sins:
   They have forsaken me,
      the spring of living water,
   and have dug their own cisterns,
      broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
 
Drink of Jesus the Messiah
 
7:14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?”
 
16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”
 
20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”
 
21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”
 
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”
 
28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”
 
30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him. They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?”

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
 
Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]

The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel lessons are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Responsive Readings from the Common Book of Prayer (1789).

The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2023, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2022 was Year A. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest on what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Lectionary for Wednesday, March 15, 2023
Psalm 81; Jeremiah 2:4-13; John 7:14-31, 37-39

The Morning Prayer for Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 

The Morning Prayer
Wednesday, March 15, 2023


Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews 13:20-21, NIV


Lord our God, through the Spirit grant us community with you, we pray. Help us onward again and again, and help us grow in strength to follow what is true and good. May your goodness and your grace be in our hearts to help us in all practical things. Grant that wherever we live we may have something of the power in which Jesus Christ lived and suffered, in which he died and yet lives again. May the world still learn that it has a redeemer and that it belongs to him, to the glory of your name. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 

Verse of the Day
Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Acts 4:10, 12
Then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.… Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
If Jesus did not really have to die to save us, then why would God send Him to the Cross? God does not make mistakes, and His wisdom is always sound. Jesus died so we might have eternal life. He says that we can only come to Him through faith and acceptance of His life, death, and resurrection.

Read all of Acts Chapter 4

Listen to Acts Chapter 4

Scripture from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

The Lenten Prayer for Wednesday, March 15, 2023

 

40 Days of Lenten Prayers
Day 19 — Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent


God, you love me as your own child. May I bend my life and will toward you so that I might accept your teaching and guidance. I am so grateful for your support in my life, now and in the eternal life you are preparing for me. I beg for your help and Spirit in my life today. Amen.

Travel the World from Home — Galilee Region: The Unexpected Base of the Messiah

 

The Holy Land:
Connecting the Land with Its Stories
Galilee Region: The Unexpected
Base of the Messiah
Season 3 — Episode 5
 
How can a place that struggled so long to understand who God was now help us understand who He is?

The Holy Land: Connecting the Land with Its Stories” Season 3 is a nine-episode series hosted by Dr. John (Jack) Beck that takes you to the Jordan River Valley systems to experience the land, the culture, and the customs that surround the sacred stories of the Bible.

In the 5th episode of “The Holy Land” Season 3, journey with Dr. Jack Beck to the Sea of Galilee, as well as Capernaum and Magdala, to learn how this small region played a big role in Jesus’ ministry.



Season 3 — Episode 5 | Galilee Region: The Unexpected Base of the Messiah