Tuesday, August 29, 2023

The Daily Lectionary for Wednesday, August 30, 2023

 

The Daily Lectionary
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Psalm 8; Exodus 2:15b-22; Matthew 26:6-13
(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)
(Semi-continuous Reading Plan)

A Psalm and A Prayer
Responsive Readings from the Psalms and Prayers
for Public Worship and Private Devotions
Psalm 8
From the mouths of infants
Domine, Dominus noster

O LORD our Governor, *
  how exalted is your Name in all the world!


Out of the mouths of infants and children *
  your majesty is praised above the heavens.


You have set up a stronghold against your adversaries, *
  to quell the enemy and the avenger.


When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, *
  the moon and the stars you have set in their courses,


What is man that you should be mindful of him? *
  the son of man that you should seek him out?


You have made him but little lower than the angels; *
  you adorn him with glory and honor;


You give him mastery over the works of your hands; *
  you put all things under his feet:


All sheep and oxen, *
  even the wild beasts of the field,


The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, *
  and whatsoever walks in the paths of the sea.


O LORD our Governor, *
  how exalted is your Name in all the world!


Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for moving our hearts so that we may know we are your children. Even in the midst of turmoil and evil, fear and pain, you bring us happiness; we can know that you are holding us with your right hand and will finally deliver us from all evil. Let your Spirit be at work everywhere. Give us patience when time is needed in our own hearts and in the hearts of all people, who also belong to you. Continue to strengthen us so that even the heaviest burden does not crush us and we may exult in hope because you right every wrong. Be with us today and every day in Jesus Christ, Who taught us to pray:
“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.”
Exodus 2:15b-22
Moses flees to Midian

…Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well. Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock. Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

“And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

Matthew 26:6-13
A woman anoints Jesus

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

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, August 30, 2023
Psalm 8; Exodus 2:15b-22; Matthew 26:6-13

The Morning Prayer for Wednesday, August 30, 2023

 

The Morning Prayer
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
John 10:27–28 (NIV)


Dear Father in heaven, we thank you for moving our hearts so that we may know we are your children. Even in the midst of turmoil and evil, fear and pain, you bring us happiness; we can know that you are holding us with your right hand and will finally deliver us from all evil. Let your Spirit be at work everywhere. Give us patience when time is needed in our own hearts and in the hearts of all people, who also belong to you. Continue to strengthen us so that even the heaviest burden does not crush us and we may exult in hope because you right every wrong, to the glory of your name. Amen.

Verse of the Day for Wednesday, August 30, 2023

 

Verse of the Day
Wednesday, August 30, 2023

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.
The notion of one’s primary citizenship being in the kingdom of God, rather than in the political realities of the day, continued to influence how the early Christians understood their place in the world. The Letter to Diognetus reveals how the early Christian communities were perceived by their neighbors. “They live in their own countries, but only as aliens. They have a share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their fatherland, and yet for them every fatherland is a foreign land… They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven.”