Daily Readings for January 29, 2016

Genesis 17:15-27
God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her." Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to himself, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" And Abraham said to God, "O that Ishmael might live in your sight!" God said, "No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; I will bless him and make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous; he shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this season next year." And when he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised; and all the men of his house, slaves born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Hebrews 10:11-25
And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, "he sat down at the right hand of God," and since then has been waiting "until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet." For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds," he also adds, "I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

John 6:1-15
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Psalm 40 Expectans, expectavi
1   I waited patiently upon the LORD; he stooped to me and heard my cry.
2   He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.
3   He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the LORD.
4   Happy are they who trust in the LORD! they do not resort to evil spirits or turn to false gods.
5   Great things are they that you have done, O LORD my God! how great your wonders and your plans for us! there is none who can be compared with you.
6   Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! but they are more than I can count.
7   In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure (you have given me ears to hear you);
8   Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required, and so I said, "Behold, I come.
9   In the roll of the book it is written concerning me: 'I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart.'"
10   I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O LORD, you know.
11   Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance; I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.
12   You are the LORD; do not withhold your compassion from me; let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,
13   For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
14   Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me; O LORD, make haste to help me.
15   Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it; let them draw back and be disgraced who take pleasure in my misfortune.
16   Let those who say "Aha!" and gloat over me be confounded, because they are ashamed.
17   Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad; let those who love your salvation continually say, "Great is the LORD!"
18   Though I am poor and afflicted, the Lord will have regard for me.
19   You are my helper and my deliverer; do not tarry, O my God.

Psalm 54 Deus, in nomine
1   Save me, O God, by your Name; in your might, defend my cause.
2   Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
3   For the arrogant have risen up against me, and the ruthless have sought my life, those who have no regard for God.
4   Behold, God is my helper; it is the Lord who sustains my life.
5   Render evil to those who spy on me; in your faithfulness, destroy them.
6   I will offer you a freewill sacrifice and praise your Name, O LORD, for it is good.
7   For you have rescued me from every trouble, and my eye has seen the ruin of my foes.

Psalm 51 Miserere mei, Deus
1   Have mercy on me, O God, according to your loving-kindness; in your great compassion blot out my offenses.
2   Wash me through and through from my wickedness and cleanse me from my sin.
3   For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4   Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.
5   And so you are justified when you speak and upright in your judgment.
6   Indeed, I have been wicked from my birth, a sinner from my mother's womb.
7   For behold, you look for truth deep within me, and will make me understand wisdom secretly.
8   Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
9   Make me hear of joy and gladness, that the body you have broken may rejoice.
10   Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
11   Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
12   Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy Spirit from me.
13   Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.
14   I shall teach your ways to the wicked, and sinners shall return to you.
15   Deliver me from death, O God, and my tongue shall sing of your righteousness, O God of my salvation.
16   Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.
17   Had you desired it, I would have offered sacrifice, but you take no delight in burnt-offerings.
18   The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
19   Be favorable and gracious to Zion, and rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
20   Then you will be pleased with the appointed sacrifices, with burnt-offerings and oblations; then shall they offer young bullocks upon your altar.

Meditation for January 29, 2016

Psalm 40:1-2 I waited patiently upon the Lord; he stooped to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the mire and clay; he set my feet upon a high cliff and made my footing sure.

Every summer we’d sing this particular psalm in chapel at summer camp. It was U2’s version of this psalm, also called “40,” that the camp counselors played on their acoustic guitars. We’d sing the words with our arms around each other’s shoulders surrounded by the mesquite and live oak trees native to central Texas. The chorus, which is not part of the psalm, asks, “How long to sing this song?” 

Listening to that chorus now, I hear both expectation and apprehension in those words: “How long? How long to sing this song?” Long after the psalms were written, and long after the stone was rolled away from the tomb, we still live with that expectation and apprehension, with that sense that the work of God has begun, but appears to be far from over. That sense of being in-between is a part of faith. It’s what drives us to work for a better world and also what leads us back to prayer and song on Sunday morning.