Thursday, July 28, 2022

The Daily Lectionary for Friday, July 29, 2022


The Daily Lectionary
Friday, July 29, 2022
 Psalm 107:1-9, 43; Hosea 9:1-17; Ephesians 4:17-24
(Revised Common Lectionary Year C)
(Semi-continuous Reading Plan)

Psalm 107:1-9, 43
Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Many Troubles
1  O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
     for his steadfast love endures forever.
2  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
     those he redeemed from trouble
3  and gathered in from the lands,
     from the east and from the west,
     from the north and from the south.

4  Some wandered in desert wastes,
     finding no way to an inhabited town;
5  hungry and thirsty,
     their soul fainted within them.
6  Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
     and he delivered them from their distress;
7  he led them by a straight way,
     until they reached an inhabited town.
8  Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
     for his wonderful works to humankind.
9  For he satisfies the thirsty,
     and the hungry he fills with good things.

43 Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
     and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

Hosea 9:1-17
Punishment for Israel’s Sin
9:1 Do not rejoice, O Israel!
     Do not exult as other nations do;
   for you have played the whore, departing from your God.
     You have loved a prostitute’s pay
     on all threshing floors.
2  Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
     and the new wine shall fail them.
3  They shall not remain in the land of the Lord;
     but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
     and in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.

4  They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord,
     and their sacrifices shall not please him.
   Such sacrifices shall be like mourners’ bread;
     all who eat of it shall be defiled;
   for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
     it shall not come to the house of the Lord.

5  What will you do on the day of appointed festival,
     and on the day of the festival of the Lord?
6  For even if they escape destruction,
     Egypt shall gather them,
     Memphis shall bury them.
   Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
     thorns shall be in their tents.

7  The days of punishment have come,
     the days of recompense have come;
     Israel cries,
   “The prophet is a fool,
     the man of the spirit is mad!”
   Because of your great iniquity,
     your hostility is great.
8  The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim,
   yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
     and hostility in the house of his God.
9  They have deeply corrupted themselves
     as in the days of Gibeah;
   he will remember their iniquity,
     he will punish their sins.

10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
     I found Israel.
   Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
     in its first season,
     I saw your ancestors.
   But they came to Baal-peor,
     and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame,
     and became detestable like the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory shall fly away like a bird—
     no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Even if they bring up children,
     I will bereave them until no one is left.
   Woe to them indeed
     when I depart from them!
13 Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow,
     but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
     what will you give?
   Give them a miscarrying womb
     and dry breasts.

15 Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal;
     there I came to hate them.
   Because of the wickedness of their deeds
     I will drive them out of my house.
   I will love them no more;
     all their officials are rebels.

16 Ephraim is stricken,
     their root is dried up,
     they shall bear no fruit.
   Even though they give birth,
     I will kill the cherished offspring of their womb.
17 Because they have not listened to him,
     my God will reject them;
     they shall become wanderers among the nations.

Ephesians 4:17-24
The Old Life and the New
4:17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

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 New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.

The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year C. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2022, we will be in Year A. The year which ended at Advent 2021 was Year B. 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
God calls us to be different than the vile, unbelieving culture around us. He offers us power to do that.

The Morning Prayer for Friday, July 29, 2022

 


The Morning Prayer
Friday, July 29, 2022


For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power. Likewise, we are weak in him, yet by God’s power we will live with him in our dealing with you.

Lord our God, we thank you for the love you show us so that we may be delivered from weakness and sickness, from sin and misery, and may be given strength to serve you, our Father in heaven. Bless us in all we have on our hearts, that through your mercy the battle of life may be fought aright. Bless us in our times and grant that justice may gain the upper hand and we may live in peace, praising you into all eternity. Protect us, your children, forevermore. May your name be honored, your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as in heaven. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Friday, July 29, 2022

 


Verse of the Day
Friday, July 29, 2022


Psalm 119:93
I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have preserved my life.
Those who have experienced the power of the Scriptures in their lives are not likely to forget them. We were “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:23).

Read all of Psalm 119

Listen to Psalm 119


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