Reflections with GOD for Monday, January 30, 2012

Quotes for Today:
The shaft of the arrow had been feathered with one of the eagle’s own plumes. We often give our enemies the means of our own destruction. by Aesop (620 BC – 560 BC), The Eagle and the Arrow
He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare,
And he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere. by Ali ibn-Abi-Talib (602 AD – 661 AD), A Hundred Sayings
Above all things, never be afraid. The enemy who forces you to retreat is himself afraid of you at that very moment. by Andre Maurois (1885 – 1967)
Observe your enemies, for they first find out your faults. by Antisthenes (445 BC – 365 BC)
A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. by Baltasar Gracian
Love your enemies; for they shall tell you all your faults. by Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790)
I do not regret one professional enemy I have made. Any actor who doesn’t dare to make an enemy should get out of the business. by Bette Davis (1908 – 1989), The Lonely Life, 1962
The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed. by Carl Jung (1875 – 1961)
He hasn’t an enemy in the world – but all his friends hate him. by Eddie Cantor (1892 – 1964)
Never explain–your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway. by Elbert Hubbard (1856 – 1915)
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. by Eric Hoffer (1902 – 1983)
At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid. by Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900)
Rejoice not at thine enemy’s fall – but don’t rush to pick him up either. by Jewish Proverb
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. by John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963)
Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself. by John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963), Inaugural Adress, January 20, 1961
The enemy is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on. by Joseph Heller (1923 – 1999), Catch 22
The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane. by Mark Twain (1835 – 1910), in Christian Science
If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies. by Moshe Dayan (1915 – 1981)
Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake. by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821)
A man cannot be too careful in the choice of his enemies. by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much. by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
We can learn even from our enemies. by Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD), Metamorphoses
Use your enemy’s hand to catch a snake. by Persian Proverb
Treat your friend as if he might become an enemy. by Publilius Syrus (~100 BC), Maxims
Reveal not every secret you have to a friend, for how can you tell but that friend may hereafter become an enemy. And bring not all mischief you are able to upon an enemy, for he may one day become your friend. by Saadi (1184 – 1291)
It is hard to fight an enemy who has outposts in your head. by Sally Kempton
Money can’t buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy. by Spike Milligan
Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate. by Thomas Jones (1892 – 1969)

Sermon for Today:
HOW A MAN’S CONDUCT COMES HOME TO HIM by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 1235 A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, MAY 16TH, 1875, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
“The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man
shall be satisfied from himself.” — Proverbs 14:14.
A common principle is here laid down and declared to be equally true in
reference to two characters, who in other respects are a contrast. Men are
affected by the course which they pursue; for good or bad their own
conduct comes home to them. The backslider and the good man are very
different, but in each of them the same rule is exemplified — they are both
filled by the result of their lives. The backslider becomes filled by that
which is within him, as seen in his life, and the good man also is filled by
that which grace implants within his soul. The evil leaven in the backslider
leavens his entire being and sours his existence, while the gracious fountain
in the sanctified believer saturates his whole manhood, and baptizes his
entire life. In each case the fullness arises from that which is within the
man, and is in its nature like the man’s character; the fullness of the
backslider’s misery will come out of his own ways, and the fullness of the
good man’s content will spring out of the love of God which is shed
abroad in his heart.
The meaning of this passage will come out better if we begin with an
illustration. Here are two pieces of sponge, and we wish to fill them: you
shall place one of them in a pool of foul water, it will be filled, and filled
with that which it lies in; you shall put the other sponge into a pure crystal
stream, and it will also become full, full of the element in which it is placed.
The backslider lies asoak in the dead sea of his own ways, and the brine
fills him; the good man is plunged like a pitcher into “Siloa’s brook, which
flows hard by the oracle of God,” and the river of the water of life fills him
to the brim. A wandering heart will he filled with sorrow, and a heart
confiding in the Lord will be satisfied with joy and peace. Or take two
farmsteads; one farmer sows tares in his field, and in due time his barns are
filled therewith; another sows wheat, and his garners are stored with
precious grain. Or follow out our Lord’s parable: one builder places his
frail dwelling on the sand, and, when the tempest rages, he is swept away
in it, naturally enough; another lays deep the foundations of his house, and
sets it fast on a rock, and as an equally natural consequence he smiles upon
the storm, protected by his well-founded dwelling-place. What a man is by
sin or by grace will be the cause of his sorrow or of his satisfaction.
I. I shall take the two characters without further preface, and first let us speak awhile about THE BACKSLIDER. This is a very solemn subject, but one which it is needful to bring before the present audience, since we all have some share in it. I trust there may not be many present who are backsliders in the worst sense of the term, but very, very few among us are quite free from the charge of having backslidden, in some measure, at some time or other since conversion. Even those who sincerely love the Master sometimes wander, and we all need to take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God.
There are several kinds of persons who may with more or less propriety be
comprehended under the term “backsliders,” and these will each in his own
measure be filled with his own ways.
There are, first, apostates, those who unite themselves with the church of
Christ, and for a time act as if they were subjects of a real change of heart.
These persons are frequently very zealous for a season, and may become
prominent, if not eminent, in the church of God. They did run well, like
those mentioned by the apostle, but by some means they are, first of all,
hindered, and slacken their pace; after that they linger and loiter, and leave
the crown of the causeway for the side of the road. By-and-by in their
hearts they go back into Egypt and at last, finding an opportunity to return,
they break loose from all the restraints of their profession, and openly
forsake the Lord. Truly the last end of such men is worse than the first.
Judas is the great type of these pre-eminent backsliders. Judas was a
professed believer in Jesus, a follower of the Lord, a minister of the gospel,
an apostle of Christ, the trusted treasurer of the college of the apostles, and
after all turned out to be the “son of perdition” who sold his Master for
thirty pieces of silver. He ere long was filled with his own ways, for,
tormented with remorse, he threw down the blood-money he had so dearly
earned, hanged himself, and went to his own place. The story of Judas has
been written over and over again in the lives of other traitors. We have
heard of Judas as a deacon, and as an elder; we have heard Judas preach,
we have read the works of Judas the bishop, and seen Judas the missionary.
Judas sometimes continues in his profession for many years, but, sooner or
later, the true character of the man is discovered; his sin returns upon his
own head, and if he does not make an end of himself, I do not doubt but
what, even in this life, he often lives in such horrible remorse that his soul
would choose strangling rather than life. He has gathered the grapes of
Gomorrah, and he has to drink the wine; he has planted a bitter tree, and he
must eat the fruit thereof. Oh sirs, may none of you betray your Lord and
Master. God grant I never may. “Traitor! Traitor!” Shall that ever be
written across your brow? You have been baptised into the name of the
adorable Trinity, you have eaten the tokens of the Redeemer’s body and
blood, you have sung the Songs of Zion, you have stood forward to pray in
the midst of the people of God, and will you act so base a part as to betray
your Lord? Shall it ever be said of you, “Take him to the place from
whence he came, for he is a traitor?” I cannot conceive of anything more
ignominious than for a soldier to be drummed out of a regiment of Her
Majesty’s soldiers, but what must it be to be cast out of the host of God!
What must it be to be set up as the target of eternal shame and everlasting
contempt for having crucified the Lord afresh, and put him to an open
sham! How shameful will it be to be branded as an apostate from truth and
holiness, from Christ and his ways. Better never to have made a profession
than to have belied it so wretchedly, and to have it said of us, “it is
happened unto them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his
own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the
mire.” Of such John has said, “They went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us:
but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all
of us.”
This title of backslider applies also to another class, not so desperate but
still most sad, of which not Judas but David may serve as the type: we refer
to backsliders who go into open sin. There are men who descend from purity to careless living, and from careless living to indulgence of the flesh,
and from indulgence of the flesh in little matters into known sin, and from
one sin to another till they plunge into uncleanness. They have been born
again, and therefore the trembling and almost extinct life within must and
shall revive and bring them to repentance: they will come back weary,
weeping, humbled, and brokenhearted, and they will be restored, but they
will never be what they were before; their voices will be hoarse, like that of
David after his crime for he never again sung so jubilantly as in his former
days. Life will be more full of trembling and trial, and manifest less of
buoyancy and joy of spirit. Broken bones make hard travelling, and even
when they are set they are very subject to shooting pains when ill weathers
are abroad. I may be addressing some of this sort this morning, and if so I
would speak with much faithful love. Dear brother, if you are now
following Jesus afar off you will, ere long, like Peter, deny him. Even
though you will obtain mercy of the Lord, yet the text will certainly be
fulfilled in you, and you will be “filled with your own ways.” As certainly
as Moses took the golden calf and ground it into powder, and then mixed it
with the water which the sinful Israelites had to drink, till they all tasted the
grit in their mouths, so will the Lord do with you if you are indeed his
child: he will take your idol of sin and grind it to powder, and your life
shall be made bitter with it for years to come. When the gall and
wormwood are most manifest in the cup of life it will be a mournful thing
to feel “I procured this unto myself by my shameful folly.” O Lord, hold
thou us up, and keep us from fulling belittle and little, lest we plunge into
overt sin and continue in it for a season; for surely the anguish which
comes of such an evil is terrible as death itself. If David could rise from his
grave and appear before you with his face seamed with sorrow and his
brow wrinkled with his many griefs, he would say to you “keep your hearts
with all diligence, lest ye bring woe upon yourselves. Watch unto prayer,
and guard against the beginnings of sin lest your bones wax old through
your roarings, and your moisture be turned into the drought of summer.” O
beware of a wandering heart, for it will be an awful thing to be filled with
your own backslidings.
But there is a third sort of backsliding, and I am afraid a very large number
of us have at times come under the title — I mean those who in any
measure or degree, even for a very little time, decline from the point
which they have reached. Perhaps such a man hardly ought to be called a
backslider, because it is not his predominant character, yet he backslides. If he does not believe as firmly, and love as intensely, and serve as zealously
as he formerly did, he has in a measure backslidden, and any measure of
backsliding, be it less or be it more, is sinful, and will in proportion as it is
real backsliding fill us with our own ways. If you only sow two or three
seeds of the thistle there will not be so many of the ill weeds on your farm
as if you had emptied out a whole sack, but still there will be enough and
more than enough. Every little backsliding, as men call it, is a great
mischief; every little going back even in heart from God, if it never comes
to words or deeds, yet will involve us in some measure of sorrow. If sin
were clean removed from us sorrow would be removed also, in fact we
should be in heaven, since a state of perfect holiness must involve perfect
blessedness. Sin, in any degree, will bear its own fruit, and that fruit will be
sure to set our teeth on edge; it is ill therefore to be a backslider even in the
least degree.
Having said so much, let me now continue to think of the last two kinds of
backsliders, and leave out the apostate. Let us first read his name, and then
let us read his history, we have both in our text.
The first part of his name is “backslider.” He is not a back runner, nor a
back leaper, but a backslider, that is to say he slides back with an easy,
effortless motion, softly, quietly, perhaps unsuspected by himself or
anybody else. The Christian life is very much like climbing a hill of ice. You
cannot slide up, nay, you have to cut every step with an ice axe; only with
incessant labor in cutting and chipping can you make any progress; you
need a guide to help you, and you are not safe unless you are fastened to
the guide, for you may slip into a crevasse. Nobody ever slides lip, but if
great care be not taken they will slide down, slide back, or in other words
backslide This is very easily done. If you want to know how to backslide,
the answer is leave off going forward and you will slide backward, cease
going upward and you will go downward of necessity, for stand still you
never can. To lead us to backslide, Satan acts with us as engineers do with
a road down the mountains side. If they desire to carry the road from
yonder alp right down into the valley far below, they never think of making
the road plunge over a precipice, or straight down the face of the rock, for
nobody would ever use such a road; but the road makers wind and twist.
See, the track descends very gently to the right, you can hardly see that it
does run downwards; anon it turns to the left with a small incline, and so,
by turning this way and then that, the traveler finds himself in the vale
below. Thus the crafty enemy of souls fetches saints down from their high places; whenever he gets a good man down it is usually by slow degrees.
Now and then, by sudden opportunity and strong temptation, the Christian
man has been plunged right from the pinnacle of the temple into the
dungeon of despair in a moment, but it is not often the case; the gentle
decline is the devil’s favourite piece of engineering, and he manages it with
amazing skill. The soul scarcely knows it is going down, it seems to be
maintaining the even tenor of its way, but ere long it is far below the line of
peace and consecration. Our dear brother, Dr. Arnot, of the Free Church,
illustrates this very beautifully by supposing a balance. This is the heavy
scale loaded with seeds, and the other is high in the air. One morning you
are very much surprised to find that what had been the heavier scale is
aloft, while the other has descended. You do not understand it till you
discover that certain little insects had silently transferred the seeds one by
one. At first they made no apparent change, by-and-bye there was a little
motion, one more little seed was laid in the scales and the balance turned in
a moment. Thus silently the balance of a man’s soul may be affected, and
everything made ready for that one temptation by which the fatal turn is
made, and the man becomes an open transgressor. Apparently insignificant
agencies may gradually convey our strength from the right side to the
wrong by grains and half-grains, till at last the balance is turned in the
actual life and we are no more fit to be numbered with the visible saints of
God.
Think again of this man’s name. He is a “backslider,” but what from? He is
a man who knows the sweetness of the things of God and yet leaves off
feeding upon them. He is one who has been favored to wait at the Lord’s
own table, and yet he deserts his honorable post, backslides from the things
which he has known, and felt, and tasted, and handled, and rejoiced in —
things that are the priceless gifts of God. He is a backslider from the
condition in which he has enjoyed a heaven below; he is a backslider from
the love of him who bought him with his blood; he slides back from the
wounds of Christ, from the works of the Eternal Spirit, from the crown of
life which hangs over his head, and from a familiar intercourse with God
which angels might envy him. Had he not been so highly favored he could
not have been so basely wicked. O fool and slow of heart to slide froth
wealth to poverty, from health to disease, from liberty to bondage, front
light to darkness; from the love of God, from abiding in Christ, and from
the fellowship of the Holy Ghost into lukewarmness, worldliness, and sin. The text, however, gives the man’s name at greater length, “The backslider
in heart.” Now the heart is the fountain of evil. A man need not be a
backslider in action to get the text fulfilled in him, he need only be a
backslider in heart. All backsliding begins within, begins with the heart’s
growing lukewarm, begins with the love of Christ being less powerful in
the soul. Perhaps you think that so long as backsliding is confined to the
heart it does not matter much; but consider for a minute, and you will
confess your error. If you went to your physician and said, “Sir, I feel a
severe pain in my body,” would you feel comforted if he replied “There is
no local cause for your suffering, it arises entirely from disease of the
heart”? Would you not be far more alarmed than before? A case is serious
indeed when it involves the heart. The heart is hard to reach and difficult to
understand, and moreover it is so powerful over the rest of the system, and
has such power to injure all the members of the body, that a disease in the
heart is an injury to a vital organ, a pollution of the springs of life. A
wound there is a thousand wounds, a complicated wounding of all the
members a stroke. Look ye well then to your hearts, and pray, “O Lord
cleanse thou the secret parts of our spirit and preserve us to thy eternal
kingdom and glory!”
Now let us read this man’s history — “he shall be filled with his own
ways.” From which it is clear that he falls into ways of his own. When he
was in his right state he followed the Lord’s ways, he delighted himself in
the law of the Lord, and he gave him the desire of his heart; but now he has
ways of his own, which he prefers to the ways of God. And what comes of
this perverseness? Does he prosper? No; he is before long filled with his
own ways; we will see what that means.
The first kind of fullness with his own ways is absorption in his carnal
pursuits. He has not much time to spend upon religion; he has other things
to attend to. If you speak to him of the deep things of God he is weary of
you, and even of the daily necessaries of godliness he has no care to hear
much, except at service time. He has his business to see to, or he has to go
out to a dinner party, or a few friends are coming to spend the evening: in
any case, his answer to you is “I pray thee have me excused.” Now, this
pre-occupation with trifles is always mischievous, for when the soul is
filled with chaff there is no room left for wheat; when all your mind is
taken up with frivolities, the weighty matters of eternity cannot enter.
Many professed Christians spend far too much time in amusements, which
they call recreation, but which, I fear, is far rather a redestruction than a recreation. The pleasures, cares, pursuits, and ambitions of the world swell
in the heart when they once enter, and by-and-bye they fill it completely.
Like the young cuckoo in the sparrow’s nest, worldliness grows and grows
and tries its best to cast out the true owner of the heart. Whatever your
soul is full of, if it be not full of Christ, it is in an evil case.
Then backsliders generally proceed a stage further, and become full of their
own ways by beginning to pride themselves upon their condition and to
glory in their shame. Not that they really are satisfied at heart, on the
contrary, they have a suspicion that things are not quite as they ought to
be, and therefore they put on a bold front, and try to deceive themselves
and others. It is rather dangerous to tell them of their faults, for they will
not accept your rebuke, but will defend themselves, and even carry the war
into your camp. They will say, “Ah, you are puritanical, strict and straight-laced, and your manners and ways do mischief rather than good.” They would not bring up their children as you do yours, so they say. Their
mouths are very full because their hearts are empty, and they talk very
loudly in defense of themselves, because their conscience has been making
a great stir within them. They call sinful pleasure a little unbending of the
bow, greed is prudence, covetousness is economy, and dishonesty is
cleverness. It is dreadful to think that men who know better should attempt
thus to excuse themselves. Generally the warmest defender of a sinful
practice is the man who has the most qualms of conscience about it. He
himself knows that he is not living as he should, but he does not intend to
cave in just yet, nor at all if he can help it. He is filled with his ways in a
boasted self-content as to them.
Ere long this fullness reaches another stage, for if the backslider is a
gracious man at all, he encounters chastisement, and that from a rod of his
own making. A considerable time elapses before you can eat bread of your
own growing: the ground must be ploughed and sown, and the wheat has
to come up, to ripen and to be reaped, and threshed and ground in the mill,
and the dour must be kneaded and baked in the oven; but the bread comes
to the table and is eaten at last. Even so the backslider must eat of the fruit
of his own ways. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked, whatsoever a man
soweth, that shall he also reap.” Now look at the backslider eating the fruit
of his ways. He neglected prayer, and when he tries to pray he cannot; his
powers of desire, emotion, faith, and entreaty have failed; he kneels awhile,
but he cannot pray; the Spirit of supplications is grieved, and no longer
helps his infirmities. He reaches down his Bible; he commences to read a chapter, but he has disregarded the word of God so long that he finds it to
be more like a dead letter than a living voice, though it used to be a sweet
book before he became a backslider. The minister, too, is altered; he used
to hear him with delight; but now the poor preacher has lost all his early
power, so the backslider thinks. Other people do not think so, the place is
just as crowded, there are as many saints edified and sinners saved as
before; but the wanderer in heart began criticizing, and now he is entangled
in the habit, and he criticises every thing, but never feeds upon the truth at
all. Like a madman at table he puts his fork into the morsel and holds it up,
looks at it, finds fault with it, and throws in on the floor. Nor does he act
better towards the saints in whose company he once delighted; they are
dull society and he shuns them. Of all the things which bear upon his
spiritual life he is weary, he has trifled with them, and now he cannot enjoy
them. Hear him sing, or rather sigh —
“Thy saints are comforted, I know,
And love thy house of prayer;
I sometimes go where others go,
But find no comfort there.”
How can it be otherwise? He is drinking water out of his own cistern and
eating the bread of which he sowed the corn some years ago. His ways
have come home to him.
Chastisement also comes out of his conduct in other ways. He was very
worldly and gave gay parties, and his girls have grown up and grieved him
by their conduct. He himself went into sin, and now that his sons outdo his
example, what can he say? Can he wonder at anything? Look at David’s
case. David felt into a gross sin, and soon Amnon his son rivalled him in
iniquity. He murdered Uriah the Hittite, and Absalom murdered his brother
Amnon. He rebelled against God, and lo, Absalom lifted up the standard of
revolt against him. He disturbed the relationships of another man’s family
in a disgraceful manner, and behold his own family rent in pieces, and never
restored to peace; so that even when he lay a-dying he had to say, “My
house is not so with God.” He was filled with his own ways, and it always
will be so, even if the sin be forgotten. If you have sent forth a dove or a
raven from the ark of your soul, it will come back to you just as you sent it
out. May God save us from being backsliders lest the smooth current of
our life should twin into a raging torrent of woe.
The fourth stage, blessed be God, is at length reached by gracious men and
women, and what a mercy it is they ever do reach it! At last they become
filled with their own ways in another sense; namely, satiated and
dissatisfied, miserable and discontented. They sought the world and they
gained it, but now it has lost all charms to them. They went after other
lovers, but these deceivers have been false to them, and they wring their
hands and say, “Oh that I could return to my first husband for it was better
with me then than now.” Many have lived at a distance from Jesus Christ,
but now they can bear it no longer; they cannot be happy till they return.
Hear them cry in the language of the fifty-first psalm, “Restore unto me the
joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” But, I tell you,
they cannot get back very easily. It is hard to retrace your steps from
backsliding, even if it be but a small measure of it; but to get back from
great wanderings is hard indeed, much harder than going over the road the
first time. I believe that if the mental sufferings of some returning
backsliders could be written and faithfully published they would astound
you, and be a more horrible story to read than all the torments of the
Inquisition. What racks a man is stretched upon who has been unfaithful to
his covenant with God! What fires have burned within the souls of those
men who have been untrue to Christ and his cause! That dungeons, what
grin and dark prisons under ground have saints of God lain in who have
gone aside into By-path meadow instead of keeping to the king’s highway.
Their sighs and cries, for which after all they have learned to be thankful,
are dolorous and terrible to listen to, and make us learn that he who sins
must smart, and especially if he be a child of God, for the Lord has said of
his people, “you only have I known of all the people of the earth, therefore
I will punish you for your iniquities.” Whoever may go unchastised, a child
of God never shall: the Lord will let his adversaries do a thousand things
and not punish them in this life, since he reserves vengeance for them in the
life to come, but as for his own children, they cannot sin without being
visited with strikes.
Beloved friends, let all go straight away to the cross at once for fear we
should be backsliders —
“Come, let us to the Lord our God
With contrite hearts return
Our God is gracious, nor will leave
The penitent to mourn.”
Let us confess every degree and form of backsliding, every wandering of
heart, every decline of love, every wavering of faith, every flagging of zeal,
every dulness of desire, every failure of confidence. Behold, the Lord says
unto us, “Return”; therefore let us return. Even if we be not backsliders it
will do us no hurt to come to the cross as penitents, indeed, it is well to
abide there evermore. O Spirit of the living God, preserve us in believing
penitence all our days.
II. I have but little time for the second part. Excuse me therefore if I do not attempt to go into it very deeply. As it is true of the backslider that he grows at last full of that which is within him and his wickedness, is true also of THE CHRISTIAN that in pursuing the paths of righteousness and the way of faith, he becomes filled and contented too. That which grace has placed within him fills him in due time.
Here then we have the good man’s name and history.
Notice first, his name. It is a very remarkable thing that as a backslider if
you call out his name will not as a rule answer to it, even so a good man
will not acknowledge the title here assigned him. Where is the good man?
Know that every man here who is right before God will pass the question
on, saying, “There is none good save One, that is God.” The good man will
also question my text and say “I cannot feel satisfied with myself.” No,
dear friend, but mind you read the words aright. It does not say “satisfied
with himself,” no truly good man ever was self-satisfied, and when any talk
as if they are self-satisfied it is time to doubt whether they know much
about the matter. All the good men I have ever met with have always
wanted to be better; they have longed for something higher than as yet they
have reached. They would not own to it that they were satisfied, and they
certainly were by no means satisfied with themselves. The text does not say
that they are, but it says something that reads so much like it that care is
needed. Now, if I should seem to say this morning that a good man looks
within and is quite satisfied with what he finds there, please let me say at
once, I mean nothing of the sort. I should like to say exactly what the text
means, but I do not know quite whether I shall manage to do it, except you
will help me by not misunderstanding me, even if there should be a strong
temptation to do so. Here is the good man’s history, he is “satisfied from
himself,” but first I must read his name again, though he does not own to
it, what is he good for? He says, “good for nothing,” but in truth he is
good for much when the Lord uses him. Remember that he is good because the Lord has made him over again by the Holy Spirit. Is not that
good which God makes? When he created nature at the first he said of all
things that they were very good; how could they be otherwise, since he
made them? So in the new creation a new heart and right spirit are from
God, and must be good. Where there is grace in the heart the grace is good
and makes the heart good. A man who has the righteousness of Jesus, and
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is good in the sight of God.
A good man is on the side of good. If I were to ask, who is on the side of
good? we would not pass on that question. No, we would step out and say
“I am. I am not all I ought to be, or wish to be, but I am on the side of
justice, truth, and holiness; I would live to promote goodness, and even die
rather than become the advocate of evil.” And what is the man who loves
that which is good? Is he evil? I trow not. He who truly loves that which is
good must be in a measure good himself. Who is he that strives to be good,
and groans and sighs over his failures, yea and rules his daily life by the
laws of God? Is he not one of the world’s best men? I trust without self-righteousness the grace of God has made some of us good in this sense, for what the Spirit of God has made is good, and if in Christ Jesus we are new
creatures, we cannot contradict Solomon, nor criticize the Bible if it calls
such persons good, though we dare not call ourselves good.
Now, a good man’s history is this, “He is satisfied from himself.”
That means first, that he is independent of outward circumstances. He does
not derive satisfaction from his birth, or honors, or properties; but that
which fills him with content is within himself. Our hymn puts it so truly —
“I need not go abroad for joys,
I have a feast at home,
My sighs are turned into songs,
My heart has ceased to roam.
Down from above the blessed Dove
Is come into my breast,
To witness thine eternal love
And give my spirit rest.”
Other men must bring music from abroad if they have any, but in the
gracious man’s bosom there lives a little bird that sings sweetly to him. He
has a flower in his own garden more sweet than any he could buy in the
market or find in the king’s palace. He may be poor, but still he would not
change his estate in the kingdom of heaven for all the grandeur of the rich.
His joy and peace are not even dependent upon the health of his body, he is
often well in soul when sick as to his flesh; he is frequently full of pain and
yet perfectly satisfied. He may carry about with him an incurable disease
which he knows will shorten and eventually end his life, but he does not
look to this poor life for satisfaction, he carries that within him which
creates immortal joy: the love of God shed abroad in his soul by the Holy
Ghost yields a perfume sweeter than the flowers of Paradise. The
fulfillment of the text is partly found in the fact that the good man is
independent of his surroundings.
And he is also independent of the praise of others. The backslider keeps
easy because the minister thinks well of him and Christian friends think well
of him, but the genuine Christian who is living near to God thinks little of
the verdict of men. What other people think of him is not his chief concern;
he is sure that he is a child of God, he knows he can say, “Abba, Father,”
he glories that for him to live is Christ, and to die is gain, and therefore he
does not need the approbation of others to buoy up his confidence. He runs
alone, and does not need, like a weakly child, to be carried in arms. He
knows whom he has believed, and his heart rests in Jesus; thus he is
satisfied, not from other people and from their judgment, but “from
himself.”
Then, again, the Christian man is content with the well of upbringing water
of life which the Lord has placed within him. There, my brethren, up on the
everlasting hills is the divine reservoir of all-sufficient grace, and down here
in our bosom is a spring which bubbles up unto everlasting life. It has been
welling up in some of us these five and-twenty years, but why is it so? The
grand secret is that there is an unbroken connection between the little
spring within the renewed breast and that vast unfathomed fount of God,
and because of this the well-spring never fails; in summer it still continues
to flow. And now if you ask me it I am dissatisfied with the spring within
my soul which is fed by the all-sufficiency of God, I reply, no, I ant not. If
you could by any possibility cut the connection between my soul and my
Lord I should despair altogether, but as long as none can separate me from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, I am satisfied and at
rest. Like Naphtali we are “satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of
the Lord.”
Faith is in the good man’s heart and he is satisfied with what faith brings
him, for it conveys to him the perfect pardon of his sin. Faith brings him nearer to Christ. Faith brings him adoption into the family of God. Faith
secures him conquest over temptation. Faith procures for him everything
he requires. He finds that by believing he has all the blessings of the
covenant daily to enjoy. Well may he be satisfied with such an enriching
grace. The just shall live by faith.
In addition to faith, he has another filling grace called hope, which reveals
to him the world to come, and gives him assurance that when he falls
asleep he will sleep in Jesus, and that when he awakes he will arise in the
likeness of Jesus. Hope delights him with the promise that his body shall
rise, and that in his flesh he shall see God. This hope of his sets the pearly
gates wide open before him, reveals the streets of gold, and makes kiln
hear the music of the celestial harpers. Surely a man may well be satisfied
with this.
The godly heart is also satisfied with what love brings him; for love though
it seem but a gentle maid, is strong as a giant, and becomes in some
respects the most potent of all the graces. Love first opens wide herself like
the flowers in the sunshine, and drinks in the love of God, and then she
joys in God and begins to sing: —
“I am so glad that Jesus loves me.”
She loves Jesus, and there is such an interchange of delight between the
love of her soul to Christ and the love of Christ to her, that heaven itself
can scarce be sweeter. He who knew this deep mysterious love will be
more than filled with it, he will need to be enlarged to hold the bliss which
it creates. The love of Jesus is known, but yet it passeth knowledge. It fills
the entire man, so that he has no room for the idolatrous love of the
creature, he is satisfied from himself, and asks no other joy.
Beloved, when the good man is enabled by divine grace to live in
obedience to God, he must, as a necessary consequence, enjoy peace of
mind. His hope is alone fixed on Jesus, but a life which evidences his
possession of salvation casts many a sweet ingredient into his cup. He who
takes the yoke of Christ upon him and learns of him finds rest unto his
soul. When we keep his commandments we consciously enjoy his love,
which we could not do if we walked in opposition to his will. To know that
you have acted from a pure motive, to know that you have done the right
is a grand means of full content. What matters the frown of foes or the
prejudice of friends, if the testimony of a good conscience is heard within? We dare not rely upon our own works, neither have we had a desire or
need to do so, for our Lord Jesus has saved us everlastingly; still, “Our
rejoicing is this, the testimony our conscience, that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had
our conversation in the world.”
The Christian needs to maintain unbroken fellowship with Jesus, his Lord,
if he would be good as a soldier of Christ, but if his communion be broken
his satisfaction will depart. If Jesus be within we shall be satisfied from
within, but not else; if our fellowship with him be kept up, and it may be
from day to day, and month to month, and year to year (and why should it
ever be snapped at all), then the satisfaction will continue, and the soul will
continue to be full even to the brim with the bliss which God alone can
give. If we are by the Holy Spirit made to be abundant in labor or patient in
suffering, if, in a word, we resign ourselves fully up to God, we shall find a
fullness of his grace placed within ourselves. An enemy compared some of
us to cracked vessels, and we may humbly accept the description. We do
find it difficult to retain good things, they run away from our leaking
pitchers; but I will tell how a cracked pitcher can be kept continually full.
Put it in the bottom of an ever-flowing river, and it must be full. Even so
though we are leaking and broken, if we abide in the love of Christ we shall
be filled with his fullness. Such an experience is possible; we may be
“Plunged in the Godhead’s deepest sea,
And lost in his immensity,”
Then we shall be full, full to running over; as the Psalmist says “my cup
runneth over.” The man who walls in God’s ways, obediently resting
wholly upon Christ, looking for all his supplies to the great eternal deeps,
that is the man who will be filled, filled with the very things which he has
chosen for his own, filled with those things which are his daily delight and
desire. Well may the faithful believer be filled, for he has eternity to fill him
— The Lord has loved him with an everlasting love; — there is the eternity
past: “The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my
covenant shall not depart from thee” — there is the eternity to come. He
has infinity, yea the infinite One himself, for the Father is his Father, the
Son is his Savior, the Spirit of God dwells within him — the Trinity may
well fill the heart of man. The believer has omnipotence to fill him, for all
power is given unto Christ, and of that power Christ will give to us
according as we have need. Living in Christ and hanging upon him from day to day, beloved, we shall have a “peace of God which passeth all
understanding to keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” May we
enjoy this peace and magnify the name of the Lord for ever and ever.
Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“Jesus Calls Us” by Cecil Frances Alexander, 1818-1895
1. Jesus calls us o’er the tumult
of our life’s wild, restless sea;
day by day his sweet voice soundeth,
saying, “Christian, follow me!”
2. As of old the apostles heard it
by the Galilean lake,
turned from home and toil and kindred,
leaving all for Jesus’ sake.
3. Jesus calls us from the worship
of the vain world’s golden store,
from each idol that would keep us,
saying, “Christian, love me more!”
4. In our joys and in our sorrows,
days of toil and hours of ease,
still he calls, in cares and pleasures,
“Christian, love me more than these!”
5. Jesus calls us! By thy mercies,
Savior, may we hear thy call,
give our hearts to thine obedience,
serve and love thee best of all.

Through the Bible in One Year:
! Samuel 21 to 30
1 David then got up and left, and Jonathan went back to the town.
2 David then went to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came out trembling to meet David and said, ‘Why are you alone? Why is nobody with you?’
3 David replied to Ahimelech the priest, ‘The king has given me an order and said to me, “Do not let anyone know anything about the mission on which I am sending you, or about the order which I have given you.” I have arranged to meet the guards at such and such a place.
4 Meanwhile, if you have five loaves of bread to hand, give them to me, or whatever there is.’
5 The priest replied to David, ‘I have no ordinary bread to hand; there are only consecrated loaves of permanent offering — provided that the men have kept themselves from women?’
6 David replied to the priest, ‘Certainly, women have been forbidden to us, as always when I set off on a campaign. The men’s things are clean. Though this is a profane journey, they are certainly clean today as far as their things are concerned.’
7 The priest then gave him what had been consecrated, for the only bread there was the loaves of permanent offering, which is taken out of Yahweh’s presence, to be replaced by warm bread on the day when it is removed.
8 Now one of Saul’s servants happened to be there that day, detained in Yahweh’s presence; his name was Doeg the Edomite and he was the strongest of Saul’s shepherds.
9 David then said to Ahimelech, ‘Have you no spear or sword here to hand? I did not bring either my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business was urgent.’
10 The priest replied, ‘The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you killed in the Valley of the Terebinth is here, wrapped in a piece of clothing behind the ephod; if you care to take it, do so, for that is the only one here.’ David said, ‘There is nothing like that one; give it to me.’
11 David journeyed on and that day fled out of Saul’s reach, going to Achish king of Gath.
12 Achish’s servants said to him, ‘Is not this David, the king of the country? Was it not of him that they sang as they danced: Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands?’
13 David pondered on these words and became very frightened of Achish king of Gath.
14 When their eyes were on him, he played the madman and, when they held him, he feigned lunacy. He drummed his feet on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.
15 Achish said to his servants, ‘You can see that this man is mad. Why bring him to me?
16 Have I not enough madmen, without your bringing me this one to weary me with his antics? Is he to join my household?’
1 David left there and took refuge in the Cave of Adullam; his brothers and his father’s whole family heard this and joined him there.
2 All those in distress, all those in debt, all those who had a grievance, gathered round him and he became their leader. There were about four hundred men with him.
3 From there David went to Mizpah in Moab and said to the king of Moab, ‘Allow my father and mother to stay with you until I know what God intends to do for me.’
4 He left them with the king of Moab and there they stayed all the time that David was in the stronghold.
5 The prophet Gad, however, said to David, ‘Do not stay in the stronghold; leave and make your way into the territory of Judah.’ David then left and went to the forest of Hereth.
6 When Saul heard that David and the men with him had been discovered, Saul was at Gibeah, seated under the tamarisk on the high place, spear in hand, with all his staff standing round him.
7 ‘Listen, Benjaminites!’ said Saul to them, ‘Is the son of Jesse going to give you all fields and vineyards and make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds
8 that you all conspire against me? No one warned me when my son made a pact with the son of Jesse; none of you felt sorry for me or warned me when my son incited my servant to become my enemy, as he is now.’
9 Then, up spoke Doeg the Edomite, who was in command of Saul’s staff, ‘I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech son of Ahitub.
10 That man consulted Yahweh on his behalf, gave him provisions and also the sword of Goliath the Philistine.’
11 The king then sent for the priest Ahimelech son of Ahitub and his whole family, the priests of Nob; they all came to the king.
12 Saul said, ‘Now listen, son of Ahitub!’ He replied, ‘Here I am, my lord.’
13 ‘Why have you conspired against me,’ said Saul, ‘you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and consulting God on his behalf, for him to rebel against me as is now the case?’
14 Ahimelech replied to the king, ‘Of all those in your service, who is more loyal than David son-in-law to the king, captain of your bodyguard, honoured in your household?
15 Was today the first time I ever consulted God on his behalf? Indeed it was not! The king has no grounds for bringing any charge against his servant or against his whole family, for your servant knew nothing whatever about all this.’
16 The king retorted, ‘You must die, Ahimelech, you and your whole family.’
17 The king said to the scouts who were standing round him, ‘Forward! and put the priests of Yahweh to death, for they too are on David’s side, they knew that he was escaping, yet did not warn me of it.’ The king’s professional soldiers, however, would not lift a hand to strike the priests of Yahweh.
18 The king then said to Doeg, ‘Forward, you! Fall on the priests!’ Doeg the Edomite stepped forward and fell on the priests, himself that day killing eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.
19 Nob, the town of the priests, Saul put to the sword: men and women, children and infants, cattle, donkeys and sheep.
20 One son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub alone escaped. His name was Abiathar, and he fled away to join David.
21 When Abiathar told David that Saul had slaughtered the priests of Yahweh,
22 David said to Abiathar, ‘I knew, that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would be sure to inform Saul. I am responsible for the death of all your kinsmen.
23 Stay with me, do not be afraid, for he who seeks your life seeks mine; you will be safe with me.’
1 News was then brought to David, ‘The Philistines are besieging Keilah and plundering the threshing-floors’.
2 David consulted Yahweh, ‘Shall I go and fight these Philistines?’ Yahweh replied to David, ‘Go and fight the Philistines and save Keilah.’
3 But David’s men said to him, ‘We are already afraid here in Judah; how much more, then, if we go to Keilah to fight the Philistine troops!’
4 So David consulted Yahweh again and Yahweh replied, ‘Be on your way; go down to Keilah, since I shall give the Philistines into your power.’
5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines and carried off their cattle and inflicted a great defeat on them. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
6 When Abiathar son of Ahimelech took refuge with David, he went down to Keilah with the ephod in his hand.
7 When word was brought to Saul that David had gone to Keilah he said, ‘God has delivered him into my power: he has trapped himself by going into a town with gates and bars.’
8 Saul called all the people to arms, to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men.
9 David, however, was aware that Saul was plotting evil against him, and said to Abiathar the priest, ‘Bring the ephod.’
10 David said, ‘Yahweh, God of Israel, your servant has heard that Saul is preparing to come to Keilah and destroy the town because of me.
11 Will Saul come down as your servant has heard? Yahweh, God of Israel, I beg you, let your servant know.’ Yahweh replied, ‘He will come down.’
12 David then went on to ask, ‘Will the notables of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?’ Yahweh replied, ‘They will hand you over.’
13 At this, David made off with his men, about six hundred in number; they left Keilah and went where they could. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he abandoned the expedition.
14 David stayed in the desert, in the strongholds; he stayed in the mountains, in the desert of Ziph; Saul kept looking for him day after day, but God did not deliver him into his power.
15 David was aware that Saul had mounted an expedition to take his life. David was then at Horesh in the desert of Ziph.
16 Jonathan son of Saul set off and went to David at Horesh and encouraged him in the name of God.
17 ‘Do not be afraid,’ he said, ‘for my father Saul’s hand will not reach you. You are to reign over Israel, and I shall be second to you. Saul my father is himself aware of this.’
18 And the two made a pact before Yahweh. David stayed at Horesh and Jonathan went home.
19 Some men from Ziph then went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, ‘Look, David is hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the Hill of Hachilah to the south of the wastelands.
20 Now whenever you wish to go down, my lord king, do so; we shall make it our task to hand him over to the king.’
21 Saul replied, ‘May you be blessed by Yahweh for sympathising with me.
22 Go and make doubly sure, find out exactly what place he frequents, for I have been told that he is very cunning.
23 Take careful note of all the hiding places where he lurks, and come back to me when you are certain. I shall then come with you and, if he is in the country, I shall track him down through every clan in Judah!’
24 Setting off they went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Meanwhile, David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the plain to the south of the wastelands.
25 When Saul and his men set out in search, David was told and went down to the gorge running through the desert of Maon.
26 Saul and his men proceeded along one side of the mountain, David and his men along the other. David was hurrying to escape from Saul, while Saul and his men were trying to cross over to David and his men’s side, to capture them,
27 when a messenger came to Saul and said, ‘Come at once, the Philistines have invaded the country.’
28 So Saul broke off his pursuit of David and went to oppose the Philistines. That is why the place is called the Gorge of Separations.
1 From there David went up and installed himself in the strongholds of En-Gedi.
2 Once Saul was back from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, ‘David is now in the desert of En-Gedi.’
3 Saul thereupon took three thousand men selected from all Israel and went in search of David and his men east of the Rocks of the Mountain Goats.
4 He came to the sheepfolds along the route, where there was a cave, and went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave;
5 David’s men said to him, ‘Today is the day of which Yahweh said to you, “I shall deliver your enemy into your power; do what you like with him.” ‘ David got up and, unobserved, cut off the border of Saul’s cloak.
6 Afterwards David reproached himself for having cut off the border of Saul’s cloak.
7 He said to his men, ‘Yahweh preserve me from doing such a thing to my lord as to raise my hand against him, since he is Yahweh’s anointed.’
8 By these words David restrained his men and would not let them attack Saul.
9 Saul then left the cave and went on his way. After this, David too left the cave and called after Saul, ‘My lord king!’ Saul looked behind him and David, bowing to the ground, prostrated himself.
10 David then said to Saul, ‘Why do you listen to people who say, “David intends your ruin”?
11 This very day you have seen for yourself how Yahweh put you in my power in the cave and how, refusing to kill you, I spared you saying, “I will not raise my hand against my lord, since he is Yahweh’s anointed.”
12 Look, father, look at the border of your cloak in my hand. Since, although I cut the border off your cloak, I did not kill you, surely you realise that I intend neither mischief nor crime. I have not wronged you, and yet you hunt me down to take my life.
13 May Yahweh be judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me on you; but I shall never lay a hand on you!
14 (As the old proverb says: Wickedness comes out of wicked people, but I shall never lay a hand on you!)
15 On whose trail is the king of Israel campaigning? Whom are you pursuing? On the trail of a dead dog, of a flea!
16 May Yahweh be the judge and decide between me and you; may he examine and defend my cause and give judgement for me by rescuing me from your clutches!’
17 When David had finished saying this to Saul, Saul said, ‘Is that your voice, my son David?’ And Saul began to weep aloud.
18 ‘You are upright and I am not,’ he said to David, ‘since you have behaved well to me, whereas I have behaved badly to you.
19 And today you have shown how well you have behaved to me, since Yahweh had put me in your power but you did not kill me.
20 When a man comes on his enemy, does he let him go unmolested? May Yahweh reward you for the good you have done me today!
21 Now I know that you will indeed reign and that the sovereignty in Israel will pass into your hands.
22 Now swear to me by Yahweh that you will not suppress my descendants once I am gone, or blot my name out of my family.’
23 This David swore to Saul, and Saul went home while David and his men went back to the stronghold.
1 Samuel died and all Israel assembled to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. David then set off and went down to the desert of Maon.
2 Now, there was a man in Maon whose business was at Carmel; the man was very rich: he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was then at Carmel, having his sheep shorn.
3 The man’s name was Nabal and his wife’s Abigail. She was a woman of intelligence and beauty, but the man was miserly and churlish. He was a Calebite.
4 When David heard in the desert that Nabal was at his sheepshearing,
5 he sent ten men off, having said to them, ‘Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him from me.
6 And this is what you are to say to my brother, “Peace to you, peace to your family, peace to all that is yours!
7 I hear that you now have the shearers; your shepherds were with us recently: we did not molest them, nor did they lose anything all the while they were at Carmel.
8 Ask your young men and they will tell you. I hope that you will give the men a welcome, coming as we do on a festival. Whatever you have to hand please give to your servants and to your son David.” ‘
9 David’s men went and said all this to Nabal for David, and waited.
10 Nabal retorted to the men in David’s service, ‘Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse?
11 There are many servants nowadays who run away from their masters. Am I to take my bread and my wine and the meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers and give it to men who come from I know not where?’
12 David’s men turned on their heels and went back, and on their arrival told him exactly what had been said.
13 David then said to his men, ‘Every man buckle on his sword!’ And they buckled on their swords, and David buckled on his too; about four hundred followed David while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
14 Now one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife. He said, ‘David sent messengers from the desert to greet our master, but he flared up at them.
15 Now, these men were very good to us; they did not molest us and we lost nothing all the time we had anything to do with them while we were out in the country.
16 Night and day, they were like a rampart to us, all the time we were with them, minding the sheep.
17 So now make up your mind what you should do, for the ruin of our master and his whole family is a certainty, and he is such a brute that no one can say a word to him.’
18 Abigail hastily took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep ready prepared, five measures of roasted grain, a hundred bunches of raisins and two hundred cakes of figs and loaded them on donkeys.
19 She said to her servants, ‘Go on ahead, I shall follow you’ — but she did not tell her husband Nabal.
20 As she was riding her donkey down behind a fold in the mountain, David and his men happened to be coming down in her direction; and she met them.
21 Now, David had decided, ‘It was a waste of time my guarding all this man’s property in the desert so that he lost nothing at all! He has repaid me bad for good.
22 May God bring unnameable ills on David and worse ones, too, if by morning I leave a single manjack alive of all who belong to him!’
23 As soon as Abigail saw David, she quickly dismounted from the donkey and, falling on her face in front of David, prostrated herself on the ground.
24 She fell at his feet and said, ‘Let me take the blame, my lord. Let your servant speak in your ear; listen to what your servant has to say!
25 My lord, please pay no attention to this brute Nabal for his nature is like his name; “Brute” is his name and brutal he is. But I, your servant, did not see the men whom my lord sent.
26 And now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, by Yahweh who kept you from the crime of bloodshed and from taking vengeance with your own hand, may your enemies and all those ill-disposed towards you become like Nabal.
27 As for the present which your servant has brought my lord, I should like this to be given to the men in your service.
28 Please forgive your servant for any offence I have given you, for Yahweh will certainly assure you of a lasting dynasty, since you are fighting Yahweh’s battles and no fault has been found in you throughout your life.
29 Should anyone set out to hunt you down and try to kill you, your life will be kept close in the wallet of life with Yahweh your God, while your enemies’ lives he will fling out of the pouch of the sling.
30 Once Yahweh has done for you all the good things which he has said he will do for you, and made you ruler of Israel,
31 you must have no anxiety, my lord, no remorse, over having wantonly shed blood, over having taken a revenge. When Yahweh has done well by you, then remember your servant.’
32 David said to Abigail, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!
33 Blessed be your wisdom and blessed you yourself for today having restrained me from the crime of bloodshed and from exacting revenge!
34 But as Yahweh, God of Israel, lives, who prevented me from harming you, had you not hurried out to meet me, I swear Nabal would not have had a single manjack left alive by morning!’
35 David then accepted what she had brought him and said, ‘Go home in peace; yes, I have listened to you and have pardoned you.’
36 Abigail returned to Nabal. He was holding a feast, a princely feast, in his house; Nabal was in high spirits, and as he was very drunk she told him nothing at all till it was daylight.
37 In the morning, when Nabal’s wine had left him and his wife told him everything that had happened, his heart died within him and he became like a stone.
38 About ten days later Yahweh struck Nabal, and he died.
39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, ‘Blessed be Yahweh for having defended my cause over the insult which I received from Nabal, and for having restrained his servant from doing wrong! Yahweh has made Nabal’s wickedness rebound on his own head!’
40 David then sent Abigail an offer of marriage. When the men in David’s service came to Abigail at Carmel, they said, ‘David has sent us to take you to him, to be his wife.’
41 She stood up, then prostrated herself on the ground. ‘Consider your servant a slave’, she said, ‘to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.’
42 Quickly Abigail stood up again and mounted a donkey; followed by five of her servant-girls, she followed David’s messengers and became his wife.
43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel and he kept them both as wives.
44 Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, from Gallim.
1 Some men from Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and said, ‘Look, David is hiding on the Hill of Hachilah on the edge of the wastelands!’
2 So Saul set off and went down to the desert of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand picked men of Israel, to search for David in the desert of Ziph.
3 Saul pitched camp on the Hill of Hachilah, which is on the edge of the wastelands near the road. David was then living in the desert and saw that Saul had come after him into the desert.
4 Accordingly, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed arrived.
5 Setting off, David went to the place where Saul had pitched camp. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, commander of his army, had bedded down. Saul had bedded down inside the camp with the troops bivouacking round him.
6 Speaking to Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah and brother of Joab, David said, ‘Who will come down with me to the camp, to Saul?’ Abishai answered, ‘I will go down with you.’
7 So in the dark David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found Saul lying asleep inside the camp, his spear stuck in the ground beside his head, with Abner and the troops lying round him.
8 Abishai then said to David, ‘Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I shall not need to strike him twice.’
9 David said to Abishai, ‘Do not kill him, for who could raise his hand against Yahweh’s anointed and go unpunished?
10 As Yahweh lives,’ David said, ‘Yahweh himself will strike him down: either the day will come for him to die, or he will go into battle and perish then.
11 Yahweh forbid that I should raise my hand against Yahweh’s anointed! But now let us take the spear beside his head and the pitcher of water, and let us go away.’
12 David took the spear and the pitcher of water from beside Saul’s head, and they made off. No one saw, no one knew, no one woke up; they were all asleep, because a torpor from Yahweh had fallen on them.
13 David crossed to the other side and halted on the top of the mountain a long way off; there was a wide space between them.
14 David then called out to the troops and to Abner son of Ner, ‘Abner, why don’t you answer?’ Abner replied, ‘Who is that calling?’
15 David said to Abner, ‘Are you not a man? Who is your equal in Israel? Why, then, did you not guard the king your lord? One of the people came to kill the king your lord.
16 What you did was not well done. As Yahweh lives, you all deserve to die since you did not guard your lord, Yahweh’s anointed. Look where the king’s spear is now, and the pitcher of water which was beside his head!’
17 Recognising David’s voice, Saul said, ‘Is that your voice, my son David?’ David replied, ‘It is my voice, my lord king.
18 Why is my lord pursuing his servant?’ he said. ‘What have I done? What crime have I committed?
19 May my lord king now listen to his servant’s words: if Yahweh has incited you against me, may he be appeased with an offering; but if human beings have done it, may they be accursed before Yahweh, since they have as effectively banished me today from sharing in Yahweh’s heritage as if they had said, “Go and serve other gods!”
20 So I pray now that my blood shall not be shed on soil remote from Yahweh’s presence, when the king of Israel has mounted an expedition to take my life, as one might hunt a partridge in the mountains!’
21 Saul replied, ‘I have done wrong! Come back, my son David; I shall never harm you again, since today you have shown respect for my life. Yes, I have behaved like a fool, I have been profoundly in the wrong.’
22 In reply, David said, ‘Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the men come across and get it.
23 May Yahweh reward each as each has been upright and loyal. Today Yahweh put you in my power but I would not raise my hand against Yahweh’s anointed.
24 As today I set great value by your life, so may Yahweh set great value by my life and deliver me from every tribulation!’
25 Saul then said, ‘May you be blessed, my son David! In what you undertake, you will certainly succeed.’ David then went on his way and Saul returned home.
1 ‘One of these days,’ David thought, ‘I shall perish at the hand of Saul. The best thing that I can do is to get away into the country of the Philistines; then Saul will give up tracking me through the length and breadth of Israel and I shall be safe from him.’
2 So David set off and went over, he and his six hundred men, to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3 He settled at Gath with Achish, he and his men, each with his family and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel.
4 When news reached Saul that David had fled to Gath, he stopped searching for him.
5 David said to Achish, ‘If I have won your favour, let me be given a place in one of the outlying towns, where I can live. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?’
6 That very day Achish gave him Ziklag; and this is why Ziklag has been the property of the kings of Judah to the present day.
7 The time that David stayed in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.
8 David and his men went out on raids against the Geshurites, Girzites and Amalekites, for these are the tribes inhabiting the region which, from Telam, goes in the direction of Shur, as far as Egypt.
9 David laid the countryside waste and left neither man nor woman alive; he carried off the sheep and cattle, the donkeys, camels and clothing, and then came back again to Achish.
10 Achish would ask, ‘Where did you go raiding today?’ David would reply, ‘Against the Negeb of Judah,’ or ‘the Negeb of Jerahmeel,’ or ‘the Negeb of the Kenites.’
11 David spared neither man nor woman to bring back alive to Gath, ‘in case’, as he thought, ‘they inform on us and say, “David did such and such.” ‘ This was the way David conducted his raids all the time he stayed in Philistine territory.
12 Achish trusted David. ‘He has made himself detested by his own people Israel,’ he thought, ‘and so will be my servant for ever.’
1 It then happened that the Philistines mustered their forces for war, to fight Israel, and Achish said to David, ‘It is understood that you and your men go into battle with me.’
2 David said to Achish, ‘In that case, you will soon see what your servant can do.’ Achish replied to David, ‘Right, I shall appoint you as my permanent bodyguard.’
3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him at Ramah, his own town. Saul had expelled the necromancers and wizards from the country.
4 Meanwhile the Philistines had mustered and had come and pitched camp at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and they encamped at Gilboa.
5 When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he was afraid and his heart trembled violently.
6 Saul consulted Yahweh, but Yahweh gave him no answer, either by dream, divination or prophet.
7 Saul then said to his servants, ‘Find a necromancer for me, so that I can go and consult her.’ His servants replied, ‘There is a necromancer at En-Dor.’
8 And so Saul, disguising himself and changing his clothes, set out accompanied by two men; their visit to the woman took place at night. ‘Disclose the future to me’, he said, ‘by means of a ghost. Conjure up the one I shall name to you.’
9 The woman replied, ‘Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has outlawed necromancers and wizards from the country; why are you setting a trap for my life, then, to have me killed?’
10 But Saul swore to her by Yahweh, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ he said, ‘no blame shall attach to you for this business.’
11 The woman asked, ‘Whom shall I conjure up for you?’ He replied, ‘Conjure up Samuel.’
12 The woman then saw Samuel and, giving a great cry, she said to Saul, ‘Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!’
13 The king said, ‘Do not be afraid! What do you see?’ The woman replied to Saul, ‘I see a ghost rising from the earth.’
14 ‘What is he like?’ he asked. She replied, ‘It is an old man coming up; he is wrapped in a cloak.’ Saul then knew that it was Samuel and, bowing to the ground, prostrated himself.
15 Samuel said to Saul, ‘Why have you disturbed my rest by conjuring me up?’ Saul replied, ‘I am in great distress; the Philistines are waging war on me, and God has abandoned me and no longer answers me either by prophet or by dream; and so I have summoned you to tell me what I ought to do.’
16 Samuel said, ‘Why consult me, when Yahweh has abandoned you and has become your enemy?
17 Yahweh has treated you as he foretold through me; he has snatched the sovereignty from your hand and given it to your neighbour, David,
18 because you disobeyed Yahweh’s voice and did not execute his fierce anger against Amalek. That is why Yahweh is treating you like this today.
19 What is more, Yahweh will deliver Israel and you too, into the power of the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me; and Yahweh will hand over the army of Israel into the power of the Philistines.’
20 Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground. He was terrified by what Samuel had said and was also weak from having eaten nothing all that day and night.
21 The woman went to Saul and, seeing his terror, said, ‘Look, your servant has obeyed your order; I have taken my life in my hands and obeyed the command which you gave me.
22 Now please, you in your turn listen to what your servant has to say. Let me offer you a piece of bread. Eat something and get some strength for your journey.’
23 But he refused. ‘I will not eat,’ he said. His servants however pressed him, and so did the woman. Allowing himself to be persuaded by them, he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.
24 The woman owned a fattened calf which she quickly slaughtered, and she took some flour and kneaded it and with it baked some unleavened cakes
25 which she served to Saul and his servants; they ate, and then set off and left the same night.
1 The Philistines mustered all their forces at Aphek while the Israelites pitched camp near the spring in Jezreel.
2 The Philistine commanders marched past with their hundreds and their thousands, and David and his men brought up the rear with Achish.
3 The Philistine chiefs asked, ‘What are these Hebrews doing?’ Achish replied to them, ‘Why, this is David the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me for the last year or two. I have had no fault to find with him from the day he gave himself up to me until the present time.’
4 But the Philistine chiefs were angry with him. ‘Send the man back,’ they said, ‘make him go back to the place which you assigned to him. He cannot go into battle with us, in case he turns on us once battle is joined. Would there be a better way for the man to regain his master’s favour than with the heads of these men here?
5 Is not this the David of whom they sang as they danced: Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?
6 So Achish called David and said, ‘As Yahweh lives, you are loyal, and I am quite content with all your doings in our campaigning together, since I have found no fault with you from the day you came to me until the present time. But you are not acceptable to the chiefs.
7 So go home, in peace, rather than antagonise them.’
8 ‘But what have I done,’ David asked Achish, ‘what fault have you had to find with your servant from the day I entered your service to the present time, for me not to be allowed to go and fight the enemies of my lord the king?’
9 In reply, Achish said to David, ‘In my opinion, it is true, you are as good as an angel of God; but the Philistine chiefs have said, “He must not go into battle with us.”
10 So get up early tomorrow morning, with your master’s servants who came with you, and go to the place which I assigned to you. Do not harbour resentment, since personally I have no fault to find with you. Get up early tomorrow morning and, as soon as it is light, be off.’
11 So David and his men got up early to leave at dawn and go back to Philistine territory. And the Philistines marched on Jezreel.
1 Now by the time David and his men reached Ziklag three days later, the Amalekites had raided the Negeb and Ziklag; they had sacked Ziklag and burnt it down.
2 They had taken the women prisoner, and everyone who was there, both small and great. They had not killed anyone, but had carried them off and gone away.
3 When David and his men arrived, they found the town burnt down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.
4 Then David and the people with him wept aloud till they were too weak to weep any more.
5 David’s two wives had been captured: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail widow of Nabal of Carmel.
6 David was in great trouble, since the people were talking of stoning him; the people all felt very bitter, each man for his own sons and daughters. But David took courage from Yahweh his God.
7 To the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, David said, ‘Bring me the ephod.’ Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
8 David then consulted Yahweh, ‘Shall I go in pursuit of these raiders? Will I overtake them?’ The answer was, ‘Go in pursuit; you will certainly overtake them and rescue the captives.’
9 David accordingly set off with the six hundred men who were with him and reached the torrent of Besor.
10 David then continued the pursuit with four hundred men, two hundred staying behind who were too exhausted to cross the torrent of Besor.
11 Out in the country they found an Egyptian and brought him to David. They gave him some bread to eat and some water to drink;
12 they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two bunches of raisins; he ate these and his spirits revived — he had had nothing to eat or drink for three days and three nights.
13 David then said to him, ‘Whose man are you and where do you come from?’ He replied, ‘I am a young Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite; my master abandoned me because I fell sick three days ago.
14 We raided the Negeb of the Cherethites, and the Negeb of Judah, and the Negeb of Caleb too, and we burnt Ziklag down.’
15 David said, ‘Will you guide me to these raiders?’ He replied, ‘Swear to me by God not to kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will guide you to these raiders.’
16 He guided him to them, and there they were, scattered over the whole countryside, eating, drinking and celebrating, on account of the enormous booty which they had brought back from the territory of the Philistines and the territory of Judah.
17 David slaughtered them from dawn until the evening of the following day. No one escaped, except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled.
18 He rescued everything that the Amalekites had taken — David also rescued his two wives.
19 Nothing of theirs was lost, whether small or great, from the booty or sons and daughters — everything that had been taken from them; David recovered everything.
20 They captured the flocks and herds as well and drove them in front of him. ‘This is David’s booty,’ they shouted.
21 When David reached the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and whom he had left at the torrent of Besor, they came out to meet David and the party accompanying him; David approached with his party and greeted them.
22 But all the rogues and scoundrels among the men who had gone with David began saying, ‘Since they did not go with us, we shall not give them any of the booty which we have rescued, except that each of them can have his wife and children. Let them take them away and be off.’
23 But David said, ‘Do not behave like this, brothers, with what Yahweh has given us; he has protected us and has handed over to us the raiders who attacked us.
24 Who would agree with you on this? No: As the share of the man who goes into battle, so is the share of the man who stays with the baggage. They will share alike.’
25 And from that day on, he made that a rule and custom for Israel, which obtains to the present day.
26 When David reached Ziklag, he sent parts of the booty to the elders of Judah, town by town, with this message, ‘Here is a present for you, taken from the booty of Yahweh’s enemies’:
27 to those in Bethel, to those in Ramoth of the Negeb,
28 to those in Jattir, to those in Aroer, to those in Siphmoth, to those in Eshtemoa,
29 to those in Carmel, to those in the towns of Jerahmeel, to those in the towns of the Kenites,
30 to those in Hormah, to those in Borashan, to those in Athach,
31 to those in Hebron and to all the places which David and his men had frequented.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Monday, January 30, 2012:
Psalm 56
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'The oppression of distant princes' Of David In a quiet voice When the Philistines seized him in Gath] Take pity on me, God, as they harry me, pressing their attacks home all day.
2 Those who harry me lie in wait for me all day, countless are those who attack me from the heights.
3 When I am afraid, I put my trust in you,
4 in God, whose word I praise, in God I put my trust and have no fear, what power has human strength over me?
5 All day long they carp at my words, their only thought is to harm me,
6 they gather together, lie in wait and spy on my movements, as though determined to take my life.
7 Because of this crime reject them, in your anger, God, strike down the nations.
8 You yourself have counted up my sorrows, collect my tears in your wineskin.
9 Then my enemies will turn back on the day when I call. This I know, that God is on my side.
10 In God whose word I praise, in Yahweh whose word I praise,
11 in God I put my trust and have no fear; what can mortal man do to me?
12 I am bound by the vows I have made, God, I will pay you the debt of thanks,
13 for you have saved my life from death to walk in the presence of God, in the light of the living.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 57
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'Do not destroy' Of David In a quiet voice When he escaped from Saul in the cave] Take pity on me, God, take pity on me, for in you I take refuge, in the shadow of your wings I take refuge, until the destruction is past.
2 I call to God the Most High, to God who has done everything for me;
3 may he send from heaven and save me, and check those who harry me;Pause may God send his faithful love and his constancy.
4 I lie surrounded by lions, greedy for human prey, their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongue a sharp sword.
5 Be exalted above the heavens, God! Your glory over all the earth!
6 They laid a snare in my path — I was bowed with care — they dug a pit ahead of me, but fell in it themselves.Pause
7 My heart is ready, God, my heart is ready; I will sing, and make music for you.
8 Awake, my glory, awake, lyre and harp, that I may awake the Dawn.
9 I will praise you among the peoples, Lord, I will make music for you among nations,
10 for your faithful love towers to heaven, your constancy to the clouds.
11 Be exalted above the heavens, God! Your glory over all the earth!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 58
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'Do not destroy' Of David In a quiet voice] Divine as you are, do you truly give upright verdicts? do you judge fairly the children of Adam?
2 No! You devise injustice in your hearts, and with your hands you administer tyranny on the earth.
3 Since the womb they have gone astray, the wicked, on the wrong path since their birth, with their unjust verdicts.
4 They are poisonous as any snake, deaf as an adder that blocks its ears
5 so as not to hear the magician’s music, however skilful his spells.
6 God, break the teeth in their mouths, snap off the fangs of these young lions, Yahweh.
7 May they drain away like water running to waste, may they wither like trampled grass,
8 like the slug that melts as it moves or a still-born child that never sees the sun.
9 Before they sprout thorns like the bramble, green or burnt up, may retribution whirl them away.
10 The upright will rejoice to see vengeance done, and will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 ‘So’, people will say, ‘the upright does have a reward; there is a God to dispense justice on earth.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 64
1 [For the choirmaster Psalm Of David] Listen, God, to my voice as I plead, protect my life from fear of the enemy;
2 hide me from the league of the wicked, from the gang of evil-doers.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a sword, aim their arrows of poisonous abuse,
4 shoot at the innocent from cover, shoot suddenly, with nothing to fear.
5 They support each other in their evil designs, they discuss how to lay their snares. ‘Who will see us?’ they say,
6 ‘or will penetrate our secrets?’ He will do that, he who penetrates human nature to its depths, the depths of the heart.
7 God has shot them with his arrow, sudden were their wounds.
8 He brings them down because of their tongue, and all who see them shake their heads.
9 Everyone will be awestruck, proclaim what God has done, and understand why he has done it.
10 The upright will rejoice in Yahweh, will take refuge in him, and all the honest will praise him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 65
1 [For the choirmaster Psalm Of David Song] Praise is rightfully yours, God, in Zion. Vows to you shall be fulfilled,
2 for you answer prayer. All humanity must come to you
3 with its sinful deeds. Our faults overwhelm us, but you blot them out.
4 How blessed those whom you choose and invite to dwell in your courts. We shall be filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.
5 You respond to us with the marvels of your saving justice, God our Saviour, hope of the whole wide world, even the distant islands.
6 By your strength you hold the mountains steady, being clothed in power,
7 you calm the turmoil of the seas, the turmoil of their waves. The nations are in uproar, in panic those who live at the ends of the earth;
8 your miracles bring shouts of joy to the gateways of morning and evening.
9 You visit the earth and make it fruitful, you fill it with riches; the river of God brims over with water, you provide the grain. To that end
10 you water its furrows abundantly, level its ridges, soften it with showers and bless its shoots.
11 You crown the year with your generosity, richness seeps from your tracks,
12 the pastures of the desert grow moist, the hillsides are wrapped in joy,
13 the meadows are covered with flocks, the valleys clothed with wheat; they shout and sing for joy.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 19:1-29
1 When the two angels reached Sodom in the evening, Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. As soon as Lot saw them, he stood up to greet them, and bowed to the ground.
2 ‘My lords,’ he said, ‘please come down to your servant’s house to stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can make an early start on your journey.’ ‘No,’ they said, ‘we shall spend the night in the square.’
3 But he pressed them so much that they went home with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking unleavened bread, and they had supper.
4 They had not gone to bed when the house was surrounded by the townspeople, the men of Sodom both young and old, all the people without exception.
5 Calling out to Lot they said, ‘Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so that we can have intercourse with them.’
6 Lot came out to them at the door and, having shut the door behind him,
7 said, ‘Please, brothers, do not be wicked.
8 Look, I have two daughters who are virgins. I am ready to send them out to you, for you to treat as you please, but do nothing to these men since they are now under the protection of my roof.’
9 But they retorted, ‘Stand back! This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge. Now we shall treat you worse than them.’ Then they forced Lot back and moved forward to break down the door.
10 But the men reached out, pulled Lot back into the house with them, and shut the door.
11 And they dazzled those who were at the door of the house, one and all, with a blinding light, so that they could not find the doorway.
12 The men said to Lot, ‘Have you anyone else here? Your sons, your daughters and all your people in the city, take them away,
13 for we are about to destroy this place, since the outcry to Yahweh against those in it has grown so loud that Yahweh has sent us to destroy it.’
14 So Lot went off and spoke to his future sons-in-law who were to marry his daughters. ‘On your feet!’ he said, ‘Leave this place, for Yahweh is about to destroy the city.’ But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.
15 When dawn broke the angels urged Lot on, ‘To your feet! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.’
16 And as he hesitated, the men seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters — Yahweh being merciful to him — and led him out and left him outside the city.
17 When they had brought him outside, he was told, ‘Flee for your life. Do not look behind you or stop anywhere on the plain. Flee to the hills or you will be swept away.’
18 ‘Oh no, my lord!’ Lot said to them,
19 ‘You have already been very good to your servant and shown me even greater love by saving my life, but I cannot flee to the hills, or disaster will overtake me and I shall die.
20 That town over there is near enough to flee to, and is small. Let me flee there-after all it is only a small place — and so survive.’
21 He replied, ‘I grant you this favour too, and will not overthrow the town you speak of.
22 Hurry, flee to that one, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.’ That is why the town is named Zoar.
23 The sun rose over the horizon just as Lot was entering Zoar.
24 Then Yahweh rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire of his own sending.
25 He overthrew those cities and the whole plain, with all the people living in the cities and everything that grew there.
26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and was turned into a pillar of salt.
27 Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before Yahweh,
28 and looking towards Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole area of the plain, he saw the smoke rising from the ground like smoke from a furnace.
29 Thus it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he did not forget Abraham and he rescued Lot from the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities where Lot was living.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 11:1-12
1 Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for, or prove the existence of realities that are unseen.
2 It is for their faith that our ancestors are acknowledged.
3 It is by faith that we understand that the ages were created by a word from God, so that from the invisible the visible world came to be.
4 It was because of his faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, and for that he was acknowledged as upright when God himself made acknowledgement of his offerings. Though he is dead, he still speaks by faith.
5 It was because of his faith that Enoch was taken up and did not experience death: he was no more, because God took him; because before his assumption he was acknowledged to have pleased God.
6 Now it is impossible to please God without faith, since anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and rewards those who seek him.
7 It was through his faith that Noah, when he had been warned by God of something that had never been seen before, took care to build an ark to save his family. His faith was a judgement on the world, and he was able to claim the uprightness which comes from faith.
8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he sojourned in the Promised Land as though it were not his, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10 He looked forward to the well-founded city, designed and built by God.
11 It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise was faithful to it.
12 Because of this, there came from one man, and one who already had the mark of death on him, descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore which cannot be counted.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 6:27-40
27 Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.
28 Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to carry out God’s work?’
29 Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is carrying out God’s work: you must believe in the one he has sent.’
30 So they said, ‘What sign will you yourself do, the sight of which will make us believe in you? What work will you do?
31 Our fathers ate manna in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’
32 Jesus answered them: In all truth I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread;
33 for the bread of God is the bread which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
34 ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘give us that bread always.’
35 Jesus answered them: I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever hunger; no one who believes in me will ever thirst.
36 But, as I have told you, you can see me and still you do not believe.
37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me; I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to me,
38 because I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 Now the will of him who sent me is that I should lose nothing of all that he has given to me, but that I should raise it up on the last day.
40 It is my Father’s will that whoever sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise that person up on the last day.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 15:13–14,30
13 A messenger came and told David, ‘The men of Israel have shifted their allegiance to Absalom.’
14 David said to all his retinue then with him in Jerusalem, ‘Up, let us flee, or we shall not escape from Absalom! Leave as quickly as you can, in case he mounts a sudden attack, overcomes us and puts the city to the sword.’
30 David then made his way up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, his head covered and his feet bare. And all the people with him had their heads covered and made their way up, weeping as they went.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 16:5–14
5 As David was reaching Bahurim, out came a man of the same clan as Saul’s family. His name was Shimei son of Gera and, as he came, he uttered curse after curse
6 and threw stones at David and at all King David’s retinue, even though the whole army and all the champions formed an escort round the king on either side.
7 The words of his curse were these, ‘Off with you, off with you, man of blood, scoundrel!
8 Yahweh has paid you back for all the spilt blood of the House of Saul whose sovereignty you have usurped; and Yahweh has transferred the sovereign power to Absalom your son. Now your wickedness has overtaken you, man of blood that you are.’
9 Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, ‘Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut his head off.’
10 But the king replied, ‘What concern is my business to you, sons of Zeruiah? Let him curse! If Yahweh has said to him, “Curse David!” what right has anyone to say, “Why have you done so?” ‘
11 David said to Abishai and all his retinue, ‘Why, the son sprung from my own body is now seeking my life; all the more reason for this Benjaminite to do so! Let him curse on, if Yahweh has told him to!
12 Perhaps Yahweh will look on my wretchedness and will repay me with good for his curses today.’
13 So David and his men went on their way, and Shimei kept pace with him along the opposite mountainside, cursing as he went, throwing stones and flinging dust.
14 The king and all the people who were with him arrived exhausted at . . . . . . and there they drew breath.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 3
1 [Psalm Of David When he was fleeing from his son Absalom] Yahweh, how countless are my enemies, how countless those who rise up against me,
2 how countless those who say of me, ‘No salvation for him from his God!’Pause
3 But you, Yahweh, the shield at my side, my glory, you hold my head high.
4 I cry out to Yahweh; he answers from his holy mountain.Pause
5 As for me, if I lie down and sleep, I shall awake, for Yahweh sustains me.
6 I have no fear of people in their thousands upon thousands, who range themselves against me wherever I turn.
7 Arise, Yahweh, rescue me, my God! You strike all my foes across the face, you break the teeth of the wicked.
8 In Yahweh is salvation, on your people, your blessing!Pause(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 5:1–20
1 They reached the territory of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake,
2 and when he disembarked, a man with an unclean spirit at once came out from the tombs towards him.
3 The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain,
4 because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him.
5 All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones.
6 Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet
7 and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? In God’s name do not torture me!’
8 For Jesus had been saying to him, ‘Come out of the man, unclean spirit.’
9 Then he asked, ‘What is your name?’ He answered, ‘My name is Legion, for there are many of us.’
10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district.
11 Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding,
12 and the unclean spirits begged him, ‘Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.’
13 So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of about two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned.
14 The men looking after them ran off and told their story in the city and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened.
15 They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there — the man who had had the legion in him — properly dressed and in his full senses, and they were afraid.
16 And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs.
17 Then they began to implore Jesus to leave their neighbourhood.
18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him.
19 Jesus would not let him but said to him, ‘Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.’
20 So the man went off and proceeded to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Monday, 30 January 2012
Monday of the Fourth week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Bathildes, Queen (c. 634-680)
Commentary of the day:
Blessed Charles de Foucauld (1858-1916), hermit and missionary in the Sahara
Meditations on the Gospels, no.194
“As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed pleaded to remain with him. But he would not permit him.”
The only true perfection is not that we should be leading this or that lifestyle but doing God’s will; it is to lead the kind of life that God wants, where he wants, and to lead it as he would have done himself. When he leaves the choice to us then, yes, let us try to follow him as closely as possible, step by step, to share in his life just as his apostles did both during his life and after his death. Love presses us on to such imitation. If God leaves this choice, this freedom to us then it is precisely because he wants us to trim our sails to the breeze of pure love so that, blown on by it, we might «run after him in the odour of his fragrance» (Sg 1,4 LXX) in perfect imitation as Saint Peter and Saint Paul did…
And if one day God wishes to take us out of this beautiful and perfect way, whether for a while or for always, let us not be troubled or surprised. His designs are without fathoming. He can do for us, in the middle or at the end of the course, what he did for the Gerasene at the beginning. Let us obey him, let us do his will…, let us go wherever he wishes and lead the kind of life his will purposes for us. But let us everywhere draw close to him with all our might and, in every state, in every condition, let us be as he would have been and acted if his Father’s will had placed him as it has placed us.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His HIghest
Reading for Monday 30th January 2012
THE DILEMMA OF OBEDIENCE by Oswald Chambers
And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.(1 Samuel 3:15)
God never speaks to us in startling ways, but in ways that are easy to misunderstand, and we say, “I wonder if that is God’s voice?” Isaiah said that the Lord spake to him “with a strong hand,” that is, by the pressure of circumstances. Nothing touches our lives but it is God Himself speaking. Do we discern His hand or only mere occurrence?
Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, “Speak, Lord”; make time to listen. Chastening is more than a means of discipline, it is meant to get me to the place of saying, “Speak, Lord.” Recall the time when God did speak to you. Have you forgotten what He said? Was it Luke 11:13, or was it 1 Thess. 5:23? As we listen, our ear gets acute, and, like Jesus, we shall hear God all the time.
Shall I tell my “Eli” what God has shown to me? That is where the dilemma of obedience comes in. We disobey God by becoming amateur providences – I must shield “Eli,” the best people we know. God did not tell Samuel to tell Eli; he had to decide that for himself. God’s call to you may hurt your “Eli;” but if you try to prevent the suffering in another life, it will prove an obstruction between your soul and God. It is at your own peril that you prevent the cutting off of the right hand or the plucking out of the eye.
Never ask the advice of another about anything God makes you decide before Him. If you ask advice, you will nearly always side with Satan. “Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”

Reflecting God-Green With Envy
Monday, January 30, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 73:1-12
1 [Psalm Of Asaph] Indeed God is good to Israel, the Lord to those who are pure of heart.
2 My feet were on the point of stumbling, a little more and I had slipped,
3 envying the arrogant as I did, and seeing the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For them no such thing as pain, untroubled, their comfortable portliness;
5 exempt from the cares which are the human lot, they have no part in Adam’s afflictions.
6 So pride is a necklace to them, violence the garment they wear.
7 From their fat oozes out malice, their hearts drip with cunning.
8 Cynically they advocate evil, loftily they advocate force.
9 Their mouth claims heaven for themselves, and their tongue is never still on earth.
10 That is why my people turn to them, and enjoy the waters of plenty,
11 saying, ‘How can God know? What knowledge can the Most High have?’
12 That is what the wicked are like, piling up wealth without any worries.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Green With Envy by Ed Forster
Eny is quite often described as being green. It is a most sickly green, indeed. Being envious can even make us ill. It’s one of life’s heaviest burdens to carry.
The temptation to continually compare what we have with what others have can become an obsession. It can also lead us to be judgmental of others, causing us to believe that they are evil and less worthy to have the things they have than we would be to have them.
The psalmist reflects on what th wicked have and also on the burdens they seemingly do not have. These reflections cause him to be discontented in his spirit. His comparisons cause him to lose focus on the goodness of God which he had affirmed at the beginning of the psalm, “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (Psalm 73:1).
The clouded vision which envy brings can lead to our downfall, especially if we take actions based on our own wrong assumptions and our jealousy. Having a spirit of gratefulness to God gives us wonderful contentment and it spares us the miseries that being envious can bring our way.
Hymn for Today:
“Pass Me Not” by Fanny J. Crosby
1. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
2. Let me at thy throne of mercy
find a sweet relief,
kneeling there in deep contrition;
help my unbelief.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
3. Trusting only in thy merit,
would I seek thy face;
heal my wounded, broken spirit,
save me by thy grace.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
4. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me,
whom have I on earth beside thee?
Whom in heaven but thee?
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
2nd Thought for Today:
“While we have little reason for confidence in ourselves, we can always count on God”(Neil B. Wiseman).
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in Iraq.

3rd Thought for Today:
Sunday January 29, 2012
Healing Our Memories
Forgiving does not mean forgetting. When we forgive a person, the memory of the wound might stay with us for a long time, even throughout our lives. Sometimes we carry the memory in our bodies as a visible sign. But forgiveness changes the way we remember. It converts the curse into a blessing. When we forgive our parents for their divorce, our children for their lack of attention, our friends for their unfaithfulness in crisis, our doctors for their ill advice, we no longer have to experience ourselves as the victims of events we had no control over.
Forgiveness allows us to claim our own power and not let these events destroy us; it enables them to become events that deepen the wisdom of our hearts. Forgiveness indeed heals memories. by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

ALBAN Weekly for Monday, January 30, 2012
A Question of Growth by Stephen Chapin Garner , Jerry Thornell
Cultivating a lively community of faith is not rocket science or brain surgery. I am well aware that people attend church for some very basic reasons. People go to church to hear a consistent word—sermons are as essential to the life of a church today as they have ever been. People go to church because they love the music—faith has been powerfully conveyed through song and stanza for generations. People go to church because their children are well taken care of—they receive assistance passing on the Christian tra­dition within their families. Dynamic sermons, music, and chil­dren’s programming can certainly propel growth. With only one of these components in place, a community can experience increase. In truth, it would be hard to avoid growth if a community had all three working together.
But what propels exponential growth? What allows a church to grow out of a staid and stable program-based model of ministry into a transformative, life-altering community of believers? How does new and innovative ministry take hold within a community whose historical strength has been its resistance to change and its ability to endure against all odds? I did not know, but after only a couple of years into my pastorate at the United Church of Christ Norwell I began to witness a pattern of growth that was as surprising as it was unsettling. We seemed to be growing in spite of ourselves, and in the most unplanned of ways . . . and I suspect that deep down I was still hoping for an approach to church growth that involved following a list of well-defined steps toward success.
Over the last decade, we at UCC Norwell have engaged in nu­merous visioning processes, and none of them have turned out the way we had imagined they would. We would pull together a task force to address some issue of concern, meetings would be held for weeks on end, recommendations would be generated and presented to the church, resolutions would be voted on, and new programs and structures would be put into place, only to discover that we missed the mark and growth was occurring in an entirely different location than that which we had expected.
One of the earliest examples of this frustratingly wonderful pattern occurred within the first couple of years we spent work­ing together. I had been working with the Alban Institute in an effort to gain clarity about the dearth of young clergy in mainline Protestant denominations. After gathering statistics from across the country, we confirmed that the lack of young people enter­ing ministry in mainline denominations threatened the long-term health and viability of our brand of church. The math was as sim­ple as it was disheartening. The trickle of young clergy entering pastoral ministry could not meet the great wave of ministerial re­tirements that could be anticipated on the horizon. Even with an increased number of second-career pastors, the impending pasto­ral vacancies were going to dwarf the pool of available applicants.
Armed with this irrefutable evidence of the demise the church I loved, I convinced UCC Norwell that we needed to begin to pre­pare ourselves to be a church without clergy. Even though I be­lieved we were still ahead of the curve by a few years, we needed to get the church ready for the impending clergy crisis. We began by convening a task force to examine how we could more fully estab­lish ourselves as a lay-led congregation. The result of an extensive period of discernment was to establish a new model for pastoral ministry that deemphasized the role of ordained clergy. No lon­ger was the program life of the church going to be created and driven by professional religious leaders. If a program was going to be implemented in the life of our church, it needed to be generated by the efforts and initiative of church members. Pastors were no longer to engage in ministry unless they were helping to train lay members for the ministerial tasks before them.
We created a Teaching Pastorate model for ministry that stressed preparing the laity to take on the work of the church. The idea was expansive. Fully implemented, the people of the church would do the pastoral care, the teaching of children and adults, the preaching and worship leadership, and the visioning of the future. We didn’t plan to make immediate and radical adjustments, but we knew we needed to slowly shift aspects of pastoral ministry to the laity. For example, the members of the church wanted a compre­hensive adult education program that the church had never really established before. Our pastoral staff could have simply jumped in and started offering classes. However, with the desire to have the laity lead, we created an adult Christian education ministry team that, with a modest amount of pastoral support, would de­sign, promote, and teach the educational offerings for our adults. Within a relatively short period, we not only increased the number of lay members in leadership roles, but we also took a gigantic leap forward in the number of adult educational offerings we provided for the congregation. The energy the new group possessed was im­pressive, and it was clear they not only appreciated how they had been empowered to engage in ministry, but they also stepped up and did amazing work—work many trained pastors would not be capable of achieving.
Efforts like this were made with the intention of crafting a community that could one day move forward without having the need of professional clergy. It was a compelling idea. We were al­ready seeing signs that strong lay leadership could replace pastoral leadership in certain instances. We seemed to be on our way to being a church that could thrive without clergy. That had been the plan and we were prepared to make an attempt to implement it. However, that was when the Holy Spirit began to upend our plans.
Soon thereafter, church members began making appointments with me to talk about the possibility of entering seminary. One af­ter another, church members were sensing a call to pastoral min­istry. In a period of four years we sent seven church members to seminary. We had set out to create a model for ministry that would allow the church to survive without clergy, and we unwittingly cre­ated a model of ministry that prompted people to choose to pursue pastoral ministry as a career. We had a plan, we had a goal, we had an end result in mind, and our efforts had an effect that we never intended. In an attempt to create a clergy-free church, we wound up creating clergy that are now serving local churches in our area.
So many times in UCC Norwell’s ministry together we have done what we believed to be faithful discernment—we set our sights on a goal, we began our work, only to have the Holy Spirit produce growth in an entirely different direction than we intend­ed. It has happened with such frequency that I have begun to think that any attempt to be strategic in the life of the church is fraught with peril. And yet, perhaps the effort to grow, no matter how mis­guided, uniquely opens us up to the possibility and potential of the Holy Spirit. When we give the Spirit an opening to work in our churches, that is when growth takes root even in the most unex­pected of ways. To this day, I am amazed at how getting it wrong has turned out to be just right.
__________________________________________________________
Excerpted and adapted from Scattering Seeds: Cultivating Church Vitality by Stephen Chapin Garner with Jerry Thornell, copyright © 2012 by the Alban Institute. All rights reserved.
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The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Monday, January 30, 2012
God Is Able
Suggested Bible Study:
Read 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
1 Now when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with any brilliance of oratory or wise argument to announce to you the mystery of God.
2 I was resolved that the only knowledge I would have while I was with you was knowledge of Jesus, and of him as the crucified Christ.
3 I came among you in weakness, in fear and great trembling
4 and what I spoke and proclaimed was not meant to convince by philosophical argument, but to demonstrate the convincing power of the Spirit,
5 so that your faith should depend not on human wisdom but on the power of God.(New Jerusalem Bible)
My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.(1 Corinthians 2:4-5 (NRSV))
Today’s Devotional
In August 2010 in Chile, the walls of a mine collapsed with a loud noise. Confusion and panic followed — then, total silence, total darkness. Underground, 700 meters down, 33 miners were trapped in a copper-and-gold mine. Above ground, the families of the miners took up a vigil. Camps were set up and the waiting turned into 69 days — families sharing the wait and the hope that the miners would be found alive.
Living outside of relationship with God is similar to being trapped far underground without light, sound, communication, food, or water. The families of the miners were determined to wait for their loved ones for as long as it would take. How much more is God willing to wait for us to turn from our sin? And when we do, we are forgiven through grace and drawn close to God.
Massive human effort and a great deal of money were spent to rescue the miners. But, as impressive as these efforts may be, they are limited. God our Creator has the power to rescue us wherever we are, in whatever darkness, silence, despair, abandonment, illness, or need. God’s power is unlimited. by Mila Roxana Guerrero Jaramillo (Biobio, Chile)
4th Thought for the Day: Our rescue is the blessing of finding Christ.
Prayer: Dear God of hope and grace, help us to place our confidence in you, not on what humans know or can do. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Miners and their families
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Living a Whole Life — January 30, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
LIVING A WHOLE LIFE
To live in the first half of life is largely a matter of survival. All it takes is what some call the reptilian brain, and like any good reptile it is largely concerned with reproduction, food, and survival. All that is important at this stage is my private, moral superiority which was supposed to make me pleasing to God for some reason. First half of life morality is largely concerned with various “purity codes.” As one monk said to me, you could be “pure as an angel while still proud as a devil.” I am afraid that is as far as first half of life values can get you.
Identity, security, and boundary questions are basically concerns of the ego. That does not make them bad, but they are just a starting point. The soul has different concerns. Our politicians continually assure us that they will keep us safe, and this is usually enough to get them elected, because most people are not yet asking higher questions in the hierarchy of needs—things like education, affordable housing, earth care, justice, the arts, immigration, penal reform, and the morality of war itself. Adapted from Loving the Two Halves of Life: The Further Journey
(CD/DVD/MP3). See also Fr. Richard’s latest book,
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Starter Prayer:
Help me grow up by going down. by Father Richard Rohr

5th Thought for Today:
Monday January 30, 2012
Choosing Joy
Joy is what makes life worth living, but for many joy seems hard to find. They complain that their lives are sorrowful and depressing. What then brings the joy we so much desire? Are some people just lucky, while others have run out of luck? Strange as it may sound, we can choose joy. Two people can be part of the same event, but one may choose to live it quite differently than the other. One may choose to trust that what happened, painful as it may be, holds a promise. The other may choose despair and be destroyed by it.
What makes us human is precisely this freedom of choice. by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.30.12 – Faithfulness from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: Matthew 5:27 ‘You have heard how it was said, You shall not commit adultery.
28 But I say this to you, if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
29 If your right eye should be your downfall, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
30 And if your right hand should be your downfall, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than to have your whole body go to hell.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
Whatever your relationships, whatever issues they face, wouldn’t it be great to learn about stronger relationships right from Jesus? His Sermon on the Mount (as recorded in Matthew’s gospel) offered much wisdom in that area. Using “prophetic hyperbole,” Jesus taught the too often ignored truth that faithless hearts (and not just bodies) deeply hurt relationships.
Adultery = sex with someone other than your spouse, right? Jesus expanded the idea of betrayal (as he did several other areas of life). He said our heart (our emotions and thoughts) can be faithless to our spouse’s needs, even without an overt act. How might a deeper commitment to be faithful to your spouse change you at the heart level?
Jesus didn’t favor literally tearing out your eye or chopping off your hand. His hyperbolic images showed how strongly he felt about us living up to our pledges of faithfulness. Has a friendship or situation ever drawn you away from faithfulness to your spouse or to God? What did you learn about yourself? In what ways did it affect the relationship?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord Jesus, when you were on earth, you were a real human being, not a sort of plastic figurine who never got angry, tired, frustrated or disappointed. You showed us how to live a truly human life of honesty with yourself and with others. Without hiding or repressing, you always sought to build relationships that were ultimately redemptive. Strengthen and guide me to be more and more like you in my most important relationships. Amen.
Monday 1.30.12 Insight from Jeanna Repass
Jeanna Repass serves as the Kansas City Missions Program Director at Resurrection.
The brain is a wondrous thing. When I was growing up people were fond of the saying that we only use 10% of our brain’s actual capacity. I have no idea if that is the truth, but I do know that the brain is capable of some really amazing things. For example, people on a diet can sniff a marker that has a certain smell like chocolate or potato chips and the human brain translates the smell into a sensation of satiation. I also learned in my college Anatomy & Physiology class that when you are cooking a meal, you tend to eat less of it than others who sit down to a meal that some one else cooked. While you are cooking, your brain takes the smells of the food and spices and it has the same effect as the food scented markers – you get the sensation of being satisfied even though you haven’t actually eaten anything. Yes – the human brain is a mysterious and miraculous thing, I’m sure there is a reason we only use 10% of it’s capacity!
I love that in today’s scriptures from the sermon on the mount Jesus is talking about our brain and nacho cheese scented diet markers. What? You didn’t read that part? Let me refresh for you… Matthew 5: 28: “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” See – right there Jesus was telling us that what we perceive in our brains, is actuated in our physical sensation. If we can get satisfied by the very smell of bacon on a marker, then how much more are we engaged by our brains playing out a lustful fantasy about another person? Wanting to eat something that is bad for us or lusting after some one whom is not our spouse has the same affect on our brains. So what do we do about it? Jesus has an answer – CUT IT OUT!
Matthew 5:29 – 30 tells us that it’s better to pluck out our eyes and cut off our hands than to cause the rest of our bodies to go to the fiery pit. So when I really want to put my whole face in a bag of Brach’s chocolate covered peanuts, I should cut my tongue out and the problems all solved? Not exactly. What Jesus is telling me is that when I sit around at 10:00pm and obsess about the double chocolate cupcakes in the kitchen, I am already sunk. The more I think about them, the more I’m tempted to give in. But an amazing thing happens when I stop thinking about those cupcakes and start thinking about the 5:30am workout that is waiting for me. I weight the consequences. I start picturing myself on my yoga mat in tears from the pain in my legs during the “chair pose”. Then all I want to do is to go to bed so I can actually get up and make it through that work out. Double chocolate cupcakes – you are defeated!
I’ve beaten this whipped-cream of an anology to a frothy pulp. But I think what Jesus is saying is that you end up with the negative consequences whether you’ve eaten the whole cake or just obsessed about it. So – think about that painful chair pose when you want to eat that pile of nachos. Or better yet – don’t think about those things at all. Place your hearts and especially your minds on things that are holy, good and honorable. Then we can be filled and satiated abundantly, exceedingly more than we ever imagined by Him whom loves us more than 100% of our brains can ever begin to imagine. Amen.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

Thought for Today:
Monday 30 January 2012
Finding Happiness
The beauty of human beings lies in their capacity to accept who they are, just as they are; not to live in a world of dreams or illusions, in anger or despair, wanting to be other than they are, or trying to run away from reality. They realize that they have the right to be themselves. And there, they discover that they are loved by God, that they are unique and important for God and that they can do things for others. We may not all be called to do great things that make the headlines, but we are all called to love and be loved, wherever we may be. We are called to be open and to grow in love and thus to communicate life to others, especially to those in need. by Jean Vanier, Seeing Beyond Depression, p 86, 88

Reflections with GOD for Sunday, January 29, 2012

Quotes for Today:
Where we have strong emotions, we’re liable to fool ourselves. by Carl Sagan (1934 – 1996), Cosmos (Blues for a Red Planet)
When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. by Dale Carnegie
The sign of an intelligent people is their ability to control emotions by the application of reason. by Marya Mannes
Feelings are really your GPS system for life. When your supposed to do something, or not supposed to do something, your emotional guidance system lets you know. by Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ), Stanford Commencement Adress, 2008
The advantage of the emotions is that they lead us astray, and the advantage of science is that it is not emotional. by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), The Picture of Dorian Gray, 1891
Cherish your own emotions and never undervalue them. by Robert Henri (1865 – 1929)
When you’re eighteen your emotions are violent, but they’re not durable. by W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965), The Razor’s Edge, 1943

Sermon for Today:
All Comers to God Welcomed! by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 2349 A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S DAY, FEBRUARY 25TH, 1894, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 17TH, 1889.
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”(John 6:37)
CHRIST will not die in vain. His Father gave him a certain number to be the
reward of his soul travail, and he will have every one of them, as he said,
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.” Almighty grace shall
sweetly constrain them all to come. My father gave me recently some
letters which I wrote to him when I began to preach. They are almost
boyish epistles; but, in reading through them again, I noticed in one of
them this expression, “How I long to see thousands of men saved; but my
great comfort is that some will be saved, must be saved, shall be saved, for
it is written, ‘All that the Father giveth me shall come to me.’”
The question for each of you to ask is, “Do I belong to that number?” I am
going to preach with the view of helping you to find out whether you
belong to that “all” whom the Father gave to Christ, the “all” who shall
come to him. We can use the second part of the verse to help us to
understand the first. “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,”
will explain our Savior’s previous words, “All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me.”
I shall have no time for any further preface; I must at once get to my
subject, and try to put everything in a condensed form. Kindly give heed to
the word, think about it, pray over it; and may God the Holy Ghost apply it
to all your hearts!
I. First, notice in the text THE NECESSITY OF CHARACTER:
“Him that cometh to me.” If you want to be saved, you must come to Christ. There is no other way of salvation under heaven but coming to Christ. Go wherever else you will, you must be disappointed and lost; it is only by coming to him that you can by any possibility have eternal life.
What is it to come to Christ? Well, it implies leaving all other confidences.
To come to anybody, is to leave everybody else. To come to Christ, is to
leave everything else, to leave every other hope, every other trust. Are you
trusting to your own works? Are you trusting to a priest? Are you trusting
to the merits of the Virgin Mary, or the saints and angels in heaven? Are
you trusting to anything but the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, leave it, and have
done with it. Come away from every other reliance, and trust to Christ
crucified, for this is the only way of salvation, as Peter said to the rulers
and elders of Israel, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.
“To Jesus bleeding on the tree,
Turn thou thine eye, thine heart,”
and come to him at once, and thy soul shall live for ever.
To come to Jesus means, in brief, trusting him. He is a Savior; that is his
business, come you to him, and trust him to save you. If you could save
yourself, you would not need a Savior; and now that Christ has set up to
be a Savior, let him do the business. He will. Come, and lay all your needs
at his feet, and trust him. Resolve that, if lost, you will be lost trusting
alone in Jesus; and that can never be. Tie up all your hopes into one
bundle, and put that bundle upon Christ. Let him be all thy salvation, and
all thy desire, and so thou shalt be surely saved.
I have sometimes tried to explain to you what the life of faith is like; it is
very much like a man walking on a tight rope. The believer is told that he
shall not fall, he trusts in God that he shall not; but every now and then he
says, “What a way it is down there if I did fall!” I have often had this
experience: I have gone up an invisible staircase; I could not see the next
step, but when I put my foot down on it, I found that it was solid granite. I
could not see the next stair, and it seemed as if I should plunge into an
abyss; yet have I gone on upward, steadily, one step at a time, never able
to see farther into absolute darkness, as it seemed, and yet always with a
light just where the light was wanted. When I used to hold a candle to my
father, of an evening, when he was sawing wood out in the yard, he used to
say, “Boy, do hold the candle where I am sawing, don’t look over there.”
And I have often thought to myself, when I wanted to see something in the
middle of next week, or next year, that the Lord seemed to say to me,
“Hold your candle on the piece of work which you have to do to-day; and
if you can see that, be satisfied, for that is all the light you want just now.”
Suppose that you could see into next week, it would be a great mercy if
you lost your sight a while, for a far-seeing gaze into care and trouble is no
gain. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” as sufficient unto the day
will be the good thereof. But the Lord does train his people for the skies by
testing their faith in the matter of his daily care of them. Often, a man’s
reliance upon God for the supply of his earthly wants proves that he has
trusted the Lord for the weightier affairs relating to his soul’s salvation. Do
not draw a line between the temporal and the spiritual, and say, “God will
go just so far; but I must not take such and such a thing to him in prayer.” I
remember hearing of a certain good man, of whom one said, “Why, he is a
very curious man; he prayed about a key the other day!” Why not pray
about a key? Why not pray about a pin? Sometimes, it may be as important
to pray about a pin as to pray about a kingdom. Little things are often the
linch-pins of great events. Take care that you bring everything to God in
faith and prayer. “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
God.”
I have turned aside from my subject for a minute, but let us now think
again of this matter of coming to Christ. To come to Jesus, not only
implies leaving all other confidences, and trusting Christ, it also means
following him. If you trust him, you must obey him. If you leave your soul
in his hands, you must take him to be your Master, and your Lord, as well
as your Savior. Christ has come to save you from sin, not in sin. He will
therefore help you to leave your sin, whatever it is; he will give you the
victory over it; he will make you holy. He will help you to do whatever you
should do in the sight of God: He is able to save unto the uttermost them
that come unto God by him; but you must come to him if you would be
saved by him.
To put together all I have said, you must quit every other hope; you must
take Jesus to be your sole confidence, and then you must be obedient to his
command, and take him to be your Master, and Lord. Will you do that? If
not, I have nothing to say to you except this, — he that believeth not in
him will perish without hope. If you will not have God’s remedy for your
soul malady, the only remedy that there is, there remaineth for you nothing
but blackness and dismal darkness for ever and ever.
II. But, now, secondly, while there is this necessity of character, notice also THE UNIVERSALITY OF PERSONS: “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
Granted that he comes to Christ, that is all that is needed. Does some one
say, “Sir, I am a very obscure person. Nobody knows me; my name was
never in the papers, and never will be; I am a nobody”? Well, if Mr.
Nobody comes to Christ, he will not cast him out. Come along, you
unknown person, you anonymous individual, you that everybody but Christ
forgets! If even you come to Jesus, he will not cast you out.
Another says, “ I am so very odd.” Do not say much about that, for I am
odd, too; but, dear friends, however odd we are, though we may be
thought very eccentric, and some may even consider us a little touched in
the head, yet, nevertheless, for all that, Jesus says, “Him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out.” Come along with you, Mr. Oddman! You shall
not be lost for want of brains, nor yet for having too many; though that is
not a very common misfortune. If you will but come to Christ, though you
have no talent, though you are but poor, and will never make much
headway in the world, Jesus says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.”
“Ah!” says a third friend, “I do not mind about being obscure, or being
eccentric; but it is the greatness of my sin that keeps me back from Christ.”
Let us read the text again: “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast
out.” If he had been guilty of seven murders, and all the whoredoms and
adulteries that ever defiled mortal man, if impossible sins could be charged
against him, yet if he came to Christ, mark you, if he came to Christ, the
promise of Jesus would be fulfilled even in his case, “Him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out.”
“But,” says another, “I am completely worn out, I am good for nothing. I
have spent all my days and years in sin. I have come to the very end of the
chapter, I am not worth anybody’s having.” Come along with you, you fag-end of life! Jesus says, “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.”
You have to walk with two sticks, do you? Never mind, come you to
Jesus. You are so feeble that you wonder that you are alive at your
advanced age. My Lord will receive you if you are a hundred years of age;
there have been many cases in which persons have been brought to Christ
even after that age. There are some very remarkable instances of that fact
on record. Christ says, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”
If he were as old as Methuselah, if he did but come to Christ, he should not
be cast out.
“Alas!” says one, “I am in a worse case than even that aged friend, for
beside being old, I have resisted the Spirit of God. I have been many years
troubled in my conscience; but I have tried to cover it all up. I have stifled
every godly thought.” Yes, yes; and it is a very sad thing, too; but for all
that, if you come to Christ, if you can even make a dash for salvation, and
come to Jesus, he cannot cast you out.
One friend perhaps says, “I am afraid that I have committed the
unpardonable sin.“ If you come to Christ, you have not, I know; for him
that cometh to him Jesus will in no wise cast out. He cannot, therefore,
have committed the unpardonable sin. Come along with you, man, and if
you are blacker than all the rest of the sinners in the world, so much the
more glorious shall be the grace of God when it shall have proved its
power by washing you whiter than snow in the precious blood of Jesus.
“Ah!” says one, “you do not know me, Sir.” No, dear friend, I do not; but,
perhaps, one of these days I may have that pleasure.” It will not be any
pleasure to you, Sir, for I am an apostate. I used to be a professor of
religion; but I have given it all up, and I have gone back to the world,
wilfully and wickedly doing all manner of evil things.” Ah! well, if you can
but come to Christ, though there were seven apostasies piled one upon
another, still his promise stands true, “Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out.” Whatever the past, or whatever the present, backslider,
return to Christ, for he standeth to his plighted word, and there are no
exceptions mentioned in my text: “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out.”
“Well, Sir,” cries another, “I should like to come to Christ; but I do not
feel fit to come.“ Then, come all unfit, just as you are. Jesus says, “Him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” If I were woke up in the
middle of the night by a cry of “Fire!” and I saw that some one was at the
window with a fire-escape, I do not think that I should keep in bed, and
say, “I have not my black necktie on,” or “I have not my best waistcoat
on.” I should not speak in that way at all. I would be out of the window as
quickly as ever I could, and down the fire-escape. Why do you talk about
your fitness, fitness, fitness? I have heard of a cavalier, who lost his life
because he stopped to curl his hair when Cromwell’s soldiers were after
him. Some of you may laugh at the man’s foolishness; but that is all that
your talk about fitness is. What is all your fitness but the curling of your
hair when you are in imminent danger of losing your soul? Your fitness is
nothing to Christ. Remember what we sang at the beginning of the service:
“Let not conscience make you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness he requireth,
Is to feel your need of him:
This he gives you
‘Tis the Spirit’s rising beam.”
Come to Christ just as you are, foul, vile, careless, godless, Christless.
Come now, even now, for Jesus said, “Him that cometh to me I will in no
wise cast out.”
Is there not a glorious width about my text: “Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out.” What “him” is this? It is “him that cometh.” What
“him that cometh”? Any “him that cometh” in all the world. If he comes to
Christ, he shall not be cast out. A red man, or a black man, or a white man,
or a yellow man, or a coppercoloured man, whatever he is, if he comes to
Jesus, he shall in no wise be cast out.
When you mean to put a thing broadly, it is always best to state it, and
leave it. Do not go into details; the Savior does not. Some years ago, there
was a man, a kind, loving husband, who wished to leave to his wife all his
property. Whatever he had, he intended her to have it all, as she ought; so
he put down in his will, “I leave to my beloved wife, Elizabeth, all that I
have.” That was all right. Then he went on to describe in detail what he
was leaving her, and he wrote, “All my freehold and personal estate.” The
most of his property happened to be leasehold, so the wife did not get it
because her husband gave a detailed description; it was in the detail that
the property slipped away from the good woman. Now, there is no detail at
all here: “Him that cometh.” That means that every man, and woman, and
child, beneath the broad heavens, who will but come, and trust in Christ,
shall in no wise be cast out. I thank God that there is no allusion to any
particular character, in order specially to say, “People of that character
shall be received,” for then the characters left out might be supposed to be
excluded; but the text clearly means that every soul that comes to Christ
shall be received by him.
III. The flight of time hurries me on, therefore, I beg you to listen
earnestly while I speak to you, in the third place, about THE
UNMISTAKEABLENESS OF THE PROMISE:
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise” — that is, for no reason, under no circumstances, at no time, under no conditions whatever, — “I will in no wise cast out”; which means, being interpreted, “I will receive him, I will save him, I will bless him.”
Then if you, my dear friend, come to Christ, how could the Lord cast you
out? How could he do it in consistency with his truthfulness? Imagine my
Lord Jesus making this declaration, and giving it to us as an inspired
Scripture, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out,” and yet
casting out somebody, even that unknown somebody up in the corner.
Why, it would be a lie; it would be an acted lie! I pray you, blaspheme not
my Lord, the truthful Christ, by supposing that he could be guilty of such
conduct as that. He could do as he liked about whom he would receive
until he made the promise; but after he had pledged his word, he bound
himself by the veracity of his nature to keep it; and as long as Christ is the
truthful Christ, he must receive every soul that comes to him.
But let me also ask you, suppose that you came to Jesus, and he cast you
out, with what hands could he do it? “With his own hands,” you answer.
What! Christ coming forward to cast out a sinner who has come to him? I
ask again, with what hands could he do it? Would he do it with those
pierced hands, that still bear the marks of the nails? The Crucified rejecting
a sinner? Ah! no; he hath no hand with which to do such a cruel work as
that, for he has given both his hands to be nailed to the tree for guilty men.
He hath neither hand, nor foot, nor heart with which to reject sinners, for
all these have been pierced in his death for them; therefore he cannot cast
them out if they come to him.
Let me ask you another question, What profit would it be to Christ if he
did cast you out? If my dear Lord, of the thorny crown, and the pierced
side, and the wounded hands, were to cast you away, what glory would it
bring to him? If he cast you into hell, you who have come to him, what
happiness would that bring to him? If he were to cast you away, you who
have sought his face, you who trust his love and his blood, by what
conceivable method could that ever render him the happier or the greater?
It cannot be.
What would such a supposition involve? Imagine for a moment that Jesus
did cast away one who came to him; if it were ascertained that one soul
came to Christ and yet he had cast him away, what would happen? Why,
there are thousands of us who would never preach again! For one, I would
have done with the business. If my Lord can cast away a sinner who comes
to him, I cannot, with a clear conscience, go and preach from his words,
“Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” Moreover, I should feel
that, if he failed in one promise, he might fail in the others. I could not go
and preach a possible but doubtful gospel. I must have “shells” and “wills”
from the eternal throne of God; and if it is not so, our preaching is vain,
and your faith is also vain.
See what would follow if one soul came to Christ, and Christ cast him out.
All the saints would lose their confidence in him. If a man breaks his
promise once, it is of no use for him to say, “Well, I am generally truthful.”
You have caught him false to his word once, and you will not trust him
again, will you? No; and if our dear Lord, whose every word is truth and
verity, could break one of his promises only once, he would not be trusted
by his people any more, and his Church would lose the faith that is her very
life.
Ah! me; and then they would hear of it up in heaven; and one soul that
came to Christ, and was cast away, would stop the music of the harps of
heaven, would dim the lustre of the glory-land, and take away its joy, for it
would be whispered among the glorified, “Jesus has broken his promise.
He cast away a praying, believing soul; he may break his promise to us, he
may drive us out of heaven.” When they began to praise him, this one act
of his would make a lump come in their throats, and they would be unable
to sing. They would be thinking of that poor soul that trusted him, and was
cast away; so how could they sing, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us
from our sins in his own blood,” if they had to add, “But he did not wash
all that came to him, though he promised that he would”?
I do not like even to talk of all that the supposition would involve; it is
something so dreadful to me, for they would hear of it in hell, and they
would tell it to one another, and an awful glee would take possession of
the fiendish hearts of the devil and all his companions, and they would say,
“The Christ is not true to his word; the boasted Savior rejected one who
came to him. He used to receive even harlots, and he let one wash his feet
with her tears; and publicans and sinners came and gathered about him, and
he spoke to them in tones of love; but here is one, — well, he was too vile
for the Savior to bless; he was too far gone, Jesus could not restore him,
Christ could not cleanse him. He could save little sinners, but not great
ones; he could save sinners eighteen hundred years ago. Oh! he made a fine
show of them; but his power is exhausted now, he cannot save a sinner
now.” Oh, in the halls of Hades, what jests and ridicule would be poured
upon that dear name, and, I had almost said, justly, if Christ cast out one
who came to him! But, beloved, that can never be; it is as sure as God’s
oath, as certain as Jehovah’s being, that he who comes to Christ shall in no
wise be cast out. I gladly bear my own witness before this assembled
throng that —
“I came to Jesus as I was
Weary, and worn, and sad:
I found in him a resting-place,
And he has made me glad.”
Come, each one of you, and prove the text to be true in your own experience,
for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“Jesus Es Mi Rey Soberano” by Vicente Mendoza
1. Jes˙s es mi Rey soberano
Mi gozo es cantar su loor
Es Rey y me ve cual hermano
Es Rey y me imparte su amor
Dejando su trono de gloria
Me vino a sacar de la escoria
Y yo soy feliz
Y yo soy feliz por Èl.
2. Jes˙s es mi amigo anhelado
Y en sombras o en luz siempre va
Paciente y humilde a mi lado
Ayuda y socorro me da
Por eso constante lo sigo
Porque Èl es mi Rey y mi amigo
Y yo soy feliz
Y yo soy feliz por Èl.
3. SeÒor øquÈ pudiera yo darte
por tanta bondad para mi?
øMe basta servirte y amarte?
øEs todo entregarme yo a ti?
Entonces acepta mi vida
Que a ti solo queda rendida
Pues yo soy feliz
Pues yo soy feliz por ti.

Through the Bible in One Year:
1 Samuel 11 to 20
1 About a month later, Nahash the Ammonite marched up and laid siege to Jabesh in Gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, ‘Make a treaty with us and we will be your subjects.’
2 Nahash the Ammonite replied, ‘I shall make a treaty with you only on this condition, that I put out all your right eyes, and I will make it a taunt to the whole of Israel.’
3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, ‘Give us seven days’ grace while we send messengers throughout the territory of Israel, and if no one comes to our help, we will come out to you.’
4 The messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and reported this to the people, and all the people wept aloud.
5 Now Saul was just then coming in from the fields behind his oxen, and he said, ‘What is wrong? Why are the people weeping?’ They explained to him what the men of Jabesh had said.
6 And the spirit of Yahweh seized on Saul when he heard these words, and he fell into a fury.
7 He took a yoke of oxen, cut them into pieces and sent these by messengers throughout the territory of Israel with these words, ‘Anyone who will not march with Saul will have the same done to his oxen!’ At this, a panic from Yahweh swept on the people and they marched out as one man.
8 Saul inspected them at Bezek; there were three hundred thousand of Israel and thirty thousand of Judah.
9 Then he said to the messengers who had come, ‘This is what you are to say to the people of Jabesh in Gilead, “Tomorrow, by the time that the sun is hot, help will reach you.” ‘ The messengers went and reported this to the people of Jabesh who were overjoyed;
10 they said to Nahash, ‘Tomorrow we shall come out to you and you can do whatever you like to us.’
11 The next day, Saul disposed the army in three contingents, which burst into the middle of the camp during the dawn watch and slaughtered the Ammonites until high noon. The survivors were so scattered that no two of them were left together.
12 The people then said to Samuel, ‘Who said, “Must we have Saul reigning over us?” Hand the men over, for us to put them to death.’
13 ‘No one must be put to death today,’ Saul said, ‘for today Yahweh has intervened to rescue Israel.’
14 Samuel then said to the people, ‘Let us now go to Gilgal and reaffirm the monarchy there.’
15 The people then all went to Gilgal. And there, at Gilgal, they proclaimed Saul king before Yahweh; they offered communion sacrifices before Yahweh, and there Saul and all the people of Israel gave themselves over to great rejoicing.
1 Samuel said to all Israel, ‘I have faithfully done all that you asked of me, and have appointed you a king.
2 In future, the king will lead you. As for me, I am old and grey, and in any case you have my sons. I have been your leader ever since I was young until today.
3 Here I am. Bear witness against me before Yahweh and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Have I wronged or oppressed anyone? Have I taken a consideration from anyone for looking the other way? If so, I will make amends.’
4 They said, ‘You have neither wronged nor oppressed us nor accepted anything from anyone.’
5 He said to them, ‘Yahweh is your witness and his anointed is witness today that you have found nothing in my hands?’ They replied, ‘He is witness.’
6 Samuel then said to the people, ‘Yahweh is witness, he who raised up Moses and Aaron and who brought your ancestors out of Egypt.
7 So now, stay where you are, while I plead with you before Yahweh and remind you of all the saving acts which he has done for you and for your ancestors.
8 After Jacob had arrived in Egypt, the Egyptians oppressed them, and your ancestors cried to Yahweh. Yahweh then sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your ancestors out of Egypt and gave them a settled home here.
9 They then forgot Yahweh their God and he sold them into the power of Sisera, general of the army of Hazor, and also into the power of the Philistines and of the king of Moab, who made war on them.
10 They cried to Yahweh, “We have sinned,” they said, “for we have deserted Yahweh and served the Baals and the Astartes. Rescue us now from the power of our enemies, and we will serve you.”
11 Yahweh then sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel. He rescued you from the power of the enemies surrounding you, and you lived in security.
12 ‘But when you saw Nahash, king of the Ammonites, marching on you, you said to me, “No, we must have a king to rule us”-although Yahweh your God is your king.
13 So, here is the king whom you have chosen; Yahweh has appointed you a king.
14 If you fear and serve Yahweh and obey his voice and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who rules you follow Yahweh your God, all will be well.
15 But if you do not obey Yahweh’s voice but rebel against his commands, Yahweh’s hand will be against you and against your king.
16 ‘Stay where you are and see the wonder which Yahweh will do before your eyes.
17 Is it not now the wheat harvest? I shall call on Yahweh and he will send thunder and rain, so that you may clearly understand what a very wicked thing you have done, in Yahweh’s eyes, by asking for a king.’
18 Samuel then called on Yahweh, and Yahweh sent thunder and rain the same day, and all the people held Yahweh and Samuel in great awe.
19 They all said to Samuel, ‘Pray for your servants to Yahweh your God, to save us from death; for to all our sins we have added this wrong of asking for a king.’
20 Samuel said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. Although you have done all these wicked things, do not withdraw your allegiance from Yahweh. Instead, serve Yahweh with all your heart.
21 Do not transfer your allegiance to useless idols which, being useless, are futile and cannot save anybody;
22 Yahweh, for the sake of his great name, will not desert his people, for it has pleased Yahweh to make you his people.
23 For my part, far be it from me to sin against Yahweh by ceasing to pray for you or to instruct you in the good and right way.
24 Fear none but Yahweh, and serve him faithfully with all your heart, bearing in mind the wonder which he has just performed. But, if you persist in wickedness, you and your king will perish.’
1 Saul was . . . years old when he became king, and reigned over Israel for . . . years.
2 Saul selected three thousand men of Israel; two thousand of them were with Saul at Michmash and in the highlands of Bethel, and one thousand with Jonathan at Geba of Benjamin; the rest of the people Saul sent home, everyone to his tent.
3 Jonathan killed the Philistine governor stationed at Gibeah and the Philistines were informed that the Hebrews had risen in revolt. Saul had the trumpet sounded throughout the country,
4 and all Israel heard the news, ‘Saul has killed the Philistine governor, and now Israel has antagonised the Philistines.’ So all the people rallied behind Saul at Gilgal.
5 The Philistines mustered to make war on Israel, three thousand chariots, six thousand horse and a force as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They came up and pitched camp at Michmash, to the east of Beth-Aven.
6 When the Israelites saw that their plight was desperate, being so hard pressed, the people hid in caves, in holes, in crevices, in vaults, in wells.
7 Some also crossed the Jordan fords into the territory of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal and all the people who followed him were trembling.
8 He waited for seven days, the period fixed by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the army, deserting Saul, began dispersing.
9 Saul then said, ‘Bring me the burnt offering and the communion sacrifices.’ And he presented the burnt offering.
10 Just as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, Samuel arrived, and Saul went out to meet and greet him.
11 Samuel said, ‘What have you been doing?’ Saul replied, ‘I saw the army deserting me and dispersing, and you had not come at the time fixed, while the Philistines were mustering at Michmash.
12 So I thought: Now the Philistines are going to fall on me at Gilgal and I have not implored the favour of Yahweh. So I felt obliged to make the burnt offering myself.’
13 Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have acted like a fool. You have not obeyed the order which Yahweh your God gave you. Otherwise, Yahweh would have confirmed your sovereignty over Israel for ever.
14 But now your sovereignty will not last; Yahweh has discovered a man after his own heart and designated him as leader of his people, since you have not carried out what Yahweh ordered you.’
15 Samuel then got up and left Gilgal to continue his journey. Those people remaining followed Saul as he went to join the warriors, and went from Gilgal to Geba of Benjamin. Saul reviewed the force that was with him; there were about six hundred men.
16 Saul, his son Jonathan, and the force that was with them took up their quarters in Geba of Benjamin while the Philistines camped at Michmash.
17 The raiding company sallied out of the Philistine camp in three groups: one group made for Ophrah in the territory of Shual;
18 one group made for Beth-Horon; and one group made for the high ground overlooking the Valley of the Hyenas, in the direction of the desert.
19 There was not a single blacksmith throughout the territory of Israel, the Philistines’ reasoning being, ‘We do not want the Hebrews making swords or spears.’
20 Hence, the Israelites were all in the habit of going down individually to the Philistines to sharpen their ploughshares, axes, mattocks and scythes.
21 The price was two-thirds of a shekel for ploughshares and axes, and one-third for sharpening mattocks and straightening goads.
22 So it was that on the day of the battle, no one in the army with Saul and Jonathan was equipped with either sword or spear; only Saul and his son Jonathan were so equipped.
23 A Philistine unit set out for the Pass of Michmash.
1 One day, Jonathan son of Saul said to his armour-bearer, ‘Come on, let us go across to the Philistine outpost over on the other side.’ But he did not inform his father.
2 Saul was on the outskirts of Geba, sitting under the pomegranate tree that stands near the threshing-floor; the force with him numbered about six hundred men.
3 Ahijah son of Ahitub, brother of Ichabod, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the priest of Yahweh at Shiloh, was carrying the ephod. The force did not know that Jonathan had left.
4 In the pass that Jonathan was trying to cross to reach the Philistine outpost, there is a rocky spur on one side and a rocky spur on the other; one is called Bozez, the other Seneh.
5 The first spur stands to the north facing Michmash, the other to the south facing Geba.
6 Jonathan said to his armour-bearer, ‘Come on, let us go across to these uncircumcised people’s outpost; perhaps Yahweh will do something for us, for Yahweh is free to grant deliverance through a few men, just as much as through many.’
7 His armour-bearer replied, ‘Do exactly as you think. I am with you; our hearts are as one.’
8 Jonathan then said, ‘Look, we will go across to these people and let ourselves be seen.
9 If they say, “Do not move until we come to you,” we shall stay where we are and not go up to them.
10 But if they say, “Come up to us,” we shall go up, for that will be the sign for us that Yahweh has given them into our power.’
11 When the two of them let themselves be seen by the Philistine outpost, the Philistines said, ‘Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding.’
12 The men of the outpost then hailed Jonathan and his armour-bearer. ‘Come up to us,’ they said, ‘we have something to tell you.’ Jonathan then said to his armour-bearer, ‘Follow me up; Yahweh has given them into the power of Israel.’
13 Jonathan clambered up on hands and feet, with his armour-bearer behind him; the Philistines fell at Jonathan’s onslaught, and his armour-bearer, coming behind, finished them off.
14 This first killing made by Jonathan and his armour-bearer accounted for about twenty men . . .
15 There was panic in the camp, in the field and throughout the army; outpost and raiding company too were panic-stricken; the earth quaked: it was a panic from Yahweh.
16 Saul’s look-out men in Geba of Benjamin could see the camp scattering in all directions.
17 Saul then said to the force that was with him, ‘Call the roll and see who has left us.’ So they called the roll, and Jonathan and his armour-bearer were missing.
18 Saul then said to Ahijah, ‘Bring the ephod,’ since he was the man who carried the ephod in Israel.
19 But while Saul was speaking to the priest, the turmoil in the Philistine camp grew worse and worse; and Saul said to the priest, ‘Withdraw your hand.’
20 Saul and the whole force with him then formed up and advanced to where the fighting was going on: and there they all were, drawing their swords on one another in wild confusion.
21 Those Hebrews who had earlier taken service with the Philistines and had accompanied them into camp, now defected to the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
22 Similarly, all those Israelites who had been hiding in the highlands of Ephraim, hearing that the Philistines were on the run, chased after them and joined in the fight.
23 That day Yahweh gave Israel the victory. The fighting reached the other side of Beth-Horon.
24 As the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, Saul pronounced this imprecation over the people, ‘A curse on anyone who eats food before evening, before I have taken revenge on my enemies!’ So none of the people so much as tasted food.
25 Now there was a honeycomb out in the open.
26 The people came to the honeycomb, the honey was dripping out, but no one put a hand to his mouth, the people being in awe of the oath.
27 Jonathan, however, not having heard his father bind the people with the oath, reached with the end of the stick which he was carrying, thrust it into the honeycomb and put it to his mouth; whereupon his eyes grew brighter.
28 One of the people then spoke up. ‘Your father’, he said, ‘has bound the people with this oath: “A curse on anyone who eats anything today.” ‘
29 ‘My father has brought trouble on the country,’ Jonathan replied. ‘See how much brighter my eyes are for having eaten this mouthful of honey.
30 By the same token, if the people had been allowed to eat some of the booty which they had captured from the enemy today, would not the defeat of the Philistines have been all the greater?’
31 That day the Philistines were beaten from Michmash all the way to Aijalon, until the people were utterly exhausted.
32 The people flung themselves on the booty and, taking sheep, bullocks and calves, slaughtered them there on the ground and ate them with the blood.
33 Saul was informed, ‘The people are sinning against Yahweh by eating with the blood!’ He said, ‘You have not kept faith! Roll me a large stone here!’
34 Saul then said, ‘Scatter among the people and say, “Everyone is to bring his bullock or his sheep to me here.” You will slaughter them here and eat, and not sin against Yahweh by eating with the blood.’ Each individual brought what he happened to have that night, and they all slaughtered in the same place.
35 Saul built an altar to Yahweh; it was the first altar he had built to Yahweh.
36 Saul said, ‘Let us go down under cover of dark and plunder the Philistines until dawn; we shall not leave one of them alive.’ ‘Do whatever you think right,’ they replied. But the priest said, ‘Let us approach God here.’
37 Saul consulted God, ‘Shall I go down and pursue the Philistines? Will you hand them over to Israel?’ But he gave him no reply that day.
38 Saul then said, ‘Come forward, all you leaders of the people; consider carefully where today’s sin may lie;
39 for as Yahweh lives who gives victory to Israel, even if the sin lies with Jonathan my son, he shall be put to death.’ But not one out of all the people answered.
40 He then said to all Israel, ‘Stand on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will stand on the other.’ And the people replied to Saul, ‘Do as you think right.’
41 Saul then said, ‘Yahweh, God of Israel, why did you not answer your servant today? Yahweh, God of Israel, if the fault lies with me or with my son Jonathan, give urim: if the fault lies with your people Israel, give thummim.’ Jonathan and Saul were indicated and the people went free.
42 Saul said, ‘Cast the lot between me and my son Jonathan,’ and Jonathan was indicated.
43 ‘I only tasted a mouthful of honey off the end of the stick which I was carrying. But I am ready to die.’
44 Saul said, ‘May God bring unnameable ills on me, and worse ones too, if you do not die, Jonathan!’
45 But the people said to Saul, ‘Must Jonathan die after winning this great victory for Israel? We will never allow that! As Yahweh lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for his deeds today have been done with the help of God.’ And so the people ransomed Jonathan and he was not put to death.
46 Saul decided not to pursue the Philistines, and the Philistines retired to their own territory.
47 Saul consolidated his rule over Israel and made war on all his enemies on all fronts: on Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the king of Zobah and the Philistines; whichever way he turned, he was victorious.
48 He did great deeds of valour; he defeated the Amalekites and delivered Israel from those who used to pillage him.
49 Saul’s sons were: Jonathan, Ishvi and Malchishua. The names of his two daughters were: the elder, Merab, and the younger, Michal.
50 The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz. The name of his army commander was Abner son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.
51 Kish father of Saul, and Ner father of Abner were the sons of Abiel.
52 There was fierce warfare with the Philistines throughout Saul’s life. Any strong or valiant man who caught Saul’s eye, he recruited into his service.
1 Samuel said to Saul, ‘I am the man whom Yahweh sent to anoint you as king of his people Israel, so now listen to the words of Yahweh.
2 This is what Yahweh Sabaoth says, “I intend to punish what Amalek did to Israel — laying a trap for him on the way as he was coming up from Egypt.
3 Now, go and crush Amalek; put him under the curse of destruction with all that he possesses. Do not spare him, but kill man and woman, babe and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” ‘
4 Saul summoned the people and reviewed them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers (and ten thousand men of Judah).
5 Saul advanced on the town of Amalek and lay in ambush in the river bed.
6 Saul said to the Kenites, ‘Go away, leave your homes among the Amalekites, in case I destroy you with them — you acted with faithful love towards all the Israelites when they were coming up from Egypt.’ So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.
7 Saul then crushed the Amalekites, beginning at Havilah in the direction of Shur, which is to the east of Egypt.
8 He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive and, executing the curse of destruction, put all the people to the sword.
9 But Saul and the army spared Agag with the best of the sheep and cattle, the fatlings and lambs and all that was good. They did not want to consign these to the curse of destruction; they consigned only what was poor and worthless.
10 The word of Yahweh came to Samuel,
11 ‘I regret having made Saul king, since he has broken his allegiance to me and not carried out my orders.’ Samuel was appalled and cried to Yahweh all night long.
12 In the morning, Samuel set off to find Saul. Samuel was told, ‘Saul has been to Carmel, to raise himself a monument there, but now has turned about, moved on and gone down to Gilgal.’
13 When Samuel reached Saul, Saul said, ‘May you be blessed by Yahweh! I have carried out Yahweh’s orders.’
14 Samuel replied, ‘Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle that I hear?’
15 Saul said, ‘They have been brought from Amalek, the people having spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice them to Yahweh, your God; the rest we have consigned to the curse of destruction.’
16 Samuel then said to Saul, ‘Stop! Let me tell you what Yahweh said to me last night.’ He said, ‘Go on.’
17 Samuel said, ‘Small as you may be in your own eyes, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh has anointed you as king of Israel.
18 When Yahweh sent you on a mission he said to you, “Go and put those sinners, the Amalekites, under the curse of destruction and make war on them until they are exterminated.”
19 Why then did you not obey Yahweh’s voice? Why did you fall on the booty and do what is wrong in Yahweh’s eyes?’
20 Saul replied to Samuel, ‘But I did obey Yahweh’s voice. I went on the mission which Yahweh gave me; I brought back Agag king of the Amalekites; I put Amalek under the curse of destruction;
21 and from the booty the people have taken the best sheep and cattle of what was under the curse of destruction only to sacrifice them to Yahweh your God in Gilgal.’
22 To which, Samuel said: Is Yahweh pleased by burnt offerings and sacrifices or by obedience to Yahweh’s voice? Truly, obedience is better than sacrifice, submissiveness than the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is a sin of sorcery, presumption a crime of idolatry! ‘Since you have rejected Yahweh’s word, he has rejected you as king.’
24 Saul then said to Samuel, ‘I have sinned, having broken Yahweh’s order and your instructions because I was afraid of the people and yielded to their demands.
25 Now, please forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I can worship Yahweh.’
26 Samuel said to Saul, ‘I will not come back with you, since you have rejected Yahweh’s word and Yahweh has rejected you as king of Israel.’
27 As Samuel turned away to leave, Saul caught at the hem of his cloak and it tore,
28 and Samuel said to him, ‘Today Yahweh has torn the kingdom of Israel from you and given it to a neighbour of yours who is better than you.’
29 (The Glory of Israel, however, does not lie or go back on his word, not being human and liable to go back on his word.)
30 ‘I have sinned,’ Saul said, ‘but please still show me respect in front of my people’s elders and in front of Israel, and come back with me, so that I can worship Yahweh your God.’
31 Samuel followed Saul back and Saul worshipped Yahweh.
32 Samuel then said, ‘Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites!’ Agag came towards him unsteadily saying, ‘Truly death is bitter!’
33 Samuel said: As your sword has left women childless, so will your mother be left childless among women! Samuel then butchered Agag before Yahweh at Gilgal.
34 Samuel left for Ramah, and Saul went up home to Gibeah of Saul.
35 Samuel did not see Saul again till his dying day. Samuel indeed mourned over Saul, but Yahweh regretted having made Saul king of Israel.
1 Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘How much longer do you mean to go on mourning over Saul, now that I myself have rejected him as ruler of Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have found myself a king from among his sons.’
2 Samuel replied, ‘How can I go? When Saul hears of it he will kill me.’ Yahweh then said, ‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.”
3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I shall reveal to you what you must do; and you will anoint for me the one I indicate to you.’
4 Samuel did what Yahweh ordered and went to Bethlehem. The elders of the town came trembling to meet him and asked, ‘Seer, is your coming favourable for us,’
5 ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Purify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.’ He purified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6 When they arrived, he looked at Eliab and thought, ‘This must be Yahweh’s anointed now before him,’
7 but Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘Take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him; God does not see as human beings see; they look at appearances but Yahweh looks at the heart.’
8 Jesse then called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, who said, ‘Yahweh has not chosen this one either.’
9 Jesse then presented Shammah, but Samuel said, ‘Yahweh has not chosen this one either.’
10 Jesse thus presented seven of his sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Yahweh has not chosen these.’
11 He then asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ Jesse replied, ‘There is still one left, the youngest; he is looking after the sheep.’ Samuel then said to Jesse, ‘Send for him, for we shall not sit down to eat until he arrives.’
12 Jesse had him sent for; he had ruddy cheeks, with fine eyes and an attractive appearance. Yahweh said, ‘Get up and anoint him: he is the one!’
13 At this, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him, surrounded by his brothers; and the spirit of Yahweh seized on David from that day onwards. Samuel, for his part, set off and went to Ramah.
14 Now the spirit of Yahweh had withdrawn from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh afflicted him with terrors.
15 Saul’s servants said to him, ‘An evil spirit from God is undoubtedly the cause of your terrors.
16 Let our lord give the order, and your servants who wait on you will look for a skilled harpist; when the evil spirit from God comes over you, he will play and it will do you good.’
17 Saul said to his attendants, ‘Find me, please, a man who plays well, and bring him to me.’
18 One of the servants then spoke up and said, ‘I have seen one of the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite: he is a skilled player, a brave man and a fighter, well spoken, good-looking and Yahweh is with him.’
19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse with the order, ‘Send me your son David (who is with the sheep).’
20 Jesse took five loaves, a skin of wine and a kid, and sent them to Saul by his son David.
21 David went to Saul and entered his service; Saul became very fond of him and David became his armour-bearer.
22 Saul then sent a message to Jesse, ‘Let David stay in my service, since he has won my favour.’
23 And whenever the spirit from God came over Saul, David would take a harp and play; Saul would then be soothed; it would do him good, and the evil spirit would leave him.
1 The Philistines mustered their troops for war; they assembled at Socoh in Judah and pitched camp between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-Dammim.
2 Saul and the Israelites also mustered, pitching camp in the Valley of the Terebinth, and drew up their battle-line opposite the Philistines.
3 The Philistines occupied the high ground on one side and the Israelites occupied the high ground on the other side, with the valley between them.
4 A champion stepped out from the Philistine ranks; his name was Goliath, from Gath; he was six cubits and one span tall.
5 On his head was a bronze helmet and he wore a breastplate of scale-armour; the breastplate weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.
6 He had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze scimitar slung across his shoulders.
7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron. A shield-bearer walked in front of him.
8 Taking position in front of the Israelite lines, he shouted, ‘Why have you come out to range yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine and are you not Saul’s lackeys? Choose a man and let him come down to me.
9 If he can fight it out with me and kill me, we will be your servants; but if I can beat him and kill him, you become our servants and serve us.’
10 The Philistine then said, ‘I challenge the ranks of Israel today. Give me a man and we will fight it out!’
11 When Saul and all Israel heard what the Philistine said, they were dismayed and terrified.
12 David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah whose name was Jesse; Jesse had eight sons and, by Saul’s time, he was old and well on in years.
13 Jesse’s eldest three sons followed Saul to the war. The names of the three sons who went to the war were: the eldest Eliab, the second Abinadab and the third Shammah.
14 David was the youngest; the eldest three followed Saul.
15 David alternated between serving Saul and looking after his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
16 Morning and evening, the Philistine advanced, presenting himself thus for forty days.
17 Jesse said to his son David, ‘Take your brothers this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves, and hurry to the camp, to your brothers.
18 And take these ten cheeses to their commanding officer; find out how your brothers are and bring some token back from them;
19 they are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of the Terebinth, fighting the Philistines.’
20 David got up early in the morning and, leaving the sheep with someone to guard them, took up his load and went off as Jesse had ordered; he reached the encampment just as the troops were leaving to take up battle stations and shouting the war cry.
21 Israel and the Philistines drew up their lines facing one another.
22 David left his bundle in charge of the baggage guard and, running to the battle-line, went and asked his brothers how they were.
23 While he was talking to them, the champion (Goliath, the Philistine from Gath) came up from the Philistine ranks and made his usual speech, which David heard.
24 As soon as the Israelites saw this man, they all ran away from him and were terrified.
25 The Israelites said, ‘You saw that man who just came up? He comes to challenge Israel. The king will lavish riches on the man who kills him, he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s family from all taxes in Israel.’
26 David asked the men who were standing near him, ‘What would be the reward for killing this Philistine and saving Israel from disgrace? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, to challenge the armies of the living God?’
27 The people told him what they had been saying, ‘That would be the reward for killing him,’ they said.
28 His eldest brother Eliab heard David talking to the men and grew angry with him. ‘Why have you come down here?’ he said. ‘Whom have you left in charge of those few sheep in the desert? I know how impudent and artful you are; you have come to watch the battle!’
29 David retorted, ‘What have I done? May I not even speak?’
30 And he turned away from him to someone else and asked the same question, to which the people replied as before.
31 David’s words were noted, however, and reported to Saul, who sent for him.
32 David said to Saul, ‘Let no one be discouraged on his account; your servant will go and fight this Philistine.’
33 Saul said to David, ‘You cannot go and fight the Philistine; you are only a boy and he has been a warrior since his youth.’
34 David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to look after the sheep for his father and whenever a lion or a bear came and took a sheep from the flock,
35 I used to follow it up, lay into it and snatch the sheep out of its jaws. If it turned on me, I would seize it by the beard and batter it to death.
36 Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will end up like one of them for having challenged the armies of the living God.’
37 ‘Yahweh,’ David went on, ‘who delivered me from the claws of lion and bear, will deliver me from the clutches of this Philistine.’ Then Saul said to David, ‘Go, and Yahweh be with you!’
38 Saul dressed David in his own armour; he put a bronze helmet on his head, dressed him in a breastplate
39 and buckled his own sword over David’s armour. David tried to walk but, not being used to them, said to Saul, ‘I cannot walk in these; I am not used to them.’ So they took them off again.
40 He took his stick in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the river bed and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in his pouch; then, sling in hand, he walked towards the Philistine.
41 The Philistine, preceded by his shield-bearer, came nearer and nearer to David.
42 When the Philistine looked David up and down, what he saw filled him with scorn, because David was only a lad, with ruddy cheeks and an attractive appearance.
43 The Philistine said to David, ‘Am I a dog for you to come after me with sticks?’ And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.
44 The Philistine said to David, ‘Come over here and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the wild beasts!’
45 David retorted to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with sword, spear and scimitar, but I come to you in the name of Yahweh Sabaoth, God of the armies of Israel, whom you have challenged.
46 Today, Yahweh will deliver you into my hand; I shall kill you, I shall cut off your head; today, I shall give your corpse and the corpses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the wild beasts, so that the whole world may know that there is a God in Israel,
47 and this whole assembly know that Yahweh does not give victory by means of sword and spear — for Yahweh is lord of the battle and he will deliver you into our power.’
48 No sooner had the Philistine started forward to confront David than David darted out of the lines and ran to meet the Philistine.
49 Putting his hand in his bag, he took out a stone, slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead; the stone penetrated his forehead and he fell face downwards on the ground.
50 Thus David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; he hit the Philistine and killed him, though he had no sword in his hand.
51 David ran and stood over the Philistine, seized his sword, pulled it from the scabbard, despatched him and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
52 The men of Israel and of Judah started forward, shouting their war cry, and pursued the Philistines as far as the approaches of Gath and the gates of Ekron. The Philistine dead lay all along the road from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.
53 Turning back from their ferocious pursuit of the Philistines, the Israelites plundered their camp.
54 And David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; his weapons, however, he put in his own tent.
55 When Saul saw David going to engage the Philistine he said to Abner, the army commander, ‘Abner, whose son is that boy?’ ‘On your life, O king,’ Abner replied, ‘I do not know.’
56 The king said, ‘Find out whose son the lad is.’
57 When David came back after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul with the Philistine’s head in his hand.
58 Saul asked him, ‘Whose son are you, young man?’ David replied, ‘The son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.’
1 When David had finished talking to Saul, Jonathan felt an instant affection for David; Jonathan loved him like his very self;
2 Saul engaged him that very day and would not let him go home to his father.
3 Jonathan made a pact with David, since he loved him like his very self;
4 Jonathan took off the cloak which he was wearing and gave it to David, and his armour too, even including his sword, his bow and his belt.
5 Wherever David was sent on a mission by Saul, he was successful, and Saul put him in command of the fighting men; all the people respected him and so did Saul’s staff.
6 On their return, when David was coming back from killing the Philistine, the women came out of all the towns of Israel singing and dancing to meet King Saul, with tambourines, sistrums and cries of joy;
7 and as they danced the women sang: Saul has killed his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.
8 Saul was very angry; the incident displeased him. ‘They have given David the tens of thousands,’ he said, ‘but me only the thousands; what more can he have, except the throne?’
9 And Saul watched David jealously from that day onwards.
10 The following day, an evil spirit from God seized on Saul and he fell into a frenzy while he was indoors. David played the harp as on other occasions; Saul had a spear in his hand.
11 Saul brandished the spear; he said, ‘I will pin David to the wall!’ David evaded him twice.
12 Saul feared David, since Yahweh was with him and had withdrawn from Saul.
13 So Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him commander of a thousand; he led the people on campaign.
14 In all his expeditions, David was successful and Yahweh was with him.
15 And Saul, seeing how very successful he was, was afraid of him.
16 All Israel and Judah loved David, however, since he was their leader on campaign.
17 Saul said to David, ‘This is my elder daughter Merab; I shall give her to you in marriage; but you must serve me bravely and fight Yahweh’s wars.’ Saul thought, ‘Better than strike the blow myself, let the Philistines do it!’
18 David replied to Saul, ‘Who am I and what is my lineage — and my father’s family — in Israel, for me to become the king’s son-in-law?’
19 When the time came for Merab daughter of Saul to be given to David, she was given to Adriel of Meholah instead.
20 Now Michal daughter of Saul fell in love with David. When Saul heard this he was pleased.
21 He thought, ‘Yes, I shall give her to him; she can be the snare for him, so that the Philistines will get him.’ (On two occasions, Saul told David, ‘Today, you shall be my son-in-law.’)
22 Saul gave instructions to his servants, ‘Have a private word with David and say, “Look, the king is fond of you and all his servants love you — why not be the king’s son-in-law?” ‘
23 Saul’s servants repeated these words in David’s ear, to which David replied, ‘Do you think that becoming the king’s son-in-law is a trivial matter; I have neither wealth nor position.’
24 Saul’s servants then reported back, ‘This is what David said.’
25 Saul replied, ‘Tell David this, “The king desires no bride-price except one hundred Philistine foreskins, in vengeance on the king’s enemies.” ‘ Saul was counting on getting David killed by the Philistines.
26 When his servants repeated this to David, David thought it would be a fine thing to be the king’s son-in-law. And no time was lost
27 before David got up to go, he and his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines. David brought their foreskins back and counted them out before the king, so that he could be the king’s son-in-law. Saul then gave him his daughter Michal in marriage.
28 Saul could not but see that Yahweh was with David, and that the whole House of Israel loved him;
29 Saul became more afraid of David than ever, and became his inveterate enemy.
30 The Philistine chiefs kept mounting their campaigns but, whenever they did so, David proved more successful than any of Saul’s staff; consequently he gained great renown.
1 Saul let his son Jonathan and all his servants know of his intention to kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, held David in great affection;
2 and Jonathan warned David, ‘My father Saul is looking for a way to kill you, so be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding, stay out of sight.
3 I shall go out and keep my father company in the countryside where you will be, and shall talk to my father about you; I shall see what the situation is and then tell you.’
4 Jonathan spoke highly of David to Saul his father and said, ‘The king should not harm his servant David; far from harming you, what he has done has been greatly to your advantage.
5 He took his life in his hands, he killed the Philistine, and Yahweh brought about a great victory for all Israel. You saw for yourself. How pleased you were! Why then sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?’
6 Saul was impressed by Jonathan’s words. Saul swore, ‘As Yahweh lives, I will not kill him.’
7 Jonathan called David and told him all this. Jonathan then brought him to Saul, and David remained in attendance as before.
8 War broke out again and David sallied out to fight the Philistines; he inflicted a great defeat on them and they fled before him.
9 An evil spirit from Yahweh came over Saul while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand; David was playing the harp.
10 Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear, but he avoided Saul’s thrust and the spear stuck in the wall. David fled and made good his escape. That same night
11 Saul sent agents to watch David’s house, intending to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, ‘If you do not escape tonight, you will be a dead man tomorrow!’
12 Michal then let David down through the window, and he made off, took to flight and so escaped.
13 Michal then took a domestic image, laid it on the bed, put a tress of goats’ hair at the head of the bed and put a cover over it.
14 When Saul sent the agents to arrest David, she said, ‘He is ill.’
15 Saul sent the agents back to see David, with the words, ‘Bring him to me on his bed, for me to kill him!’
16 So in the agents went, and there in bed was the image, with the tress of goats’ hair on its head!
17 Saul then said to Michal, ‘Why have you deceived me like this and let my enemy go, and so make his escape?’ Michal replied to Saul, ‘He said, “Let me go, or I shall kill you!” ‘
18 David, having fled and made his escape, went to Samuel at Ramah and told him exactly how Saul had treated him; he and Samuel went and lived in the huts.
19 Word was brought to Saul, ‘David is in the huts at Ramah.’
20 Saul accordingly sent agents to capture David; when they saw the community of prophets prophesying, and Samuel there as their leader, the spirit of God came over Saul’s agents, and they too fell into frenzy.
21 When Saul was told of this, he sent other agents, and they too fell into frenzy; Saul then sent a third group of agents, and they fell into frenzy too.
22 He then went to Ramah himself and, arriving at the large storage-well at Seku, asked, ‘Where are Samuel and David?’ And someone said, ‘Why, they are in the huts at Ramah!’
23 Making his way from there to the huts at Ramah, the spirit of God came over him too, and he went along in a frenzy until he arrived at the huts at Ramah.
24 He too stripped off his clothes and he too fell into a frenzy in Samuel’s presence, then collapsed naked on the ground for the rest of that day and all night. Hence the saying: Is Saul one of the prophets too?
1 Fleeing from the huts at Ramah, David went and confronted Jonathan, ‘What have I done, what is my guilt, how have I wronged your father, for him to want to take my life?’
2 He replied, ‘You must not think that! You are not going to die. My father, you see, does nothing, important or unimportant, without confiding in me, so why should my father hide this from me? It is not true.’
3 In reply, David swore, ‘Your father knows very well that I enjoy your favour, and thinks, “Jonathan must not know about this or he will be upset.” But, as Yahweh lives and as you yourself live, there is only a step between me and death.’
4 At which, Jonathan said to David, ‘Whatever you think best, I will certainly do for you.’
5 David replied, ‘Look, tomorrow is New Moon and I ought to sit at table with the king, but you must let me go and hide in the countryside until the evening.
6 If your father notices my absence, you must say, “David insistently asked me for permission to hurry over to Bethlehem, his home town, because they are holding the annual sacrifice there for the whole clan.”
7 If he says, “Very well,” your servant is safe, but if he flies into a rage, you may be sure that he has some evil plan.
8 Show your servant faithful love, since you have bound your servant to you by a pact in Yahweh’s name. But if I am guilty, then kill me yourself — why take me to your father?’
9 Jonathan replied, ‘Perish the thought! If I knew for sure that my father was determined to do you a mischief, would I not have told you?’
10 David then said to Jonathan, ‘Who will let me know if your father gives you a harsh answer?’
11 Jonathan then said to David, ‘Come on, let us go out into the country,’ and the pair of them went out into the country.
12 Jonathan then said to David, ‘By Yahweh, God of Israel! I shall sound my father this time tomorrow; if all is well for David and I do not then send and inform you,
13 may Yahweh bring unnameable ills to Jonathan and worse ones too! If my father intends to do you a mischief, I shall tell you so and let you get away, so that you can be safe. And may Yahweh be with you as he used to be with my father!
14 If I am still alive, show your servant faithful love; if I die,
15 never withdraw your faithful love from my family. When Yahweh has exterminated every enemy of David’s from the face of the earth,
16 do not let Jonathan’s name be exterminated with Saul’s family, or may Yahweh call David to account!’
17 Jonathan then renewed his oath to David, since he loved him like his very soul.
18 Jonathan then said to David, ‘Tomorrow is New Moon; your absence will be noticed, since your place will be empty.
19 The day after tomorrow your absence will be very marked, and you must go to the place where you hid on the day of the deed, and stay beside that mound.
20 For my part, the day after tomorrow I shall shoot three arrows in that direction, as though at a target.
21 I shall then send a servant to go and find the arrows. If I say to him, “The arrows are this side of you, get them,” come out, since all will be well for you and nothing the matter, as sure as Yahweh lives.
22 But if I say to him, “The arrows are ahead of you,” then be off, for Yahweh himself will be sending you away.
23 And as regards the agreement we made, you and I, why, Yahweh is witness between us for ever.’
24 So David hid in the country; New Moon came and the king sat down to his meal.
25 He sat in his usual place with his back to the wall, Jonathan sat facing him and Abner sat next to Saul; but David’s place was empty.
26 Saul said nothing that day, thinking, ‘It is sheer chance; he is unclean.’
27 On the day after New Moon, the second day, David’s place was still empty.
28 Saul said to his son Jonathan, ‘Why did not the son of Jesse come to the meal either yesterday or today?’
29 Jonathan answered Saul, ‘David insistently asked me for permission to go to Bethlehem. “Please let me go,” he said, “for we are holding the clan sacrifice in the town and my brothers have ordered me to attend. So now, if I enjoy your favour, let me get away and see my brothers.” That is why he has not come to the king’s table.’
30 Saul flew into a rage with Jonathan and said, ‘Son of a rebellious slut! Don’t I know that you side with the son of Jesse to your own shame and your mother’s dishonour?
31 As long as the son of Jesse lives on earth, neither you nor your royal rights are secure. Now have him fetched and brought to me; he deserves to die.’
32 Jonathan retorted to his father Saul, ‘Why should he die? What has he done?’
33 But Saul brandished his spear at him to strike him, and Jonathan realised that his father was determined that David should die.
34 Hot with anger, Jonathan got up from the table and ate nothing on the second day of the month, being upset about David — and because his father had insulted him.
35 Next morning, Jonathan went out into the country at the time agreed with David, taking a young servant with him.
36 He said to his servant, ‘Run and find the arrows which I am going to shoot,’ and the servant ran while Jonathan shot an arrow ahead of him.
37 When the servant reached the spot to which Jonathan had shot the arrow, Jonathan shouted after him, ‘Is not the arrow ahead of you?’
38 Again Jonathan shouted after the servant, ‘Quick! Hurry, do not stand around.’ Jonathan’s servant picked up the arrow and brought it back to his master.
39 The servant suspected nothing; only Jonathan and David knew what was meant.
40 Jonathan then gave his weapons to his servant and said, ‘Go and carry them to the town.’
41 As soon as the servant had gone, David stood up beside the mound, threw himself to the ground, prostrating himself three times. They then embraced each other, both weeping copiously.
42 Jonathan then said to David, ‘Go in peace. And as regards the oath that both of us have sworn by the name of Yahweh, may Yahweh be witness between you and me, between your descendants and mine for ever.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Sunday, January 29, 2012:
Psalm 24
1 [Psalm Of David] To Yahweh belong the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live there;
2 it is he who laid its foundations on the seas, on the flowing waters fixed it firm.
3 Who shall go up to the mountain of Yahweh? Who shall take a stand in his holy place?
4 The clean of hands and pure of heart, whose heart is not set on vanities, who does not swear an oath in order to deceive.
5 Such a one will receive blessing from Yahweh, saving justice from the God of his salvation.
6 Such is the people that seeks him, that seeks your presence, God of Jacob.Pause
7 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
8 Who is he, this king of glory? It is Yahweh, strong and valiant, Yahweh valiant in battle.
9 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
10 Who is he, this king of glory? Yahweh Sabaoth, he is the king of glory.Pause(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 29
1 [Psalm Of David] Give Yahweh his due, sons of God, give Yahweh his due of glory and strength,
2 give Yahweh the glory due to his name, adore Yahweh in the splendour of holiness.
3 Yahweh’s voice over the waters, the God of glory thunders; Yahweh over countless waters,
4 Yahweh’s voice in power, Yahweh’s voice in splendour;
5 Yahweh’s voice shatters cedars, Yahweh shatters cedars of Lebanon,
6 he makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 Yahweh’s voice carves out lightning-shafts,
8 Yahweh’s voice convulses the desert, Yahweh convulses the desert of Kadesh,
9 Yahweh’s voice convulses terebinths, strips forests bare. In his palace all cry, ‘Glory!’
10 Yahweh was enthroned for the flood, Yahweh is enthroned as king for ever.
11 Yahweh will give strength to his people, Yahweh blesses his people with peace.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 8
1 [For the choirmaster On the . . . of Gath Psalm Of David] Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the world! Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens,
2 even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms, you make him a fortress, firm against your foes, to subdue the enemy and the rebel.
3 I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm-
4 what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty,
6 made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet,
7 sheep and cattle, all of them, and even the wild beasts,
8 birds in the sky, fish in the sea, when he makes his way across the ocean.
9 Yahweh our Lord, how majestic your name throughout the world!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 84
1 [For the choirmaster On the . . . of Gath Of the sons of Korah Psalm] How lovely are your dwelling-places, Yahweh Sabaoth.
2 My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh’s courts, My heart and my body cry out for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, the swallow a nest to place its young: your altars, Yahweh Sabaoth, my King and my God.
4 How blessed are those who live in your house; they shall praise you continually. Pause
5 Blessed those who find their strength in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of the Balsam, they make there a water-hole, and — a further blessing — early rain fills it.
7 They make their way from height to height, God shows himself to them in Zion.
8 Yahweh, God Sabaoth, hear my prayer, listen, God of Jacob.
9 God, our shield, look, and see the face of your anointed.
10 Better one day in your courts than a thousand at my own devices, to stand on the threshold of God’s house than to live in the tents of the wicked.
11 For Yahweh God is a rampart and shield, he gives grace and glory; Yahweh refuses nothing good to those whose life is blameless.
12 Yahweh Sabaoth, blessed is he who trusts in you.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 18:16-33
16 From there the men set out and arrived within sight of Sodom, with Abraham accompanying them to speed them on their way.
17 Now Yahweh had wondered, ‘Shall I conceal from Abraham what I am going to do,
18 as Abraham will become a great and powerful nation and all nations on earth will bless themselves by him?
19 For I have singled him out to command his sons and his family after him to keep the way of Yahweh by doing what is upright and just, so that Yahweh can carry out for Abraham what he has promised him.’
20 Then Yahweh said, ‘The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin is so grave,
21 that I shall go down and see whether or not their actions are at all as the outcry reaching me would suggest. Then I shall know.’
22 While the men left there and went to Sodom, Yahweh remained in Abraham’s presence.
23 Abraham stepped forward and said, ‘Will you really destroy the upright with the guilty?
24 Suppose there are fifty upright people in the city. Will you really destroy it? Will you not spare the place for the sake of the fifty upright in it?
25 Do not think of doing such a thing: to put the upright to death with the guilty, so that upright and guilty fare alike! Is the judge of the whole world not to act justly?’
26 Yahweh replied, ‘If I find fifty upright people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place because of them.’
27 Abraham spoke up and said, ‘It is presumptuous of me to speak to the Lord, I who am dust and ashes:
28 Suppose the fifty upright were five short? Would you destroy the whole city because of five?’ ‘No,’ he replied, ‘I shall not destroy it if I find forty-five there.’
29 Abraham persisted and said, ‘Suppose there are forty to be found there?’ ‘I shall not do it,’ he replied, ‘for the sake of the forty.’
30 Abraham said, ‘I hope the Lord will not be angry if I go on: Suppose there are only thirty to be found there?’ ‘I shall not do it,’ he replied, ‘if I find thirty there.’
31 He said, ‘It is presumptuous of me to speak to the Lord: Suppose there are only twenty there?’ ‘I shall not destroy it,’ he replied, ‘for the sake of the twenty.’
32 He said, ‘I trust my Lord will not be angry if I speak once more: perhaps there will only be ten.’ ‘I shall not destroy it,’ he replied, ‘for the sake of the ten.’
33 When he had finished talking to Abraham Yahweh went away, and Abraham returned home.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Galatians 5:13-25
13 After all, brothers, you were called to be free; do not use your freedom as an opening for self-indulgence, but be servants to one another in love,
14 since the whole of the Law is summarised in the one commandment: You must love your neighbour as yourself.
15 If you go snapping at one another and tearing one another to pieces, take care: you will be eaten up by one another.
16 Instead, I tell you, be guided by the Spirit, and you will no longer yield to self-indulgence.
17 The desires of self-indulgence are always in opposition to the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are in opposition to self-indulgence: they are opposites, one against the other; that is how you are prevented from doing the things that you want to.
18 But when you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: sexual vice, impurity, and sensuality,
20 the worship of false gods and sorcery; antagonisms and rivalry, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels, disagreements,
21 factions and malice, drunkenness, orgies and all such things. And about these, I tell you now as I have told you in the past, that people who behave in these ways will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 On the other hand the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness,
23 gentleness and self-control; no law can touch such things as these.
24 All who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified self with all its passions and its desires.
25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let our behaviour be guided by the Spirit(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 8:22-30
22 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought to him a blind man whom they begged him to touch.
23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. Then, putting spittle on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked, ‘Can you see anything?’
24 The man, who was beginning to see, replied, ‘I can see people; they look like trees as they walk around.’
25 Then he laid his hands on the man’s eyes again and he saw clearly; he was cured, and he could see everything plainly and distinctly.
26 And Jesus sent him home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the village.’
27 Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, ‘Who do people say I am?’
28 And they told him, ‘John the Baptist, others Elijah, others again, one of the prophets.’
29 ‘But you,’ he asked them, ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter spoke up and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’
30 And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Gary Lee Parker’s Sermon Outline with Scriptures for Sunday, January 29, 2012 and Thursday, February 2, 2012:
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
January 29, 2012
ART — PRAYER
Thematic
Perfect Light of revelation,
as you shone in the life of Jesus,
whose epiphany we celebrate,
so shine in us and through us,
that we may become beacons of truth and compassion,
enlightening all creation with deeds of justice and mercy. Amen.
OR
O God,
you spoke your word
and revealed your good news in Jesus, the Christ.
Fill all creation with that word again,
so that by proclaiming your joyful promises to all nations
and singing of your glorious hope to all peoples,
we may become one living body,
your incarnate presence on the earth. Amen.
Intercessory
To God who welcomes all in love,
let us pray for the good of the church
and the concerns of those in need.
Prayers of the People, concluding with:
God of every land and nation,
you have created all people
and you dwell among us in Jesus Christ.
Listen to the cries of those who pray to you,
and grant that, as we proclaim the greatness of your name,
all people will know the power of love at work in the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
OR
Sisters and brothers,
let us lift our hearts in faith
to the one who hears all prayers
and holds close all those in need.
Prayers of the People, concluding with:
Holy God, you gather the whole universe
into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds,
make whole all that is broken,
speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.
Scripture
Holy and awesome God,
your Son’s authority is found in integrity and living truth,
not the assertion of power over others.
Open our imaginations to new dimensions of your love,
and heal us of all that severs us from you and one another,
that we may grow into the vision you unfold before us. Amen.
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
15 Yahweh your God will raise up a prophet like me; you will listen to him.
16 This is exactly what you asked Yahweh your God to do — at Horeb, on the day of the Assembly, when you said, “Never let me hear the voice of Yahweh my God or see this great fire again, or I shall die.”
17 Then Yahweh said to me,
18 “What they have said is well said. From their own brothers I shall raise up a prophet like yourself;
19 I shall put my words into his mouth and he will tell them everything I command him. Anyone who refuses to listen to my words, spoken by him in my name, will have to render an account to me.
20 But the prophet who presumes to say something in my name which I have not commanded him to say, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 111
1 Alleluia! I give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart, in the meeting-place of honest people, in the assembly.
2 Great are the deeds of Yahweh, to be pondered by all who delight in them.
3 Full of splendour and majesty his work, his saving justice stands firm for ever.
4 He gives us a memorial of his great deeds; Yahweh is mercy and tenderness.
5 He gives food to those who fear him, he keeps his covenant ever in mind.
6 His works show his people his power in giving them the birthright of the nations.
7 The works of his hands are fidelity and justice, all his precepts are trustworthy,
8 established for ever and ever, accomplished in fidelity and honesty.
9 Deliverance he sends to his people, his covenant he imposes for ever; holy and awesome his name.
10 The root of wisdom is fear of Yahweh; those who attain it are wise. His praise will continue for ever.(New Jerusalem Bible)
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
1 Now about food which has been dedicated to false gods. We are well aware that all of us have knowledge; but while knowledge puffs up, love is what builds up.
2 Someone may think that he has full knowledge of something and yet not know it as well as he should;
3 but someone who loves God is known by God.
4 On the subject of eating foods dedicated to false gods, we are well aware that none of the false gods exists in reality and that there is no God other than the One.
5 Though there are so-called gods, in the heavens or on earth — and there are plenty of gods and plenty of lords-
6 yet for us there is only one God, the Father from whom all things come and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist.
7 However, not everybody has this knowledge. There are some in whose consciences false gods still play such a part that they take the food as though it had been dedicated to a god; then their conscience, being vulnerable, is defiled,
8 But of course food cannot make us acceptable to God; we lose nothing by not eating it, we gain nothing by eating it.
9 Only be careful that this freedom of yours does not in any way turn into an obstacle to trip those who are vulnerable.
10 Suppose someone sees you, who have the knowledge, sitting eating in the temple of some false god, do you not think that his conscience, vulnerable as it is, may be encouraged to eat foods dedicated to false gods?
11 And then it would be through your knowledge that this brother for whom Christ died, vulnerable as he is, has been lost.
12 So, sinning against your brothers and wounding their vulnerable consciences, you would be sinning against Christ.
13 That is why, if food can be the cause of a brother’s downfall, I will never eat meat any more, rather than cause my brother’s downfall.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 1:21-28
21 They went as far as Capernaum, and at once on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach.
22 And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.
23 And at once in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted,
24 ‘What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.’
25 But Jesus rebuked it saying, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’
26 And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.
27 The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, ‘Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.’
28 And his reputation at once spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.(New Jerusalem Bible)
TITLE: Holy Authority
SCRIPTURES: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, & Mark 1:21-28
THEME: When things seem disconnected, they are more connected then we realize.
INTRODUCTION: How do we connect God’s dots between these Scripture passage given to us for today? We look at the Deuteronomy’s passage where Moses is prophesying that a prophet will arise greater than he is. He shares that the prophets with God’s authority will point to God alone, not to false gods. Then we look at the letter to the church at Corinth by the Apostle Paul and we see that the freedom that God gives comes with responsibility to other people. Lastly, we come to the passage where Jesus teaches in the synagogue while healing a person from demon possession and the people say that Jesus speaks as one with authority not as the Scribes and Pharisees. How do you see the connection? Just maybe the connection is the Holy Authority that comes from God alone. How do you understand this?
I. Moses as a Prophet.
A. Moses says that there will be one coming among them who has more authority than he does.
B. Moses also warns about false prophets who point the people to worship false gods.
C. How have you understood this passage in Deuteronomy?
II. Freedom comes with Responsibilities.
A. Paul speaks about the freedom our faith has to eat anything wherever it comes from.
B. Paul warns that a vulnerable or weak Christian may lose their faith because what they see us eat.
C. How do you live your freedom with responsibilities to other Christians and other people?
III. Jesus teaches with great Holy Authority.
A. Jesus heals a demon possessed person.
B. The people in the synagogue are in awe of Jesus’ words and authority.
C. How do you understand God’s Holy and true Authority?
CONCLUSION: We come to realize are lack of responsibilities to other people. Where we have sinned, we come and repent of our sins to receive God’s forgiveness and grace.
INVITATION: We come now to receive God’s grace as we take and eat Jesus’ body and drink His Blood through the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. As we come, we sing from the hymn “God of Our Fathers” by Daniel C. Roberts:
1. God of our fathers, whose almighty hand
Leads forth in beauty all the starry band
Of shining worlds in splendor through the skies
Our grateful songs before Thy throne arise.
2.Thy love divine hath led us in the past,
In this free land by Thee our lot is cast,
Be Thou our Ruler, Guardian, Guide and Stay,
Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.
3. From war’s alarms, from deadly pestilence,
Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;
Thy true religion in our hearts increase,
Thy bounteous goodness nourish us in peace.
4. Refresh Thy people on their toilsome way,
Lead us from night to never ending day;
Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,
And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.
BENEDICTION: Let us leave this place with not only God’s freedom in our lives, but live with His responsibilities towards other people.

Presentation of the Lord
February 2, 2012
ART — PRAYER
Thematic
God of steadfast love,
you sent your Son to be the light of the world,
saving people everywhere from sin and death.
As Anna gave thanks for the freedom he would bring,
and Simeon saw in him the dawn of redemption,
complete your purpose once made known in him.
Make us the vessels of his light,
that all the world may glory in the splendor of your peace. Amen.
Intercessory
God of love,
you refine silver and shelter the sparrow’s nest.
Accept the prayers we bring this day,
for you know all that tests and troubles us.
Prayers of the People, concluding with:
Embrace our needs in your blessing,
so that we may be sustained,
even in times of trial. Amen.
Scripture
Strong and mighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus,
the presentation of your Son in the temple
was his first entrance into the place of sacrifice.
Grant that, trusting in his offering upon the cross
to forgive our sins and uphold us in the time of trial,
we may sing your praises
and live in the light of your salvation, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Malachi 3:1-4
1 ‘Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple; yes, the angel of the covenant, for whom you long, is on his way, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
2 Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like fullers’ alkali.
3 He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they can make the offering to Yahweh with uprightness.
4 The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be acceptable to Yahweh as in former days, as in the years of old.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 84
1 [For the choirmaster On the . . . of Gath Of the sons of Korah Psalm] How lovely are your dwelling-places, Yahweh Sabaoth.
2 My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh’s courts, My heart and my body cry out for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, the swallow a nest to place its young: your altars, Yahweh Sabaoth, my King and my God.
4 How blessed are those who live in your house; they shall praise you continually. Pause
5 Blessed those who find their strength in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of the Balsam, they make there a water-hole, and — a further blessing — early rain fills it.
7 They make their way from height to height, God shows himself to them in Zion.
8 Yahweh, God Sabaoth, hear my prayer, listen, God of Jacob.
9 God, our shield, look, and see the face of your anointed.
10 Better one day in your courts than a thousand at my own devices, to stand on the threshold of God’s house than to live in the tents of the wicked.
11 For Yahweh God is a rampart and shield, he gives grace and glory; Yahweh refuses nothing good to those whose life is blameless.
12 Yahweh Sabaoth, blessed is he who trusts in you.(New Jerusalem Bible)
or
Psalm 24:7-10
7 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
8 Who is he, this king of glory? It is Yahweh, strong and valiant, Yahweh valiant in battle.
9 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
10 Who is he, this king of glory? Yahweh Sabaoth, he is the king of glory.Pause(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 2:14-18
14 Since all the children share the same human nature, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could set aside him who held the power of death, namely the devil,
15 and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
16 For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself the line of Abraham.
17 It was essential that he should in this way be made completely like his brothers so that he could become a compassionate and trustworthy high priest for their relationship to God, able to expiate the sins of the people.
18 For the suffering he himself passed through while being put to the test enables him to help others when they are being put to the test.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 2:22-40
22 And when the day came for them to be purified in keeping with the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord-
23 observing what is written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord-
24 and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is prescribed in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
25 Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to the restoration of Israel and the Holy Spirit rested on him.
26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord.
27 Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required,
28 he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
29 Now, Master, you are letting your servant go in peace as you promised;
30 for my eyes have seen the salvation
31 which you have made ready in the sight of the nations;
32 a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel.
33 As the child’s father and mother were wondering at the things that were being said about him,
34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Look, he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed-
35 and a sword will pierce your soul too — so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
36 There was a prophetess, too, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years
37 before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer.
38 She came up just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
39 When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
40 And as the child grew to maturity, he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
TITLE: Giving to God
SCRIPTURE: Malachi 3:1-4, Hebrews 2:14-18, & Luke 2:22-40
THEME: When God gives, we give back to God in full to do as He desires.
INTRODUCTION: Today, we are reminded that even Jesus was given back to God as the Law has required. First, we heart that Malachi prophesies that a person will come before the Messiah to prepare His way. Second, we hear from the writer of the Book of Hebrews that Jesus is the greater High Priest because He did not have to sacrifice for His own sins because He was and is sinless. Lastly, we see when Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple to fulfill the requirement of the Law to consecrate the first born male back to God. They had two witnesses, a man and woman, shared about their promise from God that they were see The Messiah before they died. How do you understand these promises and the promises God may have given you for your life?
I. God promises through Malachi.
A. God’s chosen forerunner to come and prepare the way for The Messiah.
B. The Messiah will come to deliver Israel.
C. How would you and how do you see this promise fulfilled?
II. The teaching about Jesus.
A. Jesus is greater High Priest than the High Priest through Aaron.
B. Jesus took on our suffering in Himself.
C. How do you understand who Jesus is?
III. The fulfilling the Law.
A. Joseph and Mary takes Jesus to consecrate Him as the Law requires.
B. Two seniors witness to whom Jesus is as promised by God.
C. How would you have or do understand the witness of Simeon and Anna?
CONCLUSION: We come to realize that God’s promises are always fulfilled while His Law continues. Where we attempt to separate grace from law, we repent of our sins.
INVITATION: We come to receive from God what He has for us as we eat the Body of Jesus and drink His Blood through the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. As we come, we sing from the hymn “Let There Be Peace on Earth” by Jill Jackson and Mark Miller:
1. Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With God as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.
2. Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step i take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
With peace eternally.
Let ther be peace on earth,
And let it begin with me.
3, (child)
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
Let there be peace on earth
The peace that was meant to be.
With god as our father
Brothers all are we.
Let me walk with my brother
In perfect harmony.
4. Let peace begin with me
Let this be the moment now.
With every step I take
Let this be my solemn vow.
To take each moment
And live each moment
In peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth
And let it begin with me.
BENEDICTION: May each of us go from this place with renewed grace and peace to live out God’s promises in our lives.

Sunday, 29 January 2012
Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Gildas the Wise, Abbot (6th century)
Psalm 95
1 Come, let us cry out with joy to Yahweh, acclaim the rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, acclaim him with music.
3 For Yahweh is a great God, a king greater than all the gods.
4 In his power are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are his;
5 the sea belongs to him, for he made it, and the dry land, moulded by his hands.
6 Come, let us bow low and do reverence; kneel before Yahweh who made us!
7 For he is our God, and we the people of his sheepfold, the flock of his hand. If only you would listen to him today!
8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as at the time of Massah in the desert,
9 when your ancestors challenged me, put me to the test, and saw what I could do!
10 For forty years that generation sickened me, and I said, ‘Always fickle hearts; they cannot grasp my ways.’
11 Then in my anger I swore they would never enter my place of rest.(New Jerusalem Bible)
1 Corinthians 7:32-35
32 I should like you to have your minds free from all worry. The unmarried man gives his mind to the Lord’s affairs and to how he can please the Lord;
33 but the man who is married gives his mind to the affairs of this world and to how he can please his wife, and he is divided in mind.
34 So, too, the unmarried woman, and the virgin, gives her mind to the Lord’s affairs and to being holy in body and spirit; but the married woman gives her mind to the affairs of this world and to how she can please her husband.
35 I am saying this only to help you, not to put a bridle on you, but so that everything is as it should be, and you are able to give your undivided attention to the Lord.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Commentary of the day:
Saint Jerome (347-420), priest, translator of the Bible, Doctor of the Church
Commentary on Saint Mark’s Gospel, 2; PLS 2,125f.
“What is this? A new teaching”
«The unclean spirit convulsed him with a loud cry.» This was his way of expressing his distress: by convulsing him. Since he could not ruin the man’s soul, the devil wrought his anger on his body. Besides, these physical manifestations were the only means he had to show that he was coming out. When the spirit of purity makes his presence known, the spirit of impurity beats a retreat…
«All were amazed and asked one another: «What is this?» Let us look at the Acts of the Apostles and the signs given by the first prophets. What did Pharaoh’s magicians say when confronted by Moses’ marvellous deeds? «This is the finger of God» (Ex 8,15). It was Moses who carried them out but it was the power of another they recognised. Later on the apostles performed further marvels: «In the name of Jesus Christ, rise and walk!» (Acts 3,6); «Paul… said to the spirit: ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of this woman’» (Acts 16,18). Jesus’ name is always used. Here, however, what does he himself say? «Come out of this man» without any further precision. It is in his own name that he orders the spirit to come out. «All were amazed and asked one another: ‘What is this? A new teaching.’» Now, in itself, the expulsion of the demon had nothing new about it: Hebrew exorcists were doing the same thing at that time. But what does Jesus say? What is this new teaching? And where is the novelty? It is that he gives the command to the unclean spirits by his own authority, referring to no one else. He himself gives the order; he does not speak in another’s name but by his own authority.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Sunday 29th January 2012
BUT IT IS HARDLY CREDIBLE THAT ONE COULD BE SO POSITIVELY IGNORANT! by Oswald Chambers
Who art Thou, Lord?(Acts 26:15)
“The Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand.” There is no escape when Our Lord speaks, He always comes with an arrestment of the understanding. Has the voice of God come to you directly? If it has, you cannot mistake the intimate insistence with which it has spoken to you in the language you know best, not through your ears, but through your circumstances.
God has to destroy our determined confidence in our own convictions. “I know this is what I should do” – and suddenly the voice of God speaks in a way that overwhelms us by revealing the depths of our ignorance. We have shown our ignorance of Him in the very way we determined to serve Him. We serve Jesus in a spirit that is not His, we hurt Him by our advocacy for Him, we push His claims in the spirit of the devil. Our words sound all right, but our spirit is that of an enemy. “He rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.” The spirit of our Lord in an advocate of His is described in 1 Corinthians 13.
Have I been persecuting Jesus by a zealous determination to serve Him in my own way? If I feel I have done my duty and yet have hurt Him in doing it, I may be sure it was not my duty, because it has not fostered the meek and quiet spirit, but the spirit of self-satisfaction. We imagine that whatever is unpleasant is our duty! Is that anything like the spirit of our Lord – “I delight to do Thy will, O My God.”

Reflecting God-No One More Busy
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 72:8-20
8 His empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the limits of the earth.
9 The Beast will cower before him, his enemies lick the dust;
10 the kings of Tarshish and the islands will pay him tribute. The kings of Sheba and Saba will offer gifts;
11 all kings will do him homage, all nations become his servants.
12 For he rescues the needy who calls to him, and the poor who has no one to help.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the needy from death.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their lives, their blood is precious in his sight.
15 (Long may he live; may the gold of Sheba be given him!) Prayer will be offered for him constantly, and blessings invoked on him all day.
16 May wheat abound in the land, waving on the heights of the hills, like Lebanon with its fruits and flowers at their best, like the grasses of the earth.
17 May his name be blessed for ever, and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the world, and all nations call him blessed.
18 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders;
19 blessed for ever his glorious name. May the whole world be filled with his glory! Amen! Amen!
20 End of the prayers of David, son of Jesse.(New Jerusalem Bible)
No One More Busy by Gerald Crispin
“Are you busy?” That is a question we are often asked. No matter how busy we may be, no human, as far as I know, was busier than the king written about in Psalm 72. The words “he will” are found together eight times in the psalm. Among those “he will” statements are some big things!
The first thing the king will do is “judge” his people (verse 2). The next seven things include “defend,” “endure,” “be like rain,” “rule,” “deliver,” “take pity,” and finally “rescue” (verses 4-14). What a job description! I get tired just thinking about it. No one was busier than this king, and no one was more worthy of honor ( verses 9-11). In the human arena abundance and enduring fame often comes to the hard working and righteous leader.
God has no need to acquire wealth or make a name. the Lord’s marvelous deeds call for our eternal praise. In all my doing I need to remember to praise and honor God’s glorious name forever. Not only for what he has done, and for what he is going to do, but for who he is. Even a busy king found time to remember that.
Hymn for Today:
“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” by Charles Wesley
1. O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
2. My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy name.
3. Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease;
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life, and health, and peace.
4. He breaks the power of canceled sin,
he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean;
his blood availed for me.
5. He speaks, and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive;
the mournful, broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.
6. Hear him, ye deaf; his praise, ye dumb,
your loosened tongues employ;
ye blind, behold your savior come,
and leap, ye lame, for joy.
7. In Christ, your head, you then shall know,
shall feel your sins forgiven;
anticipate your heaven below,
and own that love is heaven.
2nd Thought for Today:
“Our primary concern as Christians should be the worship of God. Take care of that, and the other priorities will become even more urgent as well as more authentic”(Rob L. Staples).
Prayer Needs:
Many people in Iraq will come to know Christ and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

3rd Thought for Today:
Sunday 29 January 2012
A New Vision
Let’s rethink a new vision for our world, based on every human person as important. And that means we will have to change. We move from a world of competition where I have to appear the powerful one, which means crushing others, to becoming the cooperative one, the understanding one, the listening one, so that we can build something together. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

1.29.12 – What Destroys/Heals Relationships from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Weekly Prayer:
Lord Jesus, when you were on earth, you were a real human being, not a sort of plastic figurine who never got angry, tired, frustrated or disappointed. You showed us how to live a truly human life of honesty with yourself and with others. Without hiding or repressing, you always sought to build relationships that were ultimately redemptive. Strengthen and guide me to be more and more like you in my most important relationships. Amen.
Prayer Tip:
Praying Scripture
We can turn many passages in Scripture into prayers. I find it a neat thing to pray the Bible’s words back to God. If we struggle to come up with our own words, we can use the vocabulary of the Scriptures as the basis of our prayers. All it takes is to change some of the pronouns, and put an opening and closing on the prayer.
For example, John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Now let’s make it into a personal prayer: “Holy and Loving God, for You so loved me that You gave Your only son, so that I who believe in him may not perish but have eternal life. This I pray in the name of your son, Jesus. Amen.”
With so many of the passages of Scripture you may read in Bible study, this is a perfect way to make the words your own.
Here are some other examples of Scriptures you might try praying:
Psalm 18: 1-3 1I love you, O Lord, my strength. 2 The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so I shall be saved from my enemies.
Philippians 4:4-6 4Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Matthew 11: 28-30 28 Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I hope this is a meaningful and enriching practice for you this week. by Pastor Nancy Pauls, Resurrection Prayer Ministry

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Gracious Words
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Ephesians 4:25-32
25 So from now on, there must be no more lies. Speak the truth to one another, since we are all parts of one another.
26 Even if you are angry, do not sin: never let the sun set on your anger
27 or else you will give the devil a foothold.
28 Anyone who was a thief must stop stealing; instead he should exert himself at some honest job with his own hands so that he may have something to share with those in need.
29 No foul word should ever cross your lips; let your words be for the improvement of others, as occasion offers, and do good to your listeners;
30 do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God who has marked you with his seal, ready for the day when we shall be set free.
31 Any bitterness or bad temper or anger or shouting or abuse must be far removed from you — as must every kind of malice.
32 Be generous to one another, sympathetic, forgiving each other as readily as God forgave you in Christ.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to all who hear.(Ephesians 4:29 (NRSV))
Today’s Devotional
Bob, my step-grandfather for 38 years, never hesitated to express an opinion. If he felt something needed saying, he said it. He told me who deserved our vote, who was going to win the game, and what I needed to do with my life. Sometimes I wished that God would gently take away Bob’s gift of speech for a day or two. But just when I would think I’d had enough of Bob, he would give me a hug and remind me that I was loved. During a rough passage in my life, Bob said, “God is going to take care of you.” No one had said anything like that to me before, but outspoken Bob did.
Ephesians tells us to keep unwholesome talk to ourselves and to speak words that give grace to those who hear them. In his outspoken way, Bob did just that. Mixed with his unfiltered opinions were the words he wanted me to hear above all others: that I was loved and valued by God and by him. In the end, the words of love were the ones I heard. I hope that I, like Bob, will not be shy about speaking words of grace. by Jason Jones (Indiana, USA)
4th Thought for the Day: Everyone needs to be reminded that they are loved by God.
Prayer: Dear God, may our words reflect your grace today. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Those who need to know God’s love today
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Living a Whole Life — January 29, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
LIVING A WHOLE LIFE
The first half of life is invariably about creating identity, finding some boundary markers (traditions, trustworthy authorities and structures), making some money, getting an education, marrying, and raising children—which we then must defend for the rest of our lives. Most of us are so invested in these first answers by the age of 40, that we can’t imagine anything more—not realizing that “It’s still all about me!”
Christians in the first half of life became obsessed with dying a happy death and going to heaven. Even religion became a rather privatized evacuation plan for the next world, and the clergy seldom recognized that much of religion was trapped at the individualistic and egocentric level. No actual love of neighbor, outsider, the poor, or even God was really necessary. This is “garden variety” first half of life religion, and it has passed for the real thing for much of the Christian era. Adapted from Loving the Two Halves of Life: The Further Journey
(CD/DVD/MP3). See also Fr. Richard’s latest book,
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Starter Prayer:
Help me grow up by going down. by Father Richard Rohr

Reflections with GOD for Saturday, January 28, 2012

Quotes for Today:
You don’t need fancy highbrow traditions or money to really learn. You just need people with the desire to better themselves. by Adam Cooper and Bill Collage, Accepted, 2006
It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated. by Alec Bourne
An education isn’t how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. It’s being able to differentiate between what you do know and what you don’t. by Anatole France (1844 – 1924)
A well-informed mind is the best security against the contagion of folly and of vice. The vacant mind is ever on the watch for relief, and ready to plunge into error, to escape from the languor of idleness. by Ann Radcliffe (1764 – 1823), The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1764
Education is the best provision for old age. by Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. by Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)
Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten. by B. F. Skinner (1904 – 1990), New Scientist, May 21, 1964
The strength of the United States is not the gold at Fort Knox or the weapons of mass destruction that we have, but the sum total of the education and the character of our people. by Claiborne Pell (1918 – )
Everyone has a right to a university degree in America, even if it’s in Hamburger Technology. by Clive James
School is learning things you don’t want to know, surrounded by people you wish you didn’t know, while working toward a future you don’t know will ever come. by Dave Kellett, Sheldon, 10-09-11
The number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes. by Denis Diderot (1713 – 1784)
The foundation of every state is the education of its youth. by Diogenes Laertius
Education begins a gentleman, conversation completes him. by Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 – 1734), Gnomologia, 1732
I didn’t go to college at all, any college, and I’m not saying you wasted your time or money, but look at me, I’m a huge celebrity. by Ellen DeGeneres, Tulane Commencement Speech, 2009
Only the educated are free. by Epictetus (55 AD – 135 AD), Discourses
America believes in education: the average professor earns more money in a year than a professional athlete earns in a whole week. by Evan Esar (1899 – 1995)
Education… has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading. by G. M. Trevelyan (1876 – 1962), English Social History (1942)
Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths theater. by Gail Godwin
A fool’s brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstition, and art into pedantry. Hence University education. by George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)
Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. by H. G. Wells (1866 – 1946), Outline of History (1920)
College isn’t the place to go for ideas. by Helen Keller (1880 – 1968)
Education has for its object the formation of character. by Herbert Spencer (1820 – 1903)
The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. by Herbert Spencer (1820 – 1903)
Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently maintained. by James A. Garfield (1831 – 1881), July 12, 1880
Bachelor’s degrees make pretty good placemats if you get ‘em laminated. by Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content, 01-04-07
That’s what college is for – getting as many bad decisions as possible out of the way before you’re forced into the real world. I keep a checklist of ‘em on the wall in my room. by Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content, 01-04-07
A university is what a college becomes when the faculty loses interest in students. by John Ciardi (1916 – 1986)
She knows what is the best purpose of education: not to be frightened by the best but to treat it as part of daily life. by John Mason Brown (1900 – 1969)
Fathers send their sons to college either because they went to college or because they didn’t. by L. L. Henderson
Education is a method whereby one acquires a higher grade of prejudices. by Laurence J. Peter (1919 – 1988)

Sermon for Today:
THE GREAT PHYSICIAN AND HIS PATIENTS by Charles H. Spurgeon
DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 5TH, 1865, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. (#618)
“They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.”(Matthew 9:12).
THIS was Christ’s apology for mingling with publicans and sinners when the Pharisees murmured against him. He triumphantly cleared himself by shewing that accordingly to the fitness of things he was perfectly in order. He was acting according to his official character. A physician should be
found where there is work for him to do, and that it is where healing is required. There was evidently none among the Pharisees, if their own opinion of themselves were to hold good, for they were perfectly whole. There was much to do, according to their own admission, among the
publicans and sinners, for they were sore sick; therefore our Lord was in his place, and fittingly executing his office when he sought out those who needed him.
I. We shall have no time for a preface this morning, and therefore let us enter at once into the text by observing that MERCY GRACIOUSLY REGARDS SIN AS A DISEASE.
Sin is more than a disease. If it were only a sickness, men were to be pitied for suffering it; but the element of the perverse will, of voluntary rebellion and designed offense enters into sin, otherwise it were far less truly sin; and this makes it more than a sickness, and worse than a malady. Let us not think that the picture of disease really does set forth all the heinous nature of sin; it is only a generous way in which Mercy chooses to look at it and to deal with it. As Justice views it, all the plague, and venom, and virus, and contagion in the world would be sweet and harmless, compared with one single evil thought or imagination; but Mercy leniently and graciously chooses, in order that it may have a sort of apology for its operations, under the great plan of salvation, to view sin as a disease. It is justified in such a view, for almost everything that may be said of deadly maladies may be said of sin. Let us come to particulars.
Sin is an hereditary disease: we are born with a tendency towards it, nay we are born in it. The taint is in our blood: the very center of our being feels the infection. Born in sin and shapen in iniquity, in sin did our mothers conceive us, and our offspring in like measure received from us that original sin which is part of our fallen nature. Every man born into the world bears within him the seeds of sin, in the bias and current of his mind, nor is this to be wondered at, for “Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.” “How can he he clean that is born of a woman?”
Sin, like sickness, is very disabling. A sick man cannot carry burdens, climb mountains, run in service, walk with perseverance, or leap for joy. The occupations and the pleasures of other men are things from which he is shut out. Even so does sin prevent our serving God. We cannot pray to
him: we cannot praise him aright. In every duty we are weak, and for every good we are feeble. There is not a single moral power of manhood which sin has not stripped of its strength and glory. If we would run in the way of God’s commands, then sin has lamed us; if we would grasp God’s
promises, evil has paralysed us; if we would see into the mysteries of grace, guilt has blinded us; if we would hear the voice of God, transgression has smitten us with deafness; and if our voices would swell the song of cherubim and seraphim, alas, the plague of our heart within has made us
dumb. Of all or us in our measure it may be said through sin, “unstable as water, then shalt not excel.” Sin weakens man’s nature for all good.
Sin also, like certain diseases, is a very loathsome thing. Some diseases are so extremely disgusting that scarcely can their names be mentioned; but, oh, they are sweetness itself when compared with sin. The most putrid poisonous air that ever blew from a fever hospital, never had such foulness in it as dwells in sin. Pest-houses, and lazar-houses are clean and safe compared with the haunts of vice. In God’s esteem, and in the esteem of all holy minds, the most detestable, obnoxious, dreadful thing in the whole world is moral evil. If that could be got rid of, all other evil would cease to be. This is the mother and nurse of all evil, the egg of all mischief, the fountain of bitterness, the root of misery. Here you have the distilled essence of hell; the “quintessence,” as the old divines would say of everything that is unlovely, disreputable, dishonest, impure, abominable —in a word — damnable.
Like some diseases, sin is fearfully polluting. As the leper cannot be tolerated abroad; as the plague-stricken are separated from their fellows, even so sin separates us from communion with God and holy beings. It is not alone their unwillingness to associate with us, as our horrible unfitness to have fellowship with them. It is dreadful to hear about with us a cancer, which has reached the stage of sickening rottenness; and yet this is not half so terribly disgusting as sin is to the heart of God. God is very gracious, but he cannot endure sin in his presence, and hence to set forth his hatred of it in type and figure he forbade diseased persons to enter his courts, or even to mingle with the camp of his people. For the unclean there was a plain and clear separation until he had been purified. Sin necessarily shuts us out from God’s presence. Into his holy fellowship we must not come, we dare not attempt to come; the fire of his anger would consume us, as it did Nadab and Abihu, if we as sinners should venture near him apart from Christ Jesus. We cannot stand at the altar to officiate as priests before God, though this was the proper lot of manhood, by reason of the leprosy that is on our brow. Our praising God, simple as that might seem, cannot be acceptable in his sight, because of the defilement of our uncircumcised lips. Almighty grace must take away our uncleanliness or we cannot worship. Iniquity is a polluting thing. Everything we do and everything we think of grows polluted through our corruption. The unclean person could not touch a vessel, sit on a bed, or come near a garment without defiling it; and our sin has much the same effect. Our prayers have stains in them, our faith is mixed with unbelief, our repentance is not so tender as it should be, our communion is distant and interrupted. We cannot pray without sinning, and there is filth even in our tears. Well was it for Israel that there was an Aaron to bear the sins of their holy things, and blessed is it for us that Jesus takes the sins even of our best works, and casts them into the depths of thesea.
Sin too may be likened to many sicknesses from its being contagious. A man cannot be a sinner alone. “One sinner destroyeth much good.” The seeds of sin are winged like thistle-down. You may shut up the leper in a lazar-house, but there is no such way of shutting up sin, it will get out and spread itself. A man, if he be evil, will make others evil. His children will imitate him; his dependants, feeling his influence, will walk in his footsteps. Even his neighbors cannot look upon his sin without being in some measure infected by it, for “the thought of evil is sin.” There is a fierce contiguousness in every form of moral evil; like fire among stubble it spreads most rapidly.
Sin moreover, like many diseases, is very painful; and yet, on the other hand, at certain stages it brings on a deadness, a numbness of soul preventing pain. The most of men are unconscious of the misery of the fall. They think themselves rich and increased in goods, having need of nothing, when they are naked, and poor and miserable. Sin causes a madness which makes sick souls dream that they are in sound health. They talk as though heaven were their heritage, when they are sitting on the brink of hell. But when sin is really discerned, then it becomes painful. I would sooner suffer— I know not what may be the pangs of some disease, but I feel sure I may say this — I would sooner suffer a complication of all the ills that flesh is heir to, than suffer the plague of a guilty, awakened, enlightened, quickened conscience; for when conscience accuseth a man there is no rest for him either day or night; its little finger is heavier than the loins of all other griefs. When sin becomes exceeding sinful before the eye, then there is a gloom and a heaviness of spirit which crushes the soul into despair, making life bitter, as Pharaoh did the lives of the children of Israel. Speak of Egyptian darkness, it was bright as noon-day compared with the darkness of a mind borne down with its own guilt. Oh what wretchedness was mine before I laid hold on Christ. There are some who feel not so acutely the agony of conflict with sin, but it was my lot to feel a horror of great darkness, verging upon despair, so that had I not soon found a Savior, my soul had chosen strangling rather than life. Believe me, there is no pain so bitter as the pain of sin, and no curse so heavy as the curse which comes from the black lips of our civil iniquities; and yet I would to God that some of you felt it now that ye might not feel it hereafter. I would that this whip would fall upon your backs, that you might be flogged out of your self-righteousness, and made to fly to Jesus Christ and find a shelter there.
The disease of sin is deep-seated, and has its throne in the heart. It does not lie in the hand or foot, it is not to be removed by amputation, much less by outward applications; no lancet can reach it, it is impossible to cauterize it. The skill of physician can often extract the roots of disease, but no skill can ever reach this. It has entered the marrow, the very core and center of our being, and only the Divine one is able to purge us from it. “No outward forms can make me clean The leprosy lies deep within.” It is in its own nature wholly incurable. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?” If so, then can he that is accustomed to do evil learn to do well. Can a brine fountain send forth sweet waters? Shall the thorn suddenly yield olives? Can the cataract which has been for ever dashing down the steep, reverse its course and return towards the river-head? Shall fire suddenly become gentle and lose its consuming power while the fuel is round about it? Shall the lion of himself eat straw like the ox? Shall the leopard bleat like a lamb? Such changes, being changes or nature, are only to be wrought by divine strength; and so it is not possible for the disease of sin ever to be cared by any human remedies. Man cannot cure himself. He may reform, He may drive the disease inward, and prevent its coming out upon the skin; He may so model, and guide, and restrain himself, that the coarser forms of sin which are condemned among men may not appear in him; but the virus, the essential poison of sin, no man can ever extract from his own heart, nor can another man do it for him. Jehovah Rophi, the healing Lord, must manifest his omnipotent power. The utmost religiousness, the most devout prayers, the greatest possible circumspection, will not avail to remove the taint of sin, if they spring from an unrenewed heart. The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not reconciled to God, neither, indeed, can it be.
And so, let us close the story of this sickness of sin, by observing that it is a mortal disease. It kills not just now, but it will kill ere long. Not merely shall the body die as the result of sin, but the soul must be killed for ever with eternal wrath. O sinner, thou little knowest what thy sin will bring thee to; but if thou wilt read in God’s Word, thou shalt discover that it will bring thee to the worm that never dies, and to the fire that never can be quenched. Perhaps to-morrow thou mayest know what a full-blown sin is; perhaps to-morrow, I said — that word may be prophetic to some of you — but if not to-morrow, it is but a matter of time, a few months, more or less, and you will be in torment. Sin, when it is ripened, bringeth forth death and damnation. Oh! thou dost not know what that word “to be damned” means! Thou canst play with it sometimes, and lightly hurl it at thy fellow creatures; but couldst thou only once hear the shriek of a damned soul, couldst thou only once see a spirit cast out from the presence of God into eternal misery, surely it would compel thee to cry, “What must I do to be saved.” Enough of this: it is clear that there is a very excellent parallel to be drawn between sin and disease. Humbling as it is, yet the fact is nevertheless most certain, that we are all suffering under the disease of sin.
II. But now, secondly, IT PLEASES DIVINE MERCY TO GIVE TO CHRIST
THE CHARACTER OF A PHYSICIAN.
Having deigned to consider sin as a disease, which is a great proof of mercy, it now graciously confers upon Christ the character of a physician. Be it for ever understood that Jesus Christ never came into the world merely to explain what sin is. Moses had for his mission the exposition of sin, Christ has for his mission the eradication of it. We know what sin is through the law: that is as much as the law can do for us. Christ comes, not merely to tell us what it is, but to inform us how it can he removed. Jesus did not come to apologize for sin; Christ never died in order that sin might
appear less sinful, that God might be less severe towards sin, or hate it less. God forbid! We never see sin to be so black as when we view its evil as revealed in the sufferings of Jesus, nor is God’s wrath ever more intolerable than when we behold it consuming his only-begotten Son. “Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.” Christ did not come to lay a flattering unction to men’s souls, to prevent distress of conscience, to say to them “Peace, Peace!” where there is no peace; no, he came to cure sin, not to film it over; not to make men forget the disease by drugging them with presumptuous draughts of consolation, but by absolutely removing that which is the cause of their dread and of their fear to make them whole. Christ Jesus did not come in order that you might continue in sin and escape the penalty of it; he did not come to prevent the disease being mortal, but to take the disease itself away. Many people think that, when we preach salvation, we mean salvation from going to hell. We do not mean that, but we mean a great
deal more; we preach salvation from sin; we say that Christ is able to save a man; and we mean by that that he is able to save him from sin and to make him holy; to make him a new man. No person has any right to say, “I am saved,” while he continues in sin as he did before. How can you be
saved from sin while you are living in it? A man that is drowning cannot say he is saved from the water while he is sinking in it; a man that is frost-bitten cannot say, with any truth, that he is saved from the cold while he is stiffened in the wintry blast. No, man, Christ did not come to save thee in thy sins, but to save thee from thy sins; not to make the disease so that it should not kill thee, but to let it remain in itself mortal, and, nevertheless, to remove it from thee, and thee from it. Christ Jesus came then to heal us from the plague of sin, to touch us with his hand and say, “I will, be thou clean.”
When a physician presents himself, one of the first enquiries is, “Is, he a regular practitioner? Has he a right to practice? Has he a diploma?” Very properly, the law requires that a man shall not be allowed to hack our bodies and poison us with drugs at his own pleasure without having at least a show of knowing what he is at. It has been tartly said that “a doctor is a man who pours drugs, of which he knows little, into a body of which he knows still less.” I fear that is often the case. Still a diploma is the best safeguard mortals have devised. Christ has the best authority for practising as a Physician. He has a divine diploma. Would you like to see his diploma? I will read you a few words of it: it comes from the highest authority, not from the College of Physicians, but from the God of Physicians. Here are the words of it in the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.” He has a diploma for binding up broken hearts. I should not like to trust myself to a physician who was a mere self-dubbed doctor who could not show any authorization; I must have him know as much as a man can know, little as I believe that will probably be. He must have a diploma; it must be signed and sealed too, and be in a regular manner, for few sensible men will risk their lives with ignorant quacks. Now Jesus Christ has his diploma and there it is — God hath sent him to bind up the brokenhearted.
The next thing you want in a physician is education; you want to know that he is thoroughly qualified; he must have walked the hospitals. And certainly our Lord Jesus Christ has done so. What form of disease did he not meet with? When he was here among men it pleased God to let the devil loose, in order that there might be more than usual venom in the veins of poor diseased manhood; and Christ met the devil at his darkest hour and fought with the great enemy when he had full liberty to do his worst with him. Jesus did indeed enter into the woes of men. Walked the hospital! Why the whole world was an infirmary, and Christ the one only physician, going from couch to couch, healing the sons of men. Something more be it observed, may be said of him, he is experimentally as well as by education qualified in the healing art. I have heard of a celebrated physician that he was wont to try the effect of his medicines upon himself. This has been done in our Masters case. There is not a single disease which he does not know experimentally, for he himself took our sicknesses and infirmities. He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He knows his patient’s case by having passed through the case himself. There is no brokenness of heart, there is no grief of soul which Jesus Christ has not himself participated in; and though you may say he knows not sin in its infection, yet he knows sin in its imputation, and is, by having suffered all its penalties, perfectly well acquainted with it.
One likes a physician, too, who has a wide practice. One does not care for a man’s merely understanding his tools; we like to know whether he has used them, and whether he has been successful in his art. Blessed he the name of the beloved Physician! he has the widest imaginable practice. These eighteen hundred years he has been healing sin-sick souls — what am I saying? — these six thousand years he has been “mighty to save;” for before he bodily gave himself to the cross, the virtue of the medicine of his own blood had begun to operate upon the sons of men. O souls, ye may see in heaven the multitudes whom he has healed. There, before the eternal throne, you may view the myriads who have been delivered from all sorts of diseases through the power and virtue of his touch. You need not fear to trust yourselves in his hands, for even the hem of his garment healeth our diseases.
To sum up the virtues of this Physician in a very few words: His cures are very speedy — there is life in a look at him; his cures are radical — he strikes at the very center of the disease, and hence his cures are very sure and certain. He never fails, and the disease never returns. There is no
relapse where Christ heals; no fear that one of his patients should be but patched up for a season, he makes a new man of him: a new heart also does he give him, and a right spirit does he put within him. He is a physician, one of a thousand, because he is well-skilled in all diseases. Physicians generally have some specialite. They may know a little about almost all our pains and ills, but there is usually one disease which they have studied the most carefully, one part of the human frame whoseanatomy is as well-known to them as the rooms and cupboards of their own house. Jesus Christ has made the whole of human nature his specialite. He is as much at home with one sinner as with another sinner, and never yet did he meet with an out-of-the-way case that was out of the way to him. He has had extraordinary complications of strange diseases to deal
with, but he has known exactly in one moment, with one glance of his eye, how to treat the patient. He is the only universal doctor I ‘at home’ in every case; the medicine he gives is a catholicon; it heals in every instance, never failing. His medicine is himself! If there be a smart caused by it, it is
borne upon his own back. “By his stripes we are healed.” “His flesh is meat indeed; his blood is drink indeed:” he himself casts out the disease from poor dying men. We do but trust him, and sin dies: we love him, and grace lives; we wait for him, and grace is strengthened; we see him, as we soon shall, and grace is perfected for ever. O blessed physician for this desperate disease!
III. I cannot, however, tarry longer on that point, but come to the third, which is the main one that I am driving at; namely, THAT NEED IS THAT ALONE WHICH MOVES OUR GRACIOUS PHYSICIAN TO COME TO OUR AID.
He says, “They that are whole need not a physician,” and you will see the natural conclusion from his line of reasoning is, “I do not go to the whole, because they do not need me; I go to the sick because they do need me; the reason why I go anywhere is because I am needed.” I believe, dear friends, though doubtless there are some exceptions, that if you were to take the medical profession through, you would perceive larger-heartedness, and more humanity there than almost anywhere; and you would find that there is scarcely a physician, certainly none known to me, who would, if he had two urgent cases to consider, make any distinction between the two, except that he would give his first attention to the sufferer who needed him most. Of course if the matters are both trivial, common sense allows a man to select that which will best remunerate him for his skill, but in imminently dangerous cases, necessity decides. The true physician is born with a physician’s heart, and feels for the woes of his fellow men; and, though a man has obtained a diploma, he is no physician, and ought not to practice if his soul is not in his work, and his heart full of benevolence to the afflicted. The true physician having a sympathy and an intense desire to be of service, if there be two persons requiring him, would say, “This is in the more imminent danger, I shall go there first.”
Now what is most certainly only fair to acknowledge concerning human physicians, we must admit with a far greater cogency concerning the great physician of souls. If there were two sinners both perishing, and Christ were not able to save at the same moment more than one, he would go to that one first which needed him most. This is his rule. He acts according to sovereignty, but that sovereignty is under the control of his own infinite, mercy, and if he hears a cry from two hearts to-day, if he should give any preference, the preference would be given to that which was the cry of the most lost, the most abject, the most needy sinner. Now think this over and you will see that it is true, and most consolatory. What was it made Christ a physician at all? Was is not because men were sick with sin? Suppose they had been perfect, would Christ have ever been a Savior if men had not been lost? Brethren, it would have been a work of supererogation; it would have been a folly, a monstrous folly, on his part, to undertake an office which was not required of him. It is sin which makes room for his work as a Savior. I say it — you will understand me — he is only a Savior because there are sinners, and his Saviorship is based upon our sinnership. He takes that position because he is wanted. Again, what was the main thought which was upon him when he was compounding his great medicine? What was it made him shed great drops of blood? Was it human guilt, or human merit, think you? Why guilt, and guilt alone. What made him give his back to the scourgers, and his cheeks, to the smiters? What made him stretch his arms to the cross and give his feet to the nails? What made him bear the unsufferable wrath of Almighty God? Was it man’s goodness? Why you cannot think of such a thing; it was human vileness, villany,
degradation, iniquity, which made such sufferings as these all needful.
As I see then Christ in his great surgery, compounding the Almighty medicine which is to expel the disease from the veins of humanity, I see him every moment thinking of sin! sin! sin! Man’s sin makes him die. And now that he is in heaven, beloved, what is it that Christ is thinking of there? “He maketh intercession” — what, for? For the righteous? If they were self-righteous, perfectly righteous, they would not need intercession from him. “He maketh intercession for the transgressors.” He is exalted on high — what for? To reward the good? Nay, verily, but to give repentance and remission of sins — evidently to those who have no repentance and whose sins have need to be forgiven. Up in heaven, Christ still has his eye upon sinners — sinners are the jewels whom he seeks. Where, again, was Jesus Christ when he was on earth? Did he not spend the most of his time among sinners? Was he not always dealing out healing to the sick, life to
the dead, and so on? You might ask again, on the other hand, to whom is the gospel sent? What is it? “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” That is the gospel — “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned;” so that those who are hidden to believe are evidently those who deserve to be damned.
Need, need, need alone quickens the physician’s footsteps, bringing Jesus from the throne of glory to the cross, and in his spiritual power, bringing him every day from the throne of his Father down to broken-hearted heavy-laden souls. Now, this is very plain talking, and you all receive it, but still the most of people do not understand it. A minister, when he had done preaching in a country village, said to a farm-laborer who had been listening to him, “Do you think Jesus Christ died to save good people, or bad people?” “Well, sir,” said the man, “I should say he died to save good people.” “But did he die to save bad people?” “No, sir; no, certainly not, sir.” “Well, then, what will become of you and me?” “Well, sir, I do not know. I dare say you be pretty good, sir; and I try to be as good as I can.” That is just the common doctrine; and after all, though we think it has died out among us, that is the religion of ninety-nine English people out of every hundred who know nothing of divine grace: we are to be as good as we can; we are to go to church or to chapel, and do all that we can, and then Jesus Christ died for us, and we shall be saved. Whereas the gospel is that he did not do anything at all for people who can rely on themselves, but gave himself for lost and ruined ones. He did not come into the world to save self-righteous people; on their own showing, they do not want to be saved. He comes because we need him, and therefore he comes only to those who need him; and if we do not need him, and are such good respectable people, we must find our own way to heaven. Need, need alone, is that which quickens the physician’s footsteps.
IV. We therefore come to another point, upon which we shall not stay many minutes. It follows, therefore, and the text positively asserts it, that THE WHOLE — THAT THOSE WHO HAVE NO GREAT NEED — NO NEED AT ALL, WILL BE UNAIDED BY CHRIST.
OF course they ought to be left alone. No physician in his senses thinks of sending a prescription, no surgeon thinks of sending his bottles and his boxes of pills to people who profess to be perfectly well. The prescription would be put into the fire and the physic thrown in the streets — the man
himself would reckon it to be a gross insult. Christ did not come into the world merely to insult humanity. If humanity be the fine thing it thinks it is, then let it exalt itself as it may, and let it go on with the health it thinks it possesses; let it work out its own salvation if it will allow that even this is required. To send a physician to those who are whole is an insult to the physician too. He knocks at the door, “Who is ill here?” is the first question. “Nobody, we are all well, thank you, sir: we are all well, we thank God: we are not as other men are down the street there, we have no
fever, the small-pox never comes here, we never catch the scarlatina, we have nothing of the kind, sir; we are glad to see you — glad to see you, but — we have nothing the matter with us.” The physician would find at once that he had been hoaxed in being asked there.
And that truly is the treatment Jesus Christ gets from a great many people. You hear them say,
“Lord have mercy upon us, miserable sinners” — dressed in satin and all sorts of furbelows, and as good people as you would find in all the parish; and if you come to question them, they are not “miserable sinners” at all. I would like to chalk “miserable sinners” on their backs ,and see whether they could bear it. It is the same with you — you come here, and if I pray about sinners, there are some of you who say, “Yes, yes, we are sinners;” and yet if I came round and said, “Now let us take the ten commandments — have you broken them?” I daresay there are some here who would say, Really I do not know that I have in particular done anything wrong I do not feel that I have erred very remarkably.” No, the fact is you insult Christ by sending to him when you are not ill, and it is nothing better than impertinence, though you think it to be a compliment. The whole have no need of a physician: there is no need for a physician’s skill. “Why,” saith the doctor, as he looks round upon all his store of knowledge, what is the good of this? — a fool is as good as I am to a man who is not ill. If you were sick, I would try to do my best, but as there is nothing the matter
with you, there is no room for me.” You may fetch any crossing-sweeper, and he will be of as much use to you as the best physician, when you are not ill. So if you do not confess yourselves really to be sinners, Jesus will have no preciousness in your eyes, he will be but an ordinary person. If you
are not sick, there is no likelihood of gratitude. Men will not thank a physician for doing nothing. You will never be thankful to Christ for saving you, if you do not feel that you want saving. Then again, there will be no honor to him. Suppose you went to heaven, and entered there in the same
self-righteous frame of mind as you are in now, what would you say? “Well done!” There would be no honor to Christ, no glory to Jesus. A man must have a deep and conscious need of Christ, or else he cannot illuminate the throne of Christ with glory by his praise, when he shall enter heaven.
Now methinks there is some sweet music in what I have been saving to those of you who do need, though it must sound like a mockery to those of you who think you do not need it.
V. To conclude, it follows then, that THOSE WHO ARE SICK SHALL BE HELPED BY JESUS.
Let the question go round these galleries and this area
this morning, “Am I sick? Am I sinful? Then I have a need of Jesus, and
need is the only thing that will bring Jesus to me? Oh says one, “but I am
so very sinful.” Then you have a very great need, and there is room for
very great power on the Savior’s part, and that display of grace shall give
him very great glory. Sinner, believe on him, that he can save thee; trust
him to save thee and let not thy great sin keep thee back. “Oh but I have so
many sins!” Then again thou hast the greater need, and as it is need that
brings the doctor, so thy many needs will be so many knocks at his door,
so many rings at his bell; he will come the faster only plead earnestly every
one of these thy sins, and ask him to have pity upon thee. “Yes,” say you
“but I have been so long sick.” Then your case is a very bad one, and there
is the more need of his care. He healed the woman that had been thirty-six
years disabled, and if you have been thirty-six years-ay, if it be eighty years,
he is still able to heal, and your need — let us keep to that — your need is
your only plea. You have evidently a very strong plea, for you have a very
great need. “Ah,” says another, “but I have relapsed since I thought I was
healed — I have backslidden.” Now there is a special promise given to that
form or sickness, “I will heal their backsliding.” He does not specially say
“I will heal their drunkenness and so on,” but here is a special promise for a
special case. Now you want him. This is a great sin, this backsliding. Go to
him — ask him the rather to come to you. “Yes,” says another, “but I
cannot feel my sin as I would.” This only proves how much you need the
Lord Jesus, since you have not even that form of fitness which lies in a
deep sense of need; you cannot even feel, for you have the stone in the
heart. Oh make this a plea with him. Say “Jesus I want thee more than
anybody else, for there are some who have a little health; they can feel they
are diseased, but I have not even that. I want thee, oh I want thee more
than any.” Perhaps you will say “But I cannot believe on him as I would.”
Then add that also to your other sins, confess your unbelief, tell him you
have great need of him to give you faith; and go to him, and oh may he
help you to believe that he is able to forgive this sin also. “Well,” says one,
“but I grow worse the more I think about these things.” I am glad of it,
dear friend, this growing worse is a part of the cure. Suppose you should
keep on growing worse, it you should get to feel yourself as black as the
devil and as damned as a lost soul, yet still while you are in this world the
great physician can heal you, and you have still this great plea, that, you
want him, you want him. “Oh,” says one, “I cannot see how I can plead my
need as the only thing.” My dear friend, what would you plead, suppose
you were publicly begging. If I had to turn to the trade of a beggar, believe
me, I would not wear this black coat, or, if I did, I would take care to have
it pretty well riddled with holes; because the great thing you have to do
when you plead in the street, is to convince the passers-by that you are in
need. Some lean wretched-looking fellows have faces which are worth a
fortune to them — their cheeks white with consumption — their bodies
thin and lean as with starvation — with scarce a handful of rags on them,
they squat down in some corner and write on a paper “I am starving,” and
as you pass them you cannot help it, your hand goes into your pocket —
“Here is a case of destitution,” you say-and you give them relief. Imitate
these vagabonds in all but their deception. Use their logic, the rational
argument, that need is a beggar’s best plea. You are destitute, you are
starving; spread your case before God. The best case you can make out in
order to prevail with God, is a bad one. Let it be as bad as it can be and I
venture to say the worst is the best. Do not be apologising, attempting to
make your sins less than they are; tell him you are a wretch undone without
his sovereign grace, and there guilty and vile, and self-abhorred, fall flat
before him, say, “Lord Jesus, if thou wantest some one to heal; I am just
the man. If thou wantest a case that can be blazoned abroad and that will
make the public ears ring and ring again with the praise of thy all-healing
medicine, I am thy man, Lord. If thou wantest one full of sores and wounds
and putrefying disease like Job upon a dunghill; if thou wantest one that is
very far gone, that is rotten through and through, Lord, I am thy man.” O
think you, sinner, he is just your Savior, for while he loves to meet with
such cases as yours, you should rejoice to meet with such a Savior as he is;
and all you are asked to do is to believe that he can save you and to trust
him to do it. If you knew him you would believe him. He loves to save. He
can save the vilest. Trust him then, and may the Spirit of God so lead you
to understand him, that you can rely upon him, and, if you do, he will say,
“Sinner, thy sins be forgiven thee, be of good cheer, go on thy way
rejoicing.”May God bless these words, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“It Is Well with My Soul” by Horatio G. Spafford
1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.
2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
let this blest assurance control,
that Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
and hath shed his own blood for my soul.
Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.
3. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.
4. And, Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
even so, it is well with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well with my soul,
it is well, it is well with my soul.

Through the Bible in One Year:
1 Samuel 1 to 10
1 There was a man of Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the highlands of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.
2 He had two wives, one called Hannah, the other Peninnah; Peninnah had children but Hannah had none.
3 Every year this man used to go up from his town to worship, and to sacrifice to Yahweh Sabaoth at Shiloh. (The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there as priests of Yahweh.)
4 One day Elkanah offered a sacrifice. Now he used to give portions to Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters;
5 to Hannah, however, he would give only one portion: for, although he loved Hannah more, Yahweh had made her barren.
6 Furthermore, her rival would taunt and provoke her, because Yahweh had made her womb barren.
7 And this went on year after year; every time they went up to the temple of Yahweh she used to taunt her. On that day she wept and would not eat anything;
8 so her husband Elkanah said, ‘Hannah, why are you crying? Why are you not eating anything? Why are you so sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?’
9 When they had finished eating in the room, Hannah got up and stood before Yahweh. Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.
10 In the bitterness of her soul she prayed to Yahweh with many tears,
11 and she made this vow, ‘Yahweh Sabaoth! Should you condescend to notice the humiliation of your servant and keep her in mind instead of disregarding your servant, and give her a boy, I will give him to Yahweh for the whole of his life and no razor shall ever touch his head.’
12 While she went on praying to Yahweh, Eli was watching her mouth,
13 for Hannah was speaking under her breath; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard, and Eli thought that she was drunk.
14 Eli said, ‘How much longer are you going to stay drunk? Get rid of your wine.’
15 ‘No, my lord,’ Hannah replied, ‘I am a woman in great trouble; I have not been drinking wine or strong drink — I am pouring out my soul before Yahweh.
16 Do not take your servant for a worthless woman; all this time I have been speaking from the depth of my grief and my resentment.’
17 Eli then replied, ‘Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant what you have asked of him.’
18 To which she said, ‘May your servant find favour in your sight.’ With that, the woman went away; she began eating and was dejected no longer.
19 They got up early in the morning and, after worshipping Yahweh, set out and went home to Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah, and Yahweh remembered her.
20 Hannah conceived and, in due course, gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel, ‘since’, she said, ‘I asked Yahweh for him.’
21 Elkanah, the husband, went up with all his family to offer the annual sacrifice to Yahweh and to fulfil his vow.
22 However, Hannah did not go up, having said to her husband, ‘Not before the child has been weaned. Then I shall bring him and present him before Yahweh and he will stay there for ever.’
23 Elkanah her husband then said to her, ‘Do what you think fit; wait until you have weaned him. May Yahweh bring about what he has said.’ So the woman stayed behind and nursed her child until she weaned him.
24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, as well as a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and took him into the temple of Yahweh at Shiloh; the child was very young.
25 They sacrificed the bull and led the child to Eli.
26 She said, ‘If you please, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood beside you here, praying to Yahweh.
27 This is the child for which I was praying, and Yahweh has granted me what I asked of him.
28 Now I make him over to Yahweh for the whole of his life. He is made over to Yahweh.’ They then worshipped Yahweh there.
1 Hannah then prayed as follows: My heart exults in Yahweh, in my God is my strength lifted up, my mouth derides my foes, for I rejoice in your deliverance.
2 There is no Holy One like Yahweh, (indeed, there is none but you) no Rock like our God.
3 Do not keep talking so proudly, let no arrogance come from your mouth, for Yahweh is a wise God, his to weigh up deeds.
4 The bow of the mighty has been broken but those who were tottering are now braced with strength.
5 The full fed are hiring themselves out for bread but the hungry need labour no more; the barren woman bears sevenfold but the mother of many is left desolate.
6 Yahweh gives death and life, brings down to Sheol and draws up;
7 Yahweh makes poor and rich, he humbles and also exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust, he lifts the needy from the dunghill to give them a place with princes, to assign them a seat of honour; for to Yahweh belong the pillars of the earth, on these he has poised the world.
9 He safeguards the steps of his faithful but the wicked vanish in darkness (for human strength can win no victories).
10 Yahweh, his enemies are shattered, the Most High thunders in the heavens. Yahweh judges the ends of the earth, he endows his king with power, he raises up the strength of his Anointed.
11 Elkanah then went home to Ramah, but the child stayed in Yahweh’s service, in the presence of Eli the priest.
12 Now the sons of Eli were scoundrels; they cared nothing for Yahweh
13 nor for what was due to the priests from the people. Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being cooked;
14 he would thrust this into cauldron or pan, or dish or pot, and the priest claimed for his own whatever the fork brought up. That was how they behaved with all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.
15 The priest’s servant would even come up before the fat had been burnt and say to the person who was making the sacrifice, ‘Give the priest some meat for him to roast. He will not accept boiled meat from you, only raw.’
16 Then, if the person replied, ‘Let the fat be burnt first, and then take for yourself whatever you choose,’ he would retort, ‘No! You must give it to me now or I shall take it by force.’
17 The young men’s sin was very great in Yahweh’s eyes, because they treated with contempt the offering made to Yahweh.
18 Samuel was in Yahweh’s service, a child wearing a linen loincloth.
19 His mother used to make him a little coat which she brought him each year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice.
20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, ‘May Yahweh grant you an heir by this woman in exchange for the one which she has made over to Yahweh,’ and they would go home.
21 Yahweh visited Hannah; she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the child Samuel grew up in Yahweh’s presence.
22 Although very old, Eli heard about everything that his sons were doing to all Israel,
23 and said, ‘Why are you behaving as all the people say you are?
24 No, my sons, what I hear reported by the people of Yahweh is not good.
25 If one person sins against another, God will be the arbiter, but if he sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?’ But they did not listen to their father’s words, for Yahweh was bent on killing them.
26 Meanwhile, the child Samuel went on growing in stature and in favour both with Yahweh and with people.
27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, ‘This is what Yahweh says, “Did I not reveal myself to your father’s family when they were in Egypt as slaves in Pharaoh’s household?
28 Did I not single him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn the offering, to carry the ephod in my presence; and did I not grant all the burnt offerings made by the Israelites to your father’s family?
29 Why do you trample on the offering and on the sacrifice which I have ordered for my Dwelling, and honour your sons more than me, by growing fat on the best of the offerings of Israel, my people?
30 Whereas — this is what Yahweh, God of Israel, declares — I had promised that your family and your father’s family would walk in my presence for ever, now, however — this is what Yahweh declares — nothing of the sort! Those who honour me I honour in my turn, and those who despise me will be an object of contempt.
31 Be sure, the days are coming when I shall cut off your strength and the strength of your father’s family, so that no one in your family will live to old age.
32 Beside the Dwelling, you will see all the benefits that I shall confer on Israel, but no one in your family will ever live to old age.
33 I shall keep one of you at my altar for his eyes to go blind and his soul to wither, but the bulk of your family will die by the sword.
34 ‘ “What happens to your two sons Hophni and Phinehas will be a sign for you: on the same day both will die.
35 I shall raise myself a faithful priest, who will do as I intend and as I desire. I shall build him an enduring House and he will walk in the presence of my Anointed for ever.
36 The members of your House who survive will come and beg him on their knees for a silver coin and a loaf of bread and say: Please give me some priestly work, so that I can have a scrap of bread to eat.” ‘
1 Now, the boy Samuel was serving Yahweh in the presence of Eli; in those days it was rare for Yahweh to speak; visions were uncommon.
2 One day, it happened that Eli was lying down in his room. His eyes were beginning to grow dim; he could no longer see.
3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying in Yahweh’s sanctuary, where the ark of God was,
4 when Yahweh called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He answered, ‘Here I am,’
5 and, running to Eli, he said, ‘Here I am, as you called me.’ Eli said, ‘I did not call. Go back and lie down.’ So he went and lay down.
6 And again Yahweh called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ He got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, as you called me.’ He replied, ‘I did not call, my son; go back and lie down.’
7 As yet, Samuel had no knowledge of Yahweh and the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him.
8 Again Yahweh called, the third time. He got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am, as you called me.’ Eli then understood that Yahweh was calling the child,
9 and he said to Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if someone calls say, “Speak, Yahweh; for your servant is listening.” ‘ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 Yahweh then came and stood by, calling as he had done before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ Samuel answered, ‘Speak, Yahweh; for your servant is listening.’
11 Yahweh then said to Samuel, ‘I am going to do something in Israel which will make the ears of all who hear of it ring.
12 I shall carry out that day against Eli everything that I have said about his family, from beginning to end.
13 You are to tell him that I condemn his family for ever, since he is aware that his sons have been cursing God and yet has not corrected them.
14 Therefore — I swear it to the family of Eli — no sacrifice or offering shall ever expiate the guilt of Eli’s family.’
15 Samuel lay where he was until morning and then opened the doors of Yahweh’s temple. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision,
16 but Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied.
17 Eli asked, ‘What message did he give you? Please do not hide it from me. May God bring unnameable ills on you and worse ones, too, if you hide from me anything of what he said to you.’
18 Samuel then told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Eli said, ‘He is Yahweh; let him do what he thinks good.’
19 Samuel grew up. Yahweh was with him and did not let a single word fall to the ground of all that he had told him.
20 All Israel knew, from Dan to Beersheba, that Samuel was attested as a prophet of Yahweh.
21 Yahweh continued to manifest himself at Shiloh, revealing himself to Samuel there,
1 and, for all Israel, the word of Samuel was as the word of Yahweh; since Eli was very old and his sons persisted in their wicked behaviour towards Yahweh. It happened at that time that the Philistines mustered to make war on Israel and Israel went out to meet them in war, pitching camp near Ebenezer while the Philistines pitched camp at Aphek.
2 The Philistines drew up their battle-line against Israel, the fighting was fierce, and Israel was beaten by the Philistines: about four thousand men in their ranks were killed on the field of battle.
3 When the troops returned to camp, the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has Yahweh caused us to be beaten by the Philistines today? Let us fetch the ark of our God from Shiloh so that, when it goes with us, it may save us from the clutches of our enemies.’
4 So the troops sent to Shiloh and brought away the ark of Yahweh Sabaoth enthroned on the winged creatures; the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, came with the ark.
5 When the ark of Yahweh arrived in the camp, all Israel raised a great war cry so that the earth resounded.
6 When the Philistines heard the noise of the war cry, they said, ‘What can this great war cry in the Hebrew camp mean?’ And they realised that the ark of Yahweh had come into the camp.
7 At this, the Philistines were afraid; for they said, ‘God has come into the camp. Disaster!’ they said. ‘For nothing like this has ever happened before.
8 Disaster! Who will rescue us from the clutches of this mighty God? This was the God who struck down Egypt with every kind of misfortune in the desert.
9 But take courage and be men, Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you. Be men and fight.’
10 So the Philistines gave battle and Israel was defeated, each man fleeing to his tent. The slaughter was very great: on the Israelite side, thirty thousand foot soldiers fell.
11 The ark of God was captured too, and Hophni and Phinehas the two sons of Eli died.
12 A Benjaminite ran from the battle-line and reached Shiloh the same day, his clothes torn and dust on his head.
13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat beside the gate watching the road, for his heart was trembling for the ark of God. The man came into the town and told the news, whereupon cries of anguish filled the town.
14 Eli heard the sound and asked, ‘What does this uproar mean?’ The man hurried on and told Eli.
15 Eli was ninety-eight years old; his gaze was fixed; he was blind.
16 The man said to Eli, ‘I have come from the camp. I escaped from the battle-line today.’ ‘My son,’ said Eli, ‘what happened?’
17 The messenger replied, ‘Israel has fled before the Philistines; the army has been utterly routed. What is worse, your two sons are dead and the ark of God has been captured.’
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backwards off his seat by the gate and broke his neck and died, for he was old and heavy. He had been judge of Israel for forty years.
19 Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child and near her time. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead she crouched down and gave birth, for her labour pains had come on.
20 When she was at the point of death, the women at her side said, ‘Do not be afraid; you have given birth to a son.’ But she did not answer and took no notice.
21 She named the child Ichabod, saying, ‘The glory has gone from Israel,’ alluding to the capture of the ark of God and to her father-in-law and husband.
22 She said, ‘The glory has gone from Israel, because the ark of God has been captured.’
1 When the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
2 Taking the ark of God, the Philistines put it in the temple of Dagon, setting it down beside Dagon.
3 When the people of Ashdod got up the following morning and went to the temple of Dagon, there lay Dagon face down on the ground before the ark of Yahweh. They picked Dagon up and put him back in his place.
4 But when they got up on the following morning, there lay Dagon face down on the ground before the ark of Yahweh, and Dagon’s head and two hands lay severed on the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left in its place.
5 This is why the priests of Dagon and the people frequenting Dagon’s temple never step on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod, even today.
6 Yahweh oppressed the people of Ashdod; he ravaged them and afflicted them with tumours — Ashdod and its territory. When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening they said,
7 ‘The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, for he is oppressing us and our god Dagon.’
8 So they summoned all the Philistine chiefs to them, and said, ‘What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?’ They decided, ‘The ark of the God of Israel shall be taken away to Gath.’ So they took the ark of the God of Israel to Gath.
9 But after they had taken it there, Yahweh oppressed that town and a great panic broke out; afflicting the people of the town from highest to lowest, he brought them out in tumours too.
10 They then sent the ark of God to Ekron, but when it came to Ekron the Ekronites shouted, ‘They have brought me the ark of the God of Israel to kill me and my people!’
11 They summoned all the Philistine chiefs and said, ‘Send the ark of the God of Israel away; let it go back to where it belongs and not kill me and my people’ — for there was mortal panic throughout the town; God was oppressing them.
12 The people who did not die were afflicted with tumours, and the wailing from the town rose to the sky.
1 The ark of Yahweh was in Philistine territory for seven months.
2 The Philistines then called for their priests and diviners and asked, ‘What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh? Tell us how to send it back to where it belongs.’
3 They replied, ‘If you send the ark of the God of Israel away, you must certainly not send it away without a gift; you must pay him a guilt offering. You will then recover and will realise why he continually oppressed you.’
4 They then asked, ‘What guilt offering ought we to pay him?’ They replied, ‘Corresponding to the number of Philistine chiefs: five golden tumours and five golden rats, since the same plague afflicted your chiefs as the rest of you.
5 So make models of your tumours and models of your rats ravaging the territory, and pay honour to the God of Israel. Then perhaps he will stop oppressing you, your gods and your country.
6 Why should you be as stubborn as Egypt and Pharaoh were? After he had brought disasters on them, did they not let the people leave?
7 Now, then, take and fit out a new cart, and two milch cows that have never borne the yoke. Then harness the cows to the cart and take their calves back to the byre.
8 Then take the ark of Yahweh, place it on the cart, and put the golden objects which you are paying him as guilt offering in a box beside it; and then send it off on its own.
9 Watch it; if it goes up the road to its own territory, towards Beth-Shemesh, then he was responsible for this great harm to us; but if not, we shall know that it was not his hand that struck us, and that this has happened to us by chance.’
10 The people did this. They took two milch cows and harnessed them to the cart, shutting their calves in the byre.
11 They then put the ark of Yahweh on the cart, with the box and the golden rats and the models of their tumours.
12 The cows made straight for Beth-Shemesh, keeping to the one road, lowing as they went and turning neither to right nor to left. The Philistine chiefs followed them as far as the boundaries of Beth-Shemesh.
13 The people of Beth-Shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the plain when they looked up and saw the ark and went joyfully to meet it.
14 When the cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-Shemesh, it stopped. There was a large stone there, and they cut up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh.
15 The Levites had taken down the ark of Yahweh and the box with it containing the golden objects and put these on the large stone. That day the people of Beth-Shemesh presented burnt offerings and made sacrifices to Yahweh.
16 The five chiefs of the Philistines, having witnessed this, went back to Ekron the same day.
17 The golden tumours paid by the Philistines as a guilt offering to Yahweh were as follows: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;
18 and golden rats to the number of all the Philistine towns, those of the five chiefs, from fortified towns down to open villages: still to this day the large stone in the field of Joshua of Beth-Shemesh, on which they put the ark of Yahweh, is a witness.
19 Of the people of Beth-Shemesh the sons of Jeconiah had not rejoiced when they saw the ark of Yahweh, and Yahweh struck down seventy of them. The people mourned because Yahweh had struck them so fiercely.
20 The people of Beth-Shemesh then said, ‘Who can stand his ground before Yahweh, this holy God? To whom shall he go, so that we are rid of him?’
21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-Jearim, to say, ‘The Philistines have sent back the ark of Yahweh; come down and take it up to your town.’
1 The men of Kiriath-Jearim came and, taking up the ark of Yahweh, brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of Yahweh.
2 From the day when the ark was installed at Kiriath-Jearim, a long time went by — twenty years — and the whole House of Israel longed for Yahweh.
3 Samuel then spoke as follows to the whole House of Israel, ‘If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, banish the foreign gods and Astartes which you now have, and set your heart on Yahweh and serve him alone; and he will deliver you from the power of the Philistines.’
4 And the Israelites banished the Baals and Astartes and served Yahweh alone.
5 Samuel then said, ‘Muster all Israel at Mizpah and I shall plead with Yahweh for you.’
6 So they mustered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. They fasted that day and declared, ‘We have sinned against Yahweh.’ And Samuel was judge over the Israelites at Mizpah.
7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had mustered at Mizpah, the Philistine chiefs marched on Israel; and when the Israelites heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines.
8 They said to Samuel, ‘Do not stop calling on Yahweh our God to rescue us from the power of the Philistines.’
9 Samuel took a sucking lamb and presented it as a burnt offering to Yahweh, and he called on Yahweh on behalf of Israel and Yahweh heard him.
10 While Samuel was in the act of presenting burnt offering, the Philistines joined battle with Israel, but that day Yahweh thundered violently over the Philistines, threw them into panic and Israel defeated them.
11 The men of Israel sallied out from Mizpah in pursuit of the Philistines and beat them all the way to below Beth-Car.
12 Samuel then took a stone and erected it between Mizpah and the Tooth, and gave it the name Ebenezer, saying, ‘Yahweh helped us as far as this.’
13 So the Philistines were humbled and no longer came into Israelite territory; Yahweh oppressed the Philistines throughout the life of Samuel.
14 The towns which the Philistines had taken from Israel were given back to Israel, from Ekron all the way to Gath, and Israel freed their territory from the power of the Philistines. There was peace, too, between Israel and the Amorites.
15 Samuel was judge over Israel throughout his life.
16 Each year he went on circuit through Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah and judged Israel in all these places.
17 He would then return to Ramah, since his home was there; there too he judged Israel. And there he built an altar to Yahweh.
1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges of Israel.
2 His eldest son was called Joel and his second one, Abijah; they were judges at Beersheba.
3 His sons did not follow his example but, seduced by the love of money, took bribes and gave biased verdicts.
4 The elders of Israel all assembled, went back to Samuel at Ramah, and said,
5 ‘Look, you are old, and your sons are not following your example. So give us a king to judge us, like the other nations.’
6 Samuel thought that it was wrong of them to say, ‘Let us have a king to judge us,’ so he prayed to Yahweh.
7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, ‘Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you: it is not you they have rejected
8 but me, not wishing me to reign over them any more. They are now doing to you exactly what they have done to me since the day I brought them out of Egypt until now, deserting me and serving other gods.
9 So, do what they ask; only, you must give them a solemn warning, and must tell them what the king who is to reign over them will do.’
10 Everything that Yahweh had said, Samuel then repeated to the people who were asking him for a king.
11 He said, ‘This is what the king who is to reign over you will do. He will take your sons and direct them to his chariotry and cavalry, and they will run in front of his chariot.
12 He will use them as leaders of a thousand and leaders of fifty; he will make them plough his fields and gather in his harvest and make his weapons of war and the gear for his chariots.
13 He will take your daughters as perfumers, cooks and bakers.
14 He will take the best of your fields, your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his officials.
15 He will tithe your crops and vineyards to provide for his courtiers and his officials.
16 He will take the best of your servants, men and women, of your oxen and your donkeys, and make them work for him.
17 He will tithe your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
18 When that day comes, you will cry aloud because of the king you have chosen for yourselves, but on that day Yahweh will not hear you.’
19 The people, however, refused to listen to Samuel. They said, ‘No! We are determined to have a king,
20 so that we can be like the other nations, with our own king to rule us and lead us and fight our battles.’
21 Samuel listened to all that the people had to say and repeated it in Yahweh’s ear.
22 Yahweh then said to Samuel, ‘Do as they ask and give them a king.’ Samuel then said to the Israelites, ‘Go home, each of you, to his own town.’
1 Among the men of Benjamin was a man called Kish son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah; a Benjaminite and a person of rank.
2 He had a son called Saul, a handsome man in the prime of life. Of all the Israelites there was no one more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders taller than anyone else.
3 Now since the donkeys belonging to Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed, Kish said to his son Saul, ‘My son, take one of the servants with you and be off; go and look for the donkeys.’
4 They went through the highlands of Ephraim, they went through the territory of Shalishah, and did not find them; they went through the territory of Shaalim but they were not there; they went through the territory of Benjamin and did not find them.
5 When they reached the territory of Zuph, Saul said to the servant who was with him, ‘Come on, let us go back or my father will stop worrying over the donkeys and start being anxious about us.’
6 The servant, however, replied, ‘Look, there is a man of God in this town, a man who is held in honour; everything he says comes true. Let us go there, then; perhaps he will be able to show us the way that we should take.’
7 Saul said to his servant, ‘But if we do go, what can we take to the man? The food in our sacks is finished, and we have no present to offer the man of God. What else have we got?’
8 The servant spoke up again and said to Saul, ‘Look, I happen to have a quarter of a silver shekel; I shall give that to the man of God, for him to tell us which way to go.’
9 In Israel, in olden days, when anyone used to go to consult God, he would say, ‘Come on, let us go to the seer,’ for a man who is now called a ‘prophet’ used to be called a ‘seer’ in olden days.
10 Saul then said to his servant, ‘Well said! Come on, let us go.’ And they went off to the town where the man of God was.
11 As they were going up the slope to the town they came across some girls going out to draw water, and said to them, ‘Is the seer there?’
12 The girls replied, ‘He is. He arrived a moment or two ahead of you. You had better hurry: he has just come to town because the people are having a sacrifice today on the high place.
13 You can catch him as soon as you go into the town, before he goes up to the high place for the meal. The people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; after that, the guests will start eating. If you go up now, you will find him straight away.’
14 So they went up to the town and, as they were going through the gate, Samuel came out towards them on his way to the high place.
15 Now, Yahweh had given Samuel a revelation the day before Saul came, saying,
16 ‘About this time tomorrow, I shall send you a man from the territory of Benjamin; you are to anoint him as prince of my people Israel, and he will save my people from the power of the Philistines; for I have seen the misery of my people and their cries of anguish have come to me.’
17 When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh told him, ‘That is the man of whom I said to you, “He is to govern my people.” ‘
18 Saul accosted Samuel in the gateway and said, ‘Tell me, please, where the seer’s house is.’
19 Samuel replied to Saul, ‘I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place. You must eat with me today. Tomorrow, when I let you go, I shall tell you whatever is on your mind.
20 As regards your donkeys, however, which strayed three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found. And for whom is the whole wealth of Israel destined, if not for you and for all the members of your father’s family?’
21 To this, Saul replied, ‘Am I not a Benjaminite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And is not my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why are you saying a thing like this to me?’
22 Samuel then took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall and gave them a place at the head of the guests, of whom there were about thirty.
23 Samuel then said to the cook, ‘Serve the portion which I gave you and told you to put on one side.’
24 The cook then picked up the leg and the tail and put it in front of Saul, saying, ‘This is for you. This is what was left. Make a good meal . . .’ That day, Saul ate with Samuel.
25 They came down from the high place into the town. A bed was made for Saul on the roof and he lay down there.
26 At dawn, Samuel called to Saul on the roof, ‘Get up, and I shall send you on your way.’ Saul got up, and Samuel and he went outside together.
27 They had walked as far as the end of the town when Samuel said to Saul, ‘Tell the servant to go on ahead of us, but you stand still for a moment, so that I can make known to you the word of God.’
1 Samuel took a phial of oil and poured it on Saul’s head; he then kissed him and said, ‘Has not Yahweh anointed you as leader of his people Israel? You are the man who is to govern Yahweh’s people and save them from the power of the enemies surrounding them. The sign for you that Yahweh has anointed you as prince of his heritage is this:
2 after leaving me today, you will meet two men near the tomb of Rachel, on the frontier of Benjamin . . . and they will say to you, “The donkeys which you went looking for have been found, and your father has lost interest in the matter of the donkeys and is worrying about you and wondering, What am I to do about my son?”
3 Going on from there, you will come to the Oak of Tabor, where you will meet three men going up to God at Bethel; one will be carrying three kids, one three loaves of bread and the third a skin of wine.
4 They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread which you must accept from them.
5 After this, you will come to Gibeah of God (where the Philistine garrison is) and, when you are just outside the town, you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place, headed by lyre, tambourine, pipe and harp; they will be in a state of ecstasy.
6 The spirit of Yahweh will then seize on you, and you will go into ecstasy with them, and be changed into another man.
7 When these signs have occurred, act as occasion serves, for God is with you.
8 You will then go down, ahead of me, to Gilgal, and I shall join you there to make burnt offerings and to offer communion sacrifices. You must wait seven days for me to come to you, and I shall then reveal to you what you must do.’
9 As soon as he had turned his back to leave Samuel, God changed his heart. And all these signs occurred that very day . . .
10 From there, they came to Gibeah: and there was a group of prophets coming to meet him! The spirit of God seized on him and he fell into ecstasy with them.
11 Seeing him prophesying with the prophets, all the people who had known him previously said to one another, ‘What has come over the son of Kish? Is Saul one of the prophets too?’
12 And one of the local people retorted, ‘But who is their father?’ Hence the origin of the proverb: Is Saul one of the prophets too?
13 When he came out of his ecstasy, he went into Gibeah.
14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his servant, ‘Where have you been?’ ‘Looking for the donkeys,’ he replied, ‘and when we could not find them anywhere, we went to Samuel.’
15 Saul’s uncle said, ‘Tell me please what Samuel said to you.’
16 Saul said to his uncle, ‘He merely told us that the donkeys were already found,’ but did not mention anything that Samuel had said about the kingship.
17 Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah
18 and said to the Israelites, ‘Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, “I brought Israel out of Egypt and delivered you from the power of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.”
19 But today you have rejected your God, him who saves you from all your difficulties and troubles; and you have said, “No, you must set a king over us.” Very well, take your positions before Yahweh, tribe by tribe and clan by clan.’
20 Samuel then made all the tribes of Israel come forward, and the lot indicated the tribe of Benjamin.
21 He then made the tribe of Benjamin come forward clan by clan, and the lot indicated the clan of Matri; he then made the clan of Matri come forward one by one, and the lot indicated Saul son of Kish, but when they looked for him, he was not to be found.
22 Again they consulted Yahweh, ‘Has the man come here?’ Yahweh replied, ‘There he is, hiding among the baggage.’
23 So they ran and fetched him out and, as he stood among the people, he was head and shoulders taller than any of them.
24 Samuel then said to all the people, ‘You have seen the man whom Yahweh has chosen, and that among the whole people he has no equal.’ And all the people acclaimed him, shouting, ‘Long live the king!’
25 Samuel then explained the king’s constitutional position to the people and inscribed this in a book which he placed before Yahweh. Samuel then sent all the people away, everyone back to his home.
26 Saul too went home to Gibeah and with him went those strong men whose hearts God had touched.
27 But there were some scoundrels who said, ‘How can this fellow save us?’ These treated him with contempt and offered him no present.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Saturday, January 28, 2012:
Psalm 55
1 [For the choirmaster For strings Poem Of David] God, hear my prayer, do not hide away from my plea,
2 give me a hearing, answer me, my troubles give me no peace. I shudder
3 at the enemy’s shouts, at the outcry of the wicked; they heap up charges against me, in their anger bring hostile accusations against me.
4 My heart writhes within me, the terrors of death come upon me,
5 fear and trembling overwhelm me, and shuddering grips me.
6 And I say, ‘Who will give me wings like a dove, to fly away and find rest?’
7 How far I would escape, and make a nest in the desert!Pause
8 I would soon find a refuge from the storm of abuse, from the
9 destructive tempest, Lord, from the flood of their tongues. For I see violence and strife in the city,
10 day and night they make their rounds along the city walls, Inside live malice and mischief,
11 inside lives destruction, tyranny and treachery never absent from its central square.
12 Were it an enemy who insulted me, that I could bear; if an opponent pitted himself against me, I could turn away from him.
13 But you, a person of my own rank, a comrade and dear friend,
14 to whom I was bound by intimate friendship in the house of God! May they recoil in disorder,
15 may death descend on them, may they go down alive to Sheol, since evil shares their home with them.
16 For my part, I appeal to God, and Yahweh saves me;
17 evening, morning, noon, I complain and I groan. He hears my cry,
18 he ransoms me and gives me peace from the feud against me, for they are taking me to law.
19 But God will listen and will humble them, he who has been enthroned from the beginning; no change of heart for them, for they do not fear God.
20 They attack those at peace with them, going back on their oaths;
21 though their mouth is smoother than butter, enmity is in their hearts; their words more soothing than oil, yet sharpened like swords.
22 Unload your burden onto Yahweh and he will sustain you; never will he allow the upright to stumble.
23 You, God, will thrust them down to the abyss of destruction, men bloodthirsty and deceptive, before half their days are spent. For my part, I put my trust in you.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 138
1 [Of David] I thank you, Yahweh, with all my heart, for you have listened to the cry I uttered. In the presence of angels I sing to you,
2 I bow down before your holy Temple. I praise your name for your faithful love and your constancy; your promises surpass even your fame.
3 You heard me on the day when I called, and you gave new strength to my heart.
4 All the kings of the earth give thanks to you, Yahweh, when they hear the promises you make;
5 they sing of Yahweh’s ways, ‘Great is the glory of Yahweh!’
6 Sublime as he is, Yahweh looks on the humble, the proud he picks out from afar.
7 Though I live surrounded by trouble you give me life — to my enemies’ fury! You stretch out your right hand and save me,
8 Yahweh will do all things for me. Yahweh, your faithful love endures for ever, do not abandon what you have made.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 139:1-23
1 [For the choirmaster Of David Psalm] Yahweh, you examine me and know me,
2 you know when I sit, when I rise, you understand my thoughts from afar.
3 You watch when I walk or lie down, you know every detail of my conduct.
4 A word is not yet on my tongue before you, Yahweh, know all about it.
5 You fence me in, behind and in front, you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such amazing knowledge is beyond me, a height to which I cannot attain.
7 Where shall I go to escape your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I scale the heavens you are there, if I lie flat in Sheol, there you are.
9 If I speed away on the wings of the dawn, if I dwell beyond the ocean,
10 even there your hand will be guiding me, your right hand holding me fast.
11 I will say, ‘Let the darkness cover me, and the night wrap itself around me,’
12 even darkness to you is not dark, and night is as clear as the day.
13 You created my inmost self, knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 For so many marvels I thank you; a wonder am I, and all your works are wonders. You knew me through and through,
15 my being held no secrets from you, when I was being formed in secret, textured in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes could see my embryo. In your book all my days were inscribed, every one that was fixed is there.
17 How hard for me to grasp your thoughts, how many, God, there are!
18 If I count them, they are more than the grains of sand; if I come to an end, I am still with you.
19 If only, God, you would kill the wicked!-Men of violence, keep away from me!-
20 those who speak blasphemously about you, and take no account of your thoughts.
21 Yahweh, do I not hate those who hate you, and loathe those who defy you?
22 My hate for them has no limits, I regard them as my own enemies.
23 God, examine me and know my heart, test me and know my concerns.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 18:1-16
1 Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day.
2 He looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed to the ground.
3 ‘My lord,’ he said, ‘if I find favour with you, please do not pass your servant by.
4 Let me have a little water brought, and you can wash your feet and have a rest under the tree.
5 Let me fetch a little bread and you can refresh yourselves before going further, now that you have come in your servant’s direction.’ They replied, ‘Do as you say.’
6 Abraham hurried to the tent and said to Sarah, ‘Quick, knead three measures of best flour and make loaves.’
7 Then, running to the herd, Abraham took a fine and tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.
8 Then taking curds, milk and the calf which had been prepared, he laid all before them, and they ate while he remained standing near them under the tree.
9 ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ they asked him. ‘She is in the tent,’ he replied.
10 Then his guest said, ‘I shall come back to you next year, and then your wife Sarah will have a son.’ Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent behind him.
11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well on in years, and Sarah had ceased to have her monthly periods.
12 So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, ‘Now that I am past the age of childbearing, and my husband is an old man, is pleasure to come my way again?’
13 But Yahweh asked Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh and say, “Am I really going to have a child now that I am old?”
14 Nothing is impossible for Yahweh. I shall come back to you at the same time next year and Sarah will have a son.’
15 Sarah said, ‘I did not laugh,’ lying because she was afraid. But he replied, ‘Oh yes, you did laugh.’
16 From there the men set out and arrived within sight of Sodom, with Abraham accompanying them to speed them on their way.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 10:26-39
26 If, after we have been given knowledge of the truth, we should deliberately commit any sins, then there is no longer any sacrifice for them.
27 There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgement and of the fiery wrath that is to devour your enemies.
28 Anyone who disregards the Law of Moses is ruthlessly put to death on the word of two witnesses or three;
29 and you may be sure that anyone who tramples on the Son of God, and who treats the blood of the covenant which sanctified him as if it were not holy, and who insults the Spirit of grace, will be condemned to a far severer punishment.
30 We are all aware who it was that said: Vengeance is mine; I will pay them back. And again: The Lord will vindicate his people.
31 It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
32 Remember the great challenge of the sufferings that you had to meet after you received the light, in earlier days;
33 sometimes by being yourselves publicly exposed to humiliations and violence, and sometimes as associates of others who were treated in the same way.
34 For you not only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you accepted with joy being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something that was better and lasting.
35 Do not lose your fearlessness now, then, since the reward is so great.
36 You will need perseverance if you are to do God’s will and gain what he has promised.
37 Only a little while now, a very little while, for come he certainly will before too long.
38 My upright person will live through faith but if he draws back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.
39 We are not the sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faith until our souls are saved.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 6:16-27
16 That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the sea
17 and got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea. It was getting dark by now and Jesus had still not rejoined them.
18 The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough.
19 They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming towards the boat. They were afraid,
20 but he said, ‘It’s me. Don’t be afraid.’
21 They were ready to take him into the boat, and immediately it reached the shore at the place they were making for.
22 Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves.
23 Other boats, however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten.
24 When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus.
25 When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
26 Jesus answered: In all truth I tell you, you are looking for me not because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.
27 Do not work for food that goes bad, but work for food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of man will give you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.(New Jerusalem Bible)
St. Thomas Aquinas:
Psalm 119:97-104
97 How I love your Law! I ponder it all day long.
98 You make me wiser than my enemies by your commandment which is mine for ever.
99 I am wiser than all my teachers because I ponder your instructions.
100 I have more understanding than the aged because I keep your precepts.
101 I restrain my foot from evil paths to keep your word.
102 I do not turn aside from your judgements, because you yourself have instructed me.
103 How pleasant your promise to my palate, sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 From your precepts I learn wisdom, so I hate all deceptive ways.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Wisdom 7:7-14
7 And so I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
8 I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing.
9 I reckoned no precious stone to be her equal, for compared with her, all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her, silver ranks as mud.
10 I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light, since her radiance never sleeps.
11 In her company all good things came to me, and at her hands incalculable wealth.
12 All these delighted me, since Wisdom brings them, though I did not then realise that she was their mother.
13 What I learned diligently, I shall pass on liberally, I shall not conceal how rich she is.
14 For she is to human beings an inexhaustible treasure, and those who acquire this win God’s friendship, commended to him by the gifts of instruction.(New Jerusalem Bible)
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
23 For the tradition I received from the Lord and also handed on to you is that on the night he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread,
24 and after he had given thanks, he broke it, and he said, ‘This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.’
25 And in the same way, with the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do this as a memorial of me.’
26 Whenever you eat this bread, then, and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Matthew 13:47-52
47 ‘Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet that is cast in the sea and brings in a haul of all kinds of fish.
48 When it is full, the fishermen bring it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in baskets and throw away those that are no use.
49 This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the upright,
50 to throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.
51 ‘Have you understood all these?’ They said, ‘Yes.’
52 And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom new things as well as old.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 12:1-25
1 Yahweh sent the prophet Nathan to David. He came to him and said: In the same town were two men, one rich, the other poor.
2 The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance;
3 the poor man had nothing but a ewe lamb, only a single little one which he had bought. He fostered it and it grew up with him and his children, eating his bread, drinking from his cup, sleeping in his arms; it was like a daughter to him.
4 When a traveller came to stay, the rich man would not take anything from his own flock or herd to provide for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead, he stole the poor man’s lamb and prepared that for his guest.
5 David flew into a great rage with the man. ‘As Yahweh lives,’ he said to Nathan ‘the man who did this deserves to die.
6 For doing such a thing and for having shown no pity, he shall make fourfold restitution for the lamb.’
7 Nathan then said to David, ‘You are the man! Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, “I anointed you king of Israel, I saved you from Saul’s clutches,
8 I gave you your master’s household and your master’s wives into your arms, I gave you the House of Israel and the House of Judah; and, if this is still too little, I shall give you other things as well.
9 Why did you show contempt for Yahweh, by doing what displeases him? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword, you took his wife to be your wife, causing his death by the sword of the Ammonites.
10 For this, your household will never be free of the sword, since you showed contempt for me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite, to make her your wife.”
11 ‘Yahweh says this, “Out of your own household I shall raise misfortune for you. Before your very eyes I shall take your wives and give them to your neighbour, who will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
12 You have worked in secret, but I shall work this for all Israel to see, in broad daylight.” ‘
13 David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against Yahweh.’ Nathan then said to David, ‘Yahweh, for his part, forgives your sin; you are not to die.
14 But, since you have outraged Yahweh by doing this, the child born to you will die.’
15 And Nathan went home. Yahweh struck the child which Uriah’s wife had borne to David and it fell gravely ill.
16 David pleaded with Yahweh for the child; he kept a strict fast and went home and spent the night lying on the ground, covered with sacking.
17 The officials of his household stood round him, intending to get him off the ground, but he refused, nor would he take food with them.
18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s retinue were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. ‘Even when the child was alive’, they thought, ‘we reasoned with him and he would not listen to us. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do something desperate.’
19 David, however, noticed that his retinue were whispering among themselves, and realised that the child was dead. ‘Is the child dead?’ he asked the officers. They replied, ‘He is dead.’
20 David got off the ground, bathed and anointed himself and put on fresh clothes. Then he went into Yahweh’s sanctuary and prostrated himself. On returning to his house, he asked to be served with food and ate it.
21 His retinue said, ‘Why are you acting like this? When the child was alive, you fasted and wept; now that the child is dead, you get up and take food!’
22 ‘When the child was alive’, he replied, ‘I fasted and wept because I kept thinking, “Who knows? Perhaps Yahweh will take pity on me and the child will live.”
23 But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him but he cannot come back to me.’
24 David consoled his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and slept with her. She conceived and gave birth to a son, whom she called Solomon. Yahweh loved him
25 and made this known by means of the prophet Nathan, who named him Jedidiah, as Yahweh had instructed.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 51:11-18
11 do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness.
12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.
13 I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.
16 Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire.
17 Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.
18 In your graciousness do good to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 4:35-41
35 With the coming of evening that same day, he said to them, ‘Let us cross over to the other side.’
36 And leaving the crowd behind they took him, just as he was, in the boat; and there were other boats with him.
37 Then it began to blow a great gale and the waves were breaking into the boat so that it was almost swamped.
38 But he was in the stern, his head on the cushion, asleep.
39 They woke him and said to him, ‘Master, do you not care? We are lost!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Quiet now! Be calm!’ And the wind dropped, and there followed a great calm.
40 Then he said to them, ‘Why are you so frightened? Have you still no faith?’
41 They were overcome with awe and said to one another, ‘Who can this be? Even the wind and the sea obey him.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Saturday, 28 January 2012
Saturday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest & Doctor of the Church (+ 1274) – Memorial
Commentary of the day:
Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (1873-1897), Carmelite, Doctor of the Church
Story of a soul; Manuscript A, 75 v° – 76 r° (copyright Institute of Carmelite Studies)
“Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion”
I should have spoken to you about the retreat preceding my Profession, dear Mother…; it was far from bringing me any consolations since the most absolute aridity and almost total abandonment were my lot. Jesus was sleeping as usual in my little boat; ah! I see very well how rarely souls allow him to sleep peacefully within them. Jesus is so fatigued with always having to take the initiative and to attend to others that he hastens to take advantage of the repose I offer to him. He will undoubtedly awaken before my great eternal retreat, but instead of being troubled about it this only gives me extreme pleasure.
Really, I am far from being a saint, and what I have just said is proof of this; instead of rejoicing, for example, at my aridity, I should attribute it to my little fervor and lack of fidelity; I should be desolate for having slept (for seven years) during my hours of prayer and my thanksgivings after Holy Communion; well, I am not desolate. I remember that little children are as pleasing to their parents when they are asleep as well as when they are wide awake; I remember, too, that when they perform operations, doctors put their patients to sleep. Finally, I remember that: “The Lord knows our weakness,» that «he is mindful that we are but dust» (Ps 103[102],14).
Just as all those that followed it, my Profession retreat was one of great aridity. God showed me clearly, however, without my perceiving it, the way to please him and to practice the most sublime virtues. I have frequently noticed that Jesus doesn’t want me to lay up provisions; he nourishes me at each moment with a totally new food; I find it within me without my knowing how it is there. I believe it is Jesus himself hidden in the depths of my poor little heart: he is giving me the grace of acting within me, making me think of all he desires me to do at the present moment.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Saturday 28th January 2012
BUT IT IS HARDLY CREDIBLE THAT ONE COULD SO PERSECUTE JESUS! by Oswald Chambers
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?(Acts 26:14)
Am I set on my own way for God? We are never free from this snare until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus. Whenever we stand on our dignity we systematically vex and grieve His Spirit; and when the knowledge comes home that it is Jesus Whom we have been persecuting all the time, it is the most crushing revelation there could be.
Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one thing only – a perfect oneness with the Father, and He says, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that I can be easily put upon, easily over-reached, easily ignored; but if I submit to it for His sake, I prevent Jesus Christ being persecuted.

Reflecting God-He Will Last Forever
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 72:1-7
1 [Of Solomon] God, endow the king with your own fair judgement, the son of the king with your own saving justice,
2 that he may rule your people with justice, and your poor with fair judgement.
3 Mountains and hills, bring peace to the people! With justice
4 he will judge the poor of the people, he will save the children of the needy and crush their oppressors.
5 In the sight of the sun and the moon he will endure, age after age.
6 He will come down like rain on mown grass, like showers moistening the land.
7 In his days uprightness shall flourish, and peace in plenty till the moon is no more.(New Jerusalem Bible)
He Will Last Forever by Gerald Crispin
Have you ever wondered who God is, and what he is really like? Does he really love us? Though I have been a Christian for years, I still ask such questions about God. Maybe you’re the same. That is why I love Psalm 72. In this psalm we learn about God through the example of a just and righteous king. The Lord rules, protects, and nourishes his people and a godly ruler does the same. Through this example we learn more about God.
How long do you think the sun and the moon existed? How long do you think they will continue to exist? No matter the answer, God has always been and will continue to be. When the sun and moon have gone away he will still be the Lord God. He has no beginning and no end. The Lord and his kingdom will endure!
The reign of a human ruler, no matter how godly, will end in a few years or decades. God’s dominion will last forever! When we asked God to forgive our sin and make us a part of his family, he did, and we will live for eternity. We will be with God forever!
Hymn for Today:
“Jesus Shall Reign” by Isaac Watts
1. Jesus shall reign where’er the sun
does its successive journeys run;
his kingdom spread from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.
2. To Jesus endless prayer be made,
and endless praises crown his head;
his name like sweet perfume shall rise
with every morning sacrifice.
3. People and realms of every tongue
dwell on his love with sweetest song;
and infant voices shall proclaim
their early blessings on his name.
4. Blessings abound where’er he reigns;
all prisoners leap and loose their chains;
the weary find eternal rest,
and all who suffer want are blest.
5. Let every creature rise and bring
honors peculiar to our King;
angels descend with songs again,
and earth repeat the loud amen!
2nd Thought for Today:
“Sin destroys. Our confession and God’s forgiveness is its only remedy”(Neil B. Wiseman).
Prayer Needs:
Faculty and students as they prepare for full-time Christian ministry in the United Kingdom.

200. Remember the Future
January 27, 2012 by FivePractices
Join Robert Schnase for “Remember the Future: 30 Days of Preparation,” a series of reflections as The United Methodist Church prepares for General Conference 2012. These daily meditations explore hope, purpose, leadership and making and becoming disciples of Jesus Christ. With Wesleyan, scriptural, and leadership themes, explore together the mission of the church in a time of great change.
Check out the sample reflection below, and sign up today at Ministry Matters to receive the first of your daily meditations March 26!
Peter Steinke’s book A Door Set Open: Grounding Change in Mission and Hope contrasts hopefulness and hopelessness. Hopefulness, according to Steinke, stirs imagination, expands horizons, influences events, energizes, and creates a sense of buoyancy. Hopelessness shrinks the radius of possibility, becomes apathetic, entraps, minimizes options, resigns to existing conditions, and loses heart. Steinke also writes that hopefulness remembers the future so that we will not remain trapped in the present arrangement of things (p. 41).
Since reading Steinke’s book, the phrase Remember the Future has lingered in my mind. At first, the words are disorienting. Remember points backward, future looks forward. Yet in every discussion, deliberation, discernment, and decision, a leader must give deep and conscientious consideration to the future—to the future of the mission, to future contexts, to future generations, to a future with hope. Hope carries us across the threshold of “can’t.” We must always remember the future.
General Conference 2012 promises to be a significant moment in the life of the United Methodist Church. The Council of Bishops, through the Call to Action, has endorsed a core challenge: To redirect the flow of attention, energy, and resources to an intense concentration on fostering and sustaining an increase in the number of vital congregations effective in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. To support this, the Council of Bishops and the Connectional Table have put forward bold proposals that consolidate and streamline general agencies; give annual conferences the freedom to organize according to their context; reform the Council of Bishops; strengthen accountability systems for bishops, pastors, and general agencies; and reduce the general church budget. Also, there are proposals from an array of task forces that may change our systems of clergy preparation, ordination, and deployment, including shifts in the guaranteed appointment. In addition, General Conference will consider thousands of petitions on hundreds of topics submitted by members and congregations from across the world.
Petitions, bishops, pastors, laity, caucuses, committees, boards, agencies, budgets, plenary, legislation, young people, the global church, conferences, ordination, mission, discipline, Wesley, malaria, seminaries, worship, translators, hymns, prayer—this is the peculiar vocabulary and singular language of General Conference. The agenda is overwhelming. The expectations are incredible. The worship is awe-inspiring. The array of material to read is unrealistic. The work is important. The tension is tangible. The outcomes are uncertain.
And, I pray, the Spirit is present. I pray that delegates focus on the mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. I hope they direct our energies outward into the mission fields at home and across the globe that God gives us. And I pray they remember the future.
Beginning on March 26 and continuing for the thirty days leading up to General Conference, I will post a daily blog on Ministry Matters addressing an element of our mission together as United Methodists, weaving together scriptural themes, threads from our Wesleyan heritage, and insights from the literature of organizations and change. I’ll include references and background related to the Call to Action and some of the specific proposals that come before General Conference. Some of the daily blogs will include brief videos to explain or describe key ideas. Delegates, clergy, laity, and visitors from across the church are invited to opt in for a free subscription for the thirty days. Each day, you’ll receive a copy of the blog by email. Annual conference websites and local church websites are invited to link up as well.
The purpose of Remember the Future is to deepen understanding and further conversation about the key issues that shape our mission and future as a denomination. I hope the daily writings help focus the conversation on the mission of the church in Christ, and that they cause delegates at General Conference as well as local church leaders to continually remember the future!
The task of governance in an organization is to clarify the principle mission, maintain an outward focus, and force future-oriented thinking. How well do the governance structures of your congregation and of your conference do these things?
Why is it so difficult to focus on the future in leadership decisions? How do you remember the future in the roles of leadership you hold?

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Christmas Longings
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Hebrews 11:8-16
8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed the call to set out for a country that was the inheritance given to him and his descendants, and that he set out without knowing where he was going.
9 By faith he sojourned in the Promised Land as though it were not his, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
10 He looked forward to the well-founded city, designed and built by God.
11 It was equally by faith that Sarah, in spite of being past the age, was made able to conceive, because she believed that he who had made the promise was faithful to it.
12 Because of this, there came from one man, and one who already had the mark of death on him, descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore which cannot be counted.
13 All these died in faith, before receiving any of the things that had been promised, but they saw them in the far distance and welcomed them, recognising that they were only strangers and nomads on earth.
14 People who use such terms about themselves make it quite plain that they are in search of a homeland.
15 If they had meant the country they came from, they would have had the opportunity to return to it;
16 but in fact they were longing for a better homeland, their heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has founded the city for them.(New Jerusalem Bible)
They were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.(Hebrews 11:16 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
Christmas traditions differ all over the world. In Australia where I spent my childhood, we lazed in front of electric fans while singing songs about snow and sleds. Many Australians would love to experience a white Christmas. When I grew up, I became a missionary in northern Japan. I could experience at last the Christmas scenes I’d imagined as a child. However, celebrating Christmas in the snow was not as I’d pictured; I longed for the warm-weather Christmases of my childhood, complete with extended family.
We see the longing for home in Bible characters who felt like “strangers and foreigners on the earth” (Heb. 11:13, nrsv). My longing for home prompted me to think of the sacrifice Jesus made when he came to earth. How he must have yearned for all he left behind!
Whenever I’m away from my earthly home of Australia, I try to turn my homesickness into a longing for my eternal home where finally I’ll be satisfied. When I reach my eternal home everything will be perfect, and I will no longer feel homesick. by Wendy Marshall (Tokyo, Japan)
3rd Thought for the Day: The longing for a home is a foretaste of heaven.
Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to anticipate the wonderful home you’re preparing for our eternity. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Missionaries
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — January 28, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
“And I chose to have Wisdom rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.”(Wisdom 7:10)
The beauty of the unconscious is that it knows a great deal—whether personal or collective—but it always knows that it does not know, cannot say, and dare not try to prove or assert too strongly; because what it does know is that there is always more—and all words will fall short. The contemplative is precisely the person who agrees to live in that unique kind of brightness (a combination of light and dark that is brighter still!). The Paradox, of course, is that it does not feel like brightness at all, but what John of the Cross calls a “luminous darkness,” or others call “learned ignorance.”
In summary, you cannot grow in the great art form, the integration of action and contemplation, without 1) a strong tolerance for ambiguity; 2) an ability to allow, forgive, and contain a certain degree of anxiety; and 3) a willingness to not know and not even need to know. This is how you allow and encounter mystery. All else is mere religion. From A Lever And a Place to Stand:
The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer, p. x (foreword)
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Saturday January 28, 2012
Forgiving in the Name of God
We are all wounded people. Who wounds us? Often those whom we love and those who love us. When we feel rejected, abandoned, abused, manipulated, or violated, it is mostly by people very close to us: our parents, our friends, our spouses, our lovers, our children, our neighbors, our teachers, our pastors. Those who love us wound us too. That’s the tragedy of our lives. This is what makes forgiveness from the heart so difficult. It is precisely our hearts that are wounded. We cry out, “You, who I expected to be there for me, you have abandoned me. How can I ever forgive you for that?”
Forgiveness often seems impossible, but nothing is impossible for God. The God who lives within us will give us the grace to go beyond our wounded selves and say, “In the Name of God you are forgiven.” Let’s pray for that grace. by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.28.12 – “Love is as strong as death” from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: Song of Solomon 1:9 LOVER: I compare you, my love, to my mare harnessed to Pharaoh’s chariot.
10 Your cheeks show fair between their pendants and your neck within its necklaces.
11 We shall make you golden earrings and beads of silver.
12 DUO: -While the king rests in his own room my nard yields its perfume.
13 My love is a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.
14 My love is a cluster of henna flowers among the vines of En-Gedi.
15 -How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are! Your eyes are doves.
16 -How beautiful you are, my love, and how you delight me! Our bed is the greensward.
17 -The beams of our house are cedar trees, its panelling the cypress.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Song of Solomon 2:1 -I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys.
2 -As a lily among the thistles, so is my beloved among girls.
3 -As an apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my love among young men. In his delightful shade I sit, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 He has taken me to his cellar, and his banner over me is love.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Song of Solomon 8:5 Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? I awakened you under the apple tree, where your mother conceived you, where she who bore you conceived you.
6 BELOVED: Set me like a seal on your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is strong as Death, passion as relentless as Sheol. The flash of it is a flash of fire, a flame of Yahweh himself.
7 Love no flood can quench, no torrents drown. Were a man to offer all his family wealth to buy love, contempt is all that he would gain.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Question:
How comfortable or uncomfortable were you reading today’s Scripture passage? (Other parts of the Song are even more erotic—albeit in ways that fit that time’s ideas of beauty!) This bold Hebrew love poetry frames the strong pull of sexual attraction in a way that points to God’s intention that the union of bodies will bond souls together. Can we misuse sexuality in hurtful ways? Yes. Is our culture sometimes uneasy and ashamed, and at other times brazen, about sex? Yes again. But regardless of that, our sexuality is one of God’s good gifts.
How do these poetic passages join sexual allure with the even stronger, lasting force of committed love? (A popular song some years ago said, “We’ve got tonight/Who needs tomorrow?” How did the biblical Song show lovers enjoying “tonight” to fortify a bond that reaches way beyond “tomorrow”?) How does having Song of Solomon in the Bible show that God is not ill at ease with sexual attraction, but meant it as a force for good?
Family Activity:
God created each person as a sexual being and designed sexuality as a good gift. Children will learn about sex from someone, so as parents or caregivers, commit to being the people who teach them. With younger children, use appropriate names for all body parts, including those we keep covered. With older children and youth, bake a cake. Take the cake out of the oven 15-20 minutes early. Talk about what isn’t right about the cake and how timing matters in all things. Finish baking it and when it is done, celebrate its goodness. Talk about the goodness and gift of waiting for the right time to have sex. Pray, asking God for wisdom and guidance as your family continues these vital conversations through the years.
Saturday 1.28.12 Insight from Julie Peters
Julie Peters is the Associate Director of Student Ministries at The Church of the Resurrection.
As a youth minister, I have to admit that the first thing that occurs to me when I read passages like this is, “Yikes! How do I preach on this to a room full of middle school students?” And yet, as a second thought, I wonder for those of us who have already supposedly grown-up, are there lessons for us in the basic nature of a 6th grader that could give us insight into this scripture?
Follow me on this for a minute. Have you ever watched 6th graders interact? As a rule, they are goofy, awkward, super authentic, and overflowing with a basic enthusiasm for living in the moment. God made them who they are and more often than not, they embrace life and who they are in a way many of us have long forgotten. I watch them laughing a bit more loudly than their parent might wish, crying from the depths of their souls when someone hurts them, and singing with abandon with whatever voice God gave them. Basically, they are still free from much of the baggage that tells us to live for the audience around us and gain our worth from what others think, rather than gaining our worth just because God made us uniquely and beautifully us.
OK…so what does this have to do with Song of Solomon? Stay with me here. This past week, we have been looking at how sex is God’s good gift within the right parameters, and also how the world around us has defined sex in ways that really don’t line up with the powerful bonding of life and soul that is a part giving yourself to your mate so completely. I think again of the powerful image scripture gives us of husband and wife, two becoming one. The lovers in Song of Solomon are living in the moment and appreciating all that God has provided them in a mate, and yet building a love that lasts, becoming one. While I am not sure many of us girls would enjoy being likened to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses, I do know that the authentic appreciation of one another, the ability to see the depth of beauty in the mate God has given you, and the abandon of awkwardness and shame as two become one come through in these passages loud and clear. These verses are a powerful image of surrender of self and a love that goes beyond all of the clutter of this world. It gives us glimpses of a love that is authentic, in the moment and yet bound for life, and is even stronger than death. So in this relationship as husband and wife, we get a small taste of the boundless, unconditional love of our God for us.
And for all of us, no matter what stage of life we are currently in, there are beautiful reminders for us in this scripture in regards to God’s love for us. We are reminded that God loves us and sees beauty in us, right where we are. We are reminded that our relationship with God is intimate and personal and we can surrender to our God with complete abandon, and not worry about what anyone thinks, because the way God loves is so far beyond what we can even understand, and goes even beyond death. And we are reminded of the joy and blessings that come as we enjoy who God has made us to be and appreciate the good gifts that God has given to us right where we are in any given moment.
May we live each day with the abandon and the security that comes from knowing that Jesus surrendered all for us and that in marriage, in relationship, and in life our true audience is the God who created us. As we live into this and allow God to love us and teach us how to love others we begin to understand a love that is even stronger than death.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

5th Thought for Today:
Saturday 28 January 2012
Spirituality
We have to find a spirituality which is not running away form suffering but entering into suffering and discovering a presence of God, and a presence of people, in pain by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

Shabbat Shalom for Saturday, January 28, 2012,
Welcome to Bo (Come!), this week’s Parsha (Torah Portion).
Please read with us the portion of Torah that will be read in synagogues
around the world during this week’s Shabbat (Saturday) service. We know
you will be blessed!
BO (Come!)
Exodus 10:1–13:16
1 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have made him and his officials stubborn, to display these signs of mine among them;
2 so that you can tell your sons and your grandsons how I made fools of the Egyptians and what signs I performed among them, so that you would know that I am Yahweh.’
3 Moses and Aaron then went to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, says this, “How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go and worship me.
4 Or, if you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I shall send locusts into your country.
5 They will cover the surface of the soil so that the soil cannot be seen. They will devour the remainder of what has escaped, of what you have been left after the hail; they will devour all your trees growing in the fields;
6 they will fill your houses, all your officials’ houses and all the Egyptians’ houses — something your ancestors and your ancestors’ ancestors have never seen from the day they first appeared on earth until now.” ‘ Then he turned on his heel and left Pharaoh’s presence.
7 At which, Pharaoh’s officials said to him, ‘How much longer are we to be tricked by this fellow? Let the people go and worship Yahweh their God. Do you not finally realise that Egypt is on the brink of ruin?’
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh who said to them, ‘Go and worship Yahweh your God. But who are to go?’
9 Moses replied, ‘We shall take our young men and our old men, we shall take our sons and daughters, our flocks and our herds, since we are going to hold a feast in Yahweh’s honour.’
10 Pharaoh said, ‘So I must let you go with your wives and children! May Yahweh preserve you! Plainly, you are up to no good!
11 Oh no! You men may go and worship Yahweh, since that was your original request.’ With that, they were driven from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand over Egypt for the locusts. Let them invade Egypt and devour whatever is growing in the country, whatever the hail has left!’
13 Moses stretched his staff over Egypt, and over the country Yahweh sent an east wind which blew all that day and night. By morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.
14 The locusts invaded the whole of Egypt and settled all over Egypt, in great swarms; never had there been so many locusts before, nor would there be again.
15 They covered the surface of the ground till the land was devastated. They devoured whatever was growing in the fields and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. No green was left on tree or plant in the fields anywhere in Egypt.
16 Pharaoh sent urgently for Moses and Aaron and said, ‘I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you.
17 Now forgive my sin, I implore you, just this once, and entreat Yahweh your God to turn this deadly thing away from me.’
18 When Moses left Pharaoh’s presence he prayed to Yahweh,
19 and Yahweh changed the wind into a west wind, very strong, which carried the locusts away and swept them into the Sea of Reeds. There was not one locust left in the whole of Egypt.
20 But Yahweh made Pharaoh stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites go.
21 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and let darkness, darkness so thick that it can be felt, cover Egypt.’
22 So Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, and for three days there was thick darkness over the whole of Egypt.
23 No one could see anyone else or move about for three days, but all the Israelites did have light where they were living.
24 Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, ‘Go and worship Yahweh, but your flocks and herds are to stay here. Your wives and children can go with you too.’
25 Moses said, ‘But now you must give us sacrifices and burnt offerings to offer to Yahweh our God.
26 And our livestock will go with us too; not a hoof will be left behind; for we may need animals from these to worship Yahweh our God; for until we get there we ourselves cannot tell how we are to worship Yahweh.’
27 But Yahweh made Pharaoh stubborn, and he refused to let them go.
28 Pharaoh said to Moses, ‘Out of my sight! Be sure you never see my face again, for the next time you see my face you die!’
29 Moses then said, ‘You yourself have said it. I shall never see your face again.’
1 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘I shall inflict one more plague on Pharaoh and Egypt, after which he will let you go away. When he lets you go, he will actually drive you out!
2 Now instruct the people that every man is to ask his neighbour, and every woman hers, for silver and golden jewellery.’
3 And Yahweh made the Egyptians impressed with the people, while Moses himself was a man of great importance in Egypt in the opinion of Pharaoh’s officials and the people.
4 Moses then said, ‘Yahweh says this, “At midnight I shall pass through Egypt,
5 and all the first-born in Egypt will die, from the first-born of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, to the first-born of the slave-girl at the mill, and all the first-born of the livestock.
6 And throughout Egypt there will be great wailing, such as never was before, nor will be again.
7 But against the Israelites, whether man or beast, never a dog shall bark, so that you may know that Yahweh discriminates between Egypt and Israel.
8 Then all these officials of yours will come down to me and, bowing low before me, say: Go away, you and all the people who follow you! After which, I shall go.” ‘ And, hot with anger, he left Pharaoh’s presence.
9 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that more of my wonders may be displayed in Egypt.’
10 Moses and Aaron worked all these wonders in Pharaoh’s presence, but Yahweh made Pharaoh stubborn, and he did not let the Israelites leave his country.
1 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,
2 ‘This month must be the first of all the months for you, the first month of your year.
3 Speak to the whole community of Israel and say, “On the tenth day of this month each man must take an animal from the flock for his family: one animal for each household.
4 If the household is too small for the animal, he must join with his neighbour nearest to his house, depending on the number of persons. When you choose the animal, you will take into account what each can eat.
5 It must be an animal without blemish, a male one year old; you may choose it either from the sheep or from the goats.
6 You must keep it till the fourteenth day of the month when the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at twilight.
7 Some of the blood must then be taken and put on both door-posts and the lintel of the houses where it is eaten.
8 That night, the flesh must be eaten, roasted over the fire; it must be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with the head, feet and entrails.
10 You must not leave any of it over till the morning: whatever is left till morning you must burn.
11 This is how you must eat it: with a belt round your waist, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You must eat it hurriedly: it is a Passover in Yahweh’s honour.
12 That night, I shall go through Egypt and strike down all the first-born in Egypt, man and beast alike, and shall execute justice on all the gods of Egypt, I, Yahweh!
13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood I shall pass over you, and you will escape the destructive plague when I strike Egypt.
14 This day must be commemorated by you, and you must keep it as a feast in Yahweh’s honour. You must keep it as a feast-day for all generations; this is a decree for all time.
15 “For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you must clean the leaven out of your houses, for anyone who eats leavened bread from the first to the seventh day must be outlawed from Israel.
16 On the first day you must hold a sacred assembly, and on the seventh day a sacred assembly. On those days no work may be done; you will prepare only what each requires to eat.
17 You must keep the feast of Unleavened Bread because it was on that same day that I brought your armies out of Egypt. You will keep that day, generation after generation; this is a decree for all time.
18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, you must eat unleavened bread.
19 For seven days there may be no leaven in your houses, since anyone, either stranger or citizen of the country, who eats leavened bread will be outlawed from the community of Israel.
20 You will eat nothing with leaven in it; wherever you live, you will eat unleavened bread.” ‘
21 Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Go and choose a lamb or kid for your families, and kill the Passover victim.
22 Then take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and with the blood from the basin touch the lintel and both door-posts; then let none of you venture out of the house till morning.
23 Then, when Yahweh goes through Egypt to strike it, and sees the blood on the lintel and on both door-posts, he will pass over the door and not allow the Destroyer to enter your homes and strike.
24 You will observe this as a decree binding you and your children for all time,
25 and when you have entered the country which Yahweh will give you, as he has promised, you will observe this ritual.
26 And when your children ask you, “What does this ritual mean?”
27 you will tell them, “It is the Passover sacrifice in honour of Yahweh who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, and struck Egypt but spared our houses.” ‘ And the people bowed in worship.
28 The Israelites then went away and did as Yahweh had ordered Moses and Aaron.
29 And at midnight Yahweh struck down all the first-born in Egypt from the first-born of Pharaoh, heir to his throne, to the first-born of the prisoner in the dungeon, and the first-born of all the livestock.
30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up in the night, and there was great wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without its dead.
31 It was still dark when Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Up, leave my subjects, you and the Israelites! Go and worship Yahweh as you have asked!
32 And take your flocks and herds as you have asked, and go! And bless me too!’
33 The Egyptians urged the people on and hurried them out of the country because, they said, ‘Otherwise we shall all be dead.’
34 So the people carried off their dough still unleavened, their bowls wrapped in their cloaks, on their shoulders.
35 The Israelites did as Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for silver and golden jewellery, and clothing.
36 Yahweh made the Egyptians so much impressed with the people that they gave them what they asked. So they despoiled the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites left Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand on the march-men, that is, not counting their families.
38 A mixed crowd of people went with them, and flocks and herds, quantities of livestock.
39 And with the dough which they had brought from Egypt they baked unleavened cakes, because the dough had not risen, since they had been driven out of Egypt without time to linger or to prepare food for themselves.
40 The time that the Israelites spent in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
41 And on the very day the four hundred and thirty years ended, all Yahweh’s armies left Egypt.
42 The night when Yahweh kept vigil to bring them out of Egypt must be kept as a vigil in honour of Yahweh by all Israelites, for all generations.
43 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, ‘This is the ritual for the Passover: no alien may eat it,
44 but any slave bought for money may eat it, once you have circumcised him.
45 No stranger and no hired servant may eat it.
46 It must be eaten in one house alone; you will not take any of the meat out of the house; nor may you break any of its bones.
47 ‘The whole community of Israel must keep it.
48 Should a stranger residing with you wish to keep the Passover in honour of Yahweh, all the males of his household must be circumcised: he will then be allowed to keep it and will count as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat it.
49 The same law will apply to the citizen and the stranger resident among you.’
50 The Israelites all did as Yahweh had ordered Moses and Aaron,
51 and that same day Yahweh brought the Israelites out of Egypt in their armies.
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
2 ‘Consecrate all the first-born to me, the first birth from every womb, among the Israelites. Whether man or beast, it is mine.’
3 Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day, on which you came out of Egypt, from the place of slave-labour, for by the strength of his hand Yahweh brought you out of it; no leavened bread may be eaten.
4 On this day, in the month of Abib, you are leaving,
5 and when Yahweh has brought you into the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, flowing with milk and honey, which he swore to your ancestors that he would give you, then you must observe this rite in the same month.
6 For seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there must be a feast in Yahweh’s honour.
7 During these seven days unleavened bread may be eaten; no leavened bread may be seen among you, no leaven among you throughout your territory.
8 And on that day you will explain to your son, “This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt.”
9 This will serve as a sign on your hand would serve, or a reminder on your forehead, and in that way the law of Yahweh will be ever on your lips: for with a mighty hand Yahweh brought you out of Egypt.
10 You shall observe this law at its appointed time, year by year.
11 ‘When Yahweh has brought you into the Canaanites’ country, as he swore to you and your ancestors that he would, and given it to you,
12 to Yahweh you must make over whatever first issues from the womb, and every first-born cast by animals belonging to you: these males belong to Yahweh.
13 But every first-born donkey you will redeem with a lamb or kid; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. All the human first-born, however, among your sons, you will redeem.
14 And when your son asks you in days to come, “What does this mean?” you will tell him, “By the strength of his hand Yahweh brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slave-labour.
15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, Yahweh killed all the first-born in Egypt, of man and beast alike. This is why I sacrifice every male first issuing from the womb to Yahweh and redeem every first-born of my sons.”
16 This will serve as a sign on your hand would serve, or a headband on your forehead, for by the strength of his hand Yahweh brought us out of Egypt.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Jeremiah 46:13–28
13 The word that came from Yahweh to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced to attack Egypt.
14 Publish it in Egypt, proclaim it in Migdol, proclaim it in Noph and Tahpanhes! Say, ‘Stand your ground, be prepared, for the sword is devouring all round you!’
15 Why has Apis fled? Why has your Mighty One not stood firm? Why, Yahweh has overturned him,
16 he has caused many to fall! Falling over one another, they say, ‘Up, and back to our own people, to the country where we were born, away from the devastating sword!’
17 They have given Pharaoh king of Egypt the nickname, ‘Much-noise-but-he-lets-the-chance-slip-by’!
18 As I live, the King declares, whose name is Yahweh Sabaoth, he is coming, a very Tabor among mountains, a Carmel high above the sea!
19 Get your bundle ready for exile, fair inhabitant of Egypt! Noph will be reduced to a desert, desolate, uninhabited.
20 Egypt was a splendid heifer, but a gadfly from the north has settled on her.
21 The mercenaries she had with her, these too were like fattened calves: but they too have taken to their heels, have all run away, not held their ground, for their day of disaster has overtaken them, their time for being punished.
22 Hear her hissing like a snake as they advance in force to fall on her with their axes, like woodcutters,
23 they will fell her forest, Yahweh declares, however impenetrable it was for they are more numerous than locusts, there is no counting them.
24 The daughter of Egypt is put to shame, handed over to a people from the north.
25 Yahweh Sabaoth, God of Israel, has said, ‘Look, I shall punish Amon of No, Pharaoh, Egypt, its gods, its kings, Pharaoh and those who put their trust in him.
26 I shall hand him over to those who are determined to kill him, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to his generals. But afterwards, Egypt will be inhabited again as in the past, Yahweh declares.
27 But do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, Israel, do not be alarmed: for look, I shall rescue you from afar and your descendants from the country where they are captive. Jacob will return and be at peace, secure, with no one to trouble him.
28 Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, Yahweh declares, for I am with you: I shall make an end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I shall not make an end of you, I shall discipline you only as you deserve, not leaving you quite unpunished.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 22:7–30
7 The day of Unleavened Bread came round, on which the Passover had to be sacrificed,
8 and he sent Peter and John, saying, ‘Go and make the preparations for us to eat the Passover.’
9 They asked him, ‘Where do you want us to prepare it?’
10 He said to them, ‘Look, as you go into the city you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house he enters
11 and tell the owner of the house, “The Master says this to you: Where is the room for me to eat the Passover with my disciples?”
12 The man will show you a large upper room furnished with couches. Make the preparations there.’
13 They set off and found everything as he had told them and prepared the Passover.
14 When the time came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him.
15 And he said to them, ‘I have ardently longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer;
16 because, I tell you, I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.’
17 Then, taking a cup, he gave thanks and said, ‘Take this and share it among you,
18 because from now on, I tell you, I shall never again drink wine until the kingdom of God comes.’
19 Then he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.’
20 He did the same with the cup after supper, and said, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood poured out for you.
21 ‘But look, here with me on the table is the hand of the man who is betraying me.
22 The Son of man is indeed on the path which was decreed, but alas for that man by whom he is betrayed!’
23 And they began to ask one another which of them it could be who was to do this.
24 An argument also began between them about who should be reckoned the greatest;
25 but he said to them, ‘Among the gentiles it is the kings who lord it over them, and those who have authority over them are given the title Benefactor.
26 With you this must not happen. No; the greatest among you must behave as if he were the youngest, the leader as if he were the one who serves.
27 For who is the greater: the one at table or the one who serves? The one at table, surely? Yet here am I among you as one who serves!
28 ‘You are the men who have stood by me faithfully in my trials;
29 and now I confer a kingdom on you, just as my Father conferred one on me:
30 you will eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel.(New Jerusalem Bible)
“Go [come in] to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of
his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them that you
may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the
Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may
know that I am the Lord.” (Exodus 10:1–2)
Last week we read how God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that
the Israelites be freed from slavery.
Pharaoh, however, refused to free the Israelite slaves and God unleashed
plagues on the Egyptians. Pharaoh practically begged Moses to stop each
plague. And he promised every time to free the Israelites.
But instead of freeing them, he made their lives increasingly more difficult.
God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he could display His power.
Why did God Demonstrate His Power in Egypt?
“If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country
tomorrow.” (Exodus 10:4)
Parsha Bo begins with the eighth plague upon Egypt: Locusts
We may wonder why God, who was fully capable of delivering Israel from
Egypt without involving Pharaoh in the process, decided to demonstrate
His power to both Israel and Egypt.
Scripture is clear on this: God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that He might
show His signs and wonders, in order that the Egyptians would finally know
that the God of Israel is the Sovereign Lord.
He hardened Pharaoh’s heart to demonstrate His power over all the false
gods of Egypt, represented by each of the ten plagues.
His purpose was that both Israelites and Egyptians might know that He is
YHVH Elohim (Lord God).
The Temptation to Compromise
“Have only the men go and worship the Lord….” (Exodus 10:11)
God sought to liberate the children of Israel from Egypt for one purpose:
that they may serve Him.
In the midst of God’s demonstrations of power, Pharaoh tried to get
Moses to compromise (just take the men) but Moses refuses to
compromise with Egypt.
“…not a hoof is to be left behind.” (Exodus 10:26)
We must also take this same attitude with the enemy of our soul, and refuse
to compromise. We must be determined to live completely and fully in
God’s Kingdom of Light and to leave behind nothing in the kingdom of darkness!
Only that way can we hope to serve God wholeheartedly.
In the same way Moses commanded Pharaoh to release the Israelites,
Yeshua says to the enemy of our souls, “Let my people go!”
The purpose of our liberation from the pharaoh of this world and from
slavery to sin is that we may become slaves of righteousness.
“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.” (Romans 6:18)
And what a freedom it is to be a slave to righteousness! The enemy has
no power over those who are slaves of righteousness.
The Plague of Darkness
“Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt
—darkness that can be felt.” (Exodus 10: 21)
With the ninth plague of darkness, Elohim (God) established His supremacy
over the Egyptian sun god.
Although the Egyptians were plunged into total darkness, the Israelites had
light in their dwellings in the land of Goshen.
Likewise, Yeshua came to give freedom to the prisoners of darkness.
“I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people … to
say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’”
(Isaiah 49:8-9)
As Covenant people of God, we can trust that even when there is total,
paralyzing darkness in the world, we can still have light in our dwellings,
just as the Israelites had in Goshen.
If we will rise up and shine, and do all things without arguing and
complaining, we will be lights in the midst of the dark and perverse
generation. (Philippians 2:14-15)
If we want light in our homes, in our dwellings, then we must turn from hatred
and walk in love. We must stop cursing, fault finding, and arguing, and
instead begin blessing.
“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in
the darkness. Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light,
and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a
brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They
do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”
(1 John 2:9-11)
The Final Plague: Death of the Firstborn
“The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you
when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12:13)
This week’s parsha (Torah portion) tells the story of the first Pesach
(Passover), approximately 3500 years ago.
Even though Passover is celebrated later in this year [April], this portion
describes one of the most significant events in the Torah: the physical
salvation of Israel through the blood of the lamb.
This event is significant to all Believers, Jew or Gentile, as it foreshadowed
our spiritual salvation through the atoning blood of the Lamb of God,
Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).
This final plague– the death of the firstborn of Egypt– required that Moses
prepare the people of Israel so that God could make a distinction between
the Egyptians and Israelites. (Exodus 11:7)
God commanded Israel to kill a lamb and place its blood on the doorposts
(mezuzot) of their dwelling places.
That blood was a sign to the angel of death to pass over those dwelling
places where the blood had been applied to the lintel.
Just as those who applied the lamb’s blood to their doorposts were saved
—Israelite and Egyptian alike—we are also saved from death and
destruction by the blood of the Lamb of God, Yeshua, who died on the
crucifixion stake (cross) on Passover. However, remember that He also
rose after three days.
Placing the blood on the doorposts and lintel forms the letter ‘chet’ in
Hebrew, which stands for chai, meaning living. Chai is related to the
Hebrew word chaim, which means life.
“Yeish co’ah b’damo shel haseh!” (There is power in the blood of the lamb!)
The Passover
“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.”
(Exodus 12:2)
God demonstrated His power to the Jewish People so that we might recount
God’s great deliverance and redemption to our children in the future.
The institution of the Passover is so significant that God commanded it to be
the spiritual beginning of the months.
All our sense of time is reckoned from this moment of freedom, the
Passover, the day that God passed over us, and we were saved from His wrath.
That is why each year during Passover we recount this great story of
redemption at the Passover Seder, which is a designated teaching tool by
which we impart our faith in a mighty, merciful God to the next generation.
While most Jewish people celebrate the Passover each year, for many it’s
simply a family tradition or a religious ritual.
Like most Gentile Believers, Jewish people also need a deeper
understanding of the Passover and especially the blood of the Lamb.
Please pray that, as Jewish people study these passages of Scripture this
Shabbat (Sabbath), the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) would give them
revelation about salvation through the blood of the Messiah.
“Celebrate this day [Passover] as a lasting ordinance for the generations to
come.” (Exodus 12:17)
The Protection of the Blood Covenant
“There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever
been or ever will be again. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at
any person or animal.” (Exodus 11:6)
When the angel of death passed over Egypt, a great cry was heard
throughout the land from the wailing of the mourners.
But wherever the blood had been applied to the doorpost in obedience to
God, it was quiet and calm.
In the face of so much destruction, some find it difficult to reconcile God’s
love for all people, as seen in the New Covenant (New Testament), with
God’s judgment of sin that is clearly depicted in the Torah.
But we see in this story that God didn’t just come in and wipe out all
the Egyptians. He warned them; He gave them time and opportunity
to repent.
And He put the umbrella of His protective covering over those who chose
to be in covenant relationship with Him.
Just as those Egyptians were saved who heeded God by entering a
household with the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, all people, not just
the children of Israel, are welcome to come into this privileged covenant
status with YHVH (the Lord), the God of the Israelites, through the blood
of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.
Hardness of Heart
“How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?” (Exodus 10:3)
Our own hardness of heart has ramifications not only for our own lives, but
for our loved ones and for our businesses and employees.
Pharaoh invited destruction upon himself, his family and all of Egypt simply
because of the hardness of his heart; he refused to humble himself or to
heed the ten rebukes of the plagues.
“He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be
destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1)
May our own hearts be soft clay in the Potter’s hands. May we each seek
to walk in humility, to heed rebuke and to receive proper correction.
Clay in the potter’s hands: “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the
clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)
Protection from the Wrath to Come
“Gather together, gather yourselves together …before the day of the Lord’s
wrath comes upon you.” (Zephaniah 2: 1–3)
Throughout the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures), the prophets foretell of the
judgment that will come upon the earth. The blood of the lamb is the only
thing powerful enough to protect us from the coming wrath of God.
God is merciful and does not desire even one to perish.
Therefore, He has given each one of us the opportunity to place the blood
of the lamb, by faith, on the doorposts and lintels of our hearts, by receiving
Yeshua’s atonement for our sins.
Will you pray that the Jewish people will receive Yeshua as their Messiah
and be saved by His blood?
Yeshua is returning, not as the meek, sacrificial lamb, but as the mighty Lion
of Yehudah (Judah), to execute judgment upon the peoples of the earth,
especially upon the enemies of Israel.
Will you take a bold stand for Israel in the coming days?
Shabbat shalom from all our ministry staff
“I will bless those that bless Israel.” (Genesis 12:3)

Reflections with GOD for Friday, January 27, 2012

Quotes for Today:
An economist is a man who states the obvious in terms of the incomprehensible. by Alfred A. Knopf
Acts of sacrifice and decency without regard to what’s in it for you create ripple effects. Ones that lift up families and communities, that spread opportunity and boost our economy. by Barack Obama (1961 – ), Arizona State Commencement Speech, 2009
There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity. by Chester Bowles (1901 – 1986)
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. by George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)
Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists. by John Kenneth Galbraith (1908 – 2006)
Isn’t it interesting that the same people who laugh at science fiction listen to weather forecasts and economists? by Kelvin Throop III
An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn’t happen today. by Laurence J. Peter (1919 – 1988)
Socialism failed because it couldn’t tell the economic truth; capitalism may fail because it couldn’t tell the ecological truth. by Lester Brown, Fortune Brainstorm Conference, 2006
An economist is a surgeon with an excellent scalpel and a rough-edged lancet, who operates beautifully on the dead and tortures the living. by Nicholas Chamfort (1741 – 1794)
In all recorded history there has not been one economist who has had to worry about where the next meal would come from. by Peter Drucker (1909 – 2005)
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it’s only a hundred billion. It’s less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. by Richard Feynman (1918 – 1988)

Sermon for Today:
I Would, But Ye Would Not! by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 2381 A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S DAY, OCTOBER 7TH, 1894 AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, JULY 22ND, 1888.
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest
them which are sent onto thee, how often would I have gathered
thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not!” — Matthew 23:37.
THIS is not and could not be the language of a mere man. It would be
utterly absurd for any man to say that he would have gathered the
inhabitants of a city together, “even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings.” Besides, the language implies that, for many centuries, by the
sending of the prophets, and by many other warnings, God would often
have gathered the children of Jerusalem together as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings. Now, Christ could not have said that,
throughout those ages, he would have gathered those people, if he had
been only a man. If his life began at Bethlehem, this would be an absurd
statement; but, as the Son of God, ever loving the sons of men, ever
desirous of the good of Israel, he could say that, in sending the prophets,
even though they were stoned and killed, he had again and again shown his
desire to bless his people till he could truly say, “How often would I have
gathered thy children together!” Some who have found difficulties in this
lament, have said that it was the language of Christ as man. I beg to put in a very decided negative to that; it is, and it must be, the utterance of the
Son of man, the Son of God, the Christ in his complex person as human
and divine. I am not going into any of the difficulties just now; but you
could not fully understand this passage, from any point of view, unless you
believed it to be the language of one who was both God and man.
This verse shows also that the ruin of men lies with themselves. Christ puts
it very plainly, “I would; but ye would not.” “How often would I have
gathered thy children together, and ye would not!” That is a truth, about
which, I hope, we have never had any question; we hold tenaciously that
salvation is all of grace, but we also believe with equal firmness that the
ruin of man is entirely the result of his own sin. It is the will of God that
saves; it is the will of man that damns. Jerusalem stands and is preserved by
the grace and favor of the Most High; but Jerusalem is burnt, and her
stones are cast down, through the transgression and iniquity of men, which
provoked the justice of God.
There are great deeps about these two points; but I have not been
accustomed to lead you into any deeps, and I am not going to do so at this
time. The practical part of theology is that which it is most important for us
to understand. Any man may get himself into a terrible labyrinth who thinks
continually of the sovereignty of God alone, and he may equally get into
deeps that are likely to drown him if he meditates only on the free will of
man. The best thing is to take what God reveals to you, and to believe that.
If God’s Word leads me to the right, I go there; if it leads me to the left, I
go there; if it makes me stand still, I stand still. If you so act, you will be
safe; but if you try to be wise above that which is written, and to
understand that which even angels do not comprehend, you will certainly
befog yourself. I desire ever to bring before you practical rather than
mysterious subjects, and our present theme is one that concerns us all. The
great destroyer of man is the will of man. I do not believe that man’s free
will has ever saved a soul; but man’s free will has been the ruin of
multitudes. “Ye would not,” is still the solemn accusation of Christ against
guilty men. Did he not say, at another time, “Ye will not come unto me,
that ye might have life?” The human will is desperately set against God,
and is the great devourer and destroyer of thousands of good intentions
and emotions, which never come to anything permanent because the will is
acting in opposition to that which is right and true.
That, I think, is the very marrow of the text, and I am going to handle it in
this fashion.
I. First, consider from the very condescending emblem used by our Lord, WHAT GOD IS. TO THOSE WHO COME TO HIM.
He gathers them, “as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings.” Let us dwell upon that thought for a few minutes. It is a very marvellous thing that God should condescend to be compared to a hen, that the Christ, the Son of the Highest, the Savior of men, should stoop to so homely a piece of imagery
as to liken himself to a hen. There must be something very instructive in
this metaphor, or our Lord would not have used it in such a connection.
Those of you who have been gathered unto Christ know, first, that by this
wonderful Gatherer, you have been gathered into happy association. The
chickens, beneath the wings of the hen, look very happy all crowded
together. What a sweet little family party they are! How they hide
themselves away in great contentment, and chirp their little note of joy!
You, dear friends, who have never been converted, find very noisy
fellowship, I am afraid, in this world; you do not get much companionship
that helps you, blesses you, gives you rest of mind; but if you had been
gathered to the Lord’s Christ, you would have found that there are many
sweetnesses in this life in being beneath the wings of the Most High. He
who comes to Christ finds father, and mother, and sister, and brother, he
finds many dear and kind friends who are themselves connected with
Christ, and who therefore love those who are joined to him. Amongst the
greatest happinesses of my life, certainly, I put down Christian fellowship;
and I think that many, who have come from the country to London, have
for a long time missed much of this fellowship till, at last, they have fallen
in with Christian people, and they have found themselves happy again. O
lonely sinner, you who come in and out of this place, and say, “Nobody
seems to care about me,” if you will come to Christ, and join with the
church which is gathered beneath his wings, you will soon find happy
fellowship! I remember that, in the times of persecution, one of the saints
said that he had lost his father and his mother by being driven away from
his native country, but he said, “I have found a hundred fathers, and a
hundred mothers, for into whatsoever Christian house I have gone, I have
been looked upon with so much kindness by those who have received me
as an exile from my native land, that everyone has seemed to be a father
and a mother to me.” If you come to Christ, I feel persuaded that he will But that is merely the beginning. A hen is to her little chicks, next, a cover
of safety. There is a hawk in the sky; the mother-bird can see it, though the
chickens cannot; she gives her peculiar cluck of warning, and quickly they
come and hide beneath her wings. The hawk will not hurt them now;
beneath her wings they are secure. This is what God is to those who come
to him by Jesus Christ, he is the Giver of safety. “He shall cover thee with
his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy
shield and buckler.” Even the attraction of thy old sins, or the danger of
future temptations, thou shalt be preserved from all these perils when thou
comest to Christ, and thus hidest away under him.
The figure our Lord used is full of meaning, for, in the next place, the hen
is to her chicks the source of comfort. It is a cold night, and they would be
frozen if they remained outside; but she calls them in, and when they are
under her wings, they derive warmth from their mother’s breast. It is
wonderful, the care of a hen for her little ones; she will sit so carefully, and
keep her wings so widely spread, that they may all be housed. What a
cabin, what a palace, it is for the young chicks to get there under the
mother’s wings! The snow may fall, or the rain may come pelting down,
but the wings of the hen protect the chicks; and you, dear friend, if you
come to Christ, shall not only have safety, but comfort. I speak what I have
experienced. There is a deep, sweet comfort about hiding yourself away in
God, for when troubles come, wave upon wave, blessed is the man who
has a God to give him mercy upon mercy. When affliction comes, or
bereavement comes, when loss of property comes, when sickness comes, in
your own body, there is nothing wanted but your God. Ten thousand
things, apart from him, cannot satisfy you, or give you comfort. There, let
them all go; but if God be yours, and you hide away under his wings, you
are as happy in him as the chickens are beneath the hen. Then, the hen is
also to her chicks,the fountain of love. She loves them; did you ever see a
hen fight for her chickens? She is a timid enough creature at any other
time; but there is no timidity when her chicks are in danger. What an
affection she has for them; not for all chicks, for I have known her kill the
chickens of another brood; but for her own what love she has! Her heart is
all devoted to them. But, oh, if you want to know the true fountain of love,
you must come to Christ! You will never have to say, “Nobody loves me; I
am pining, with an aching heart, for a love that can fill and satisfy it.” The
love of Jesus fills to overflowing the heart of man, and makes him well
content under all circumstances. I would that God had gathered you all, my dear hearers. I know that he has gathered many of you, blessed be his
name; but still there are some here, chicks without a hen, sinners without a
Savior, men, and women, and children, who have never been reconciled to
God.
The hen is also to her chicks, the cherisher of growth. They would not
develop if they were not taken care of; in their weakness they need to be
cherished, that they may come to the fullness of their perfection. And when
the child of God lives near to Christ, and hides beneath his wings, how fast
he grows! There is no advancing from grace to grace, from feeble faith to
strong faith, and from little fervency to great fervency, except by getting
near to God.
The emblem used by our Lord is a far more instructive figure than I have
time to explain. When the Lord gathers sinners to himself, then it is that
they find in him all that the chicks find in the hen, and infinitely more.
II. Now notice, secondly, WHAT GOD DOES TO GATHER MEN. They are straying, and wandering about, but he gathers them. According to the text, Jesus says, “How often would I have gathered thy children together!” How did God gather those of us who have come to him?
He gathers us, first, by making himself known to us. When we come to
understand who he is, and what he is, and know something of his love, and
tenderness, and greatness, then we come to him. Ignorance keeps us away
from him; but to know God, and his Son, Jesus Christ, is eternal life.
Hence I urge you diligently to study the Scriptures, and to be as often as
you can hearing a faithful preacher of the gospel, that, knowing the Lord,
you may by that knowledge be drawn towards him. These are the cords of
love with which the Spirit of God draws men to Christ. He makes Christ
known to us, he shows us Christ in the grandeur of his divine and human
nature, Christ in the humiliation of his sufferings, Christ in the glory of his
resurrection, Christ in the love of his heart, in the power of his arm, in the
efficacy of his plea, in the virtue of his blood; and, as we learn these sacred
lessons, we say, “That is the Christ for me, that is the God for me;” and
thus we are gathered unto him.
But God gathers many to himself by the call of his servants. You see that,
of old, he sent his prophets; now, he sends his ministers. If God does not
send us to you brethren, we shall never gather you; if we come to you in
our own name, we shall come in vain; but if the Lord has sent us, then he will bless us, and our message will be made to you by means of gathering
you to Christ. I would much rather cease to preach than be allowed to go
on preaching but never to gather souls to God. I can truly say that I have
no wish to say a pretty thing, or turn a period, or utter a nice figure of
speech; I want to win your souls, to slay your sin, to do practical work for
God, with each man, each woman, each child, who shall come into this
Tabernacle; and I ask the prayers of God’s people that it may be so. It is
thus that God gathers men to himself, by the message which he gives to
them through his servants.
The Lord has also many other ways of calling men to himself. You saw,
this morning, See Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 2034, “Peter’s
Restoration.” that Peter was called to repentance by the crowing of a
cock; and the Lord can use a great many means of bringing sinners to
himself! Omnipotence has servants everywhere; and God can use every
kind of agent, even though it appears most unsuitable, to gather together
his own chosen ones. He has called some of you; he has called some of you
who have not yet come to him. The text says, “How often! It does not tell
us how often; but it puts it as a matter of wonder, “How often!” with a
note of exclamation.
Let me ask you how often has God called some of you? Conscience has
whispered its message to the most of you. When you come to see men
dying, if you talk seriously with them, they will sometimes tell you that
they are unprepared, but that they have often had tremblings and
suspicions; they have long suffered from unrest, and sometimes they have
been” almost persuaded. “I should not think that there is a person in this
place, who has not been sometimes made to shake and tremble at the
thought of the world to come. How often has it been so with you? “How
often,” says God, “would I have gathered you!”
The Lord sometimes speaks to us, not so much by conscience, as by
providence. That death in the family, what a voice it was to us! When your
mother died, when your poor father passed away, what a gathering time it
seemed to be then! You soon forgot all about it; but you did feel it then.
Ah, my dear woman, when your babe was taken from your bosom, and the
little coffin left the house, you remember how you felt, and you, father,
when your prattling boy sang the Sunday-school hymn to you on his dying
bed, and well-nigh broke your heart, then was the Lord going forth in his providence to gather you. You were being gathered, but you would not
come; according to our text, you “would not.”
It has not always been by death that the Lord has spoken to you; for you
have had other calls. When you have been brought low, or have been out
of a situation, when, sometimes, a Christian friend has spoken to you,
when you have read something in a tract, or paper, which has compelled
you to pull up, and made you stand aghast for a while, has not all that had
a reference to this text, “How often, how often, how often would I have
gathered thee?” God knocks many times at some men’s doors. I know that
there is a call of his which is effectual; oh, that you might hear it! But there
are many other calls which come to men, of whom Christ says, “Many are
called, but few are chosen.” How often has he called you! I wish you
would try and reckon up how often the Almighty God has come to you,
and spread out his warm wide wings, and yet this has been true, “I would
have gathered you, but you would not.”
One more way in which God gathers men is by continuing still to hard
patience with them, and sending the same message to them. I am always
afraid that you, who hear me constantly, will get to feel, “We have heard
him so long and so often that he cannot say anything fresh.” Why, did I not
use to shake you, when first you heard me, and compel you to shed many
tear” in the early days of your coming to this house? And now, — well,
you can hear it all without a tremor; you are like the blacksmith’s dog, that
goes to sleep while the sparks are flying from the anvil. Down in
Southwark, at the place where they make the big boilers, a man has to get
inside to hold the hammer while they are riveting. There is an awful noise,
the first time that a man goes in he feels that he cannot stand it, and that he
will die; he loses his hearing, it is such a terrible din; but they tell me that,
after a while, some have been known even to go to sleep while the men
have been hammering. So it is in hearing the gospel; men grow hardened,
and that which was, at one time, a very powerful call, seems to be, at the
last, no call at all. Yet “till, here you are, and your hair is getting grey; here
you are, you have long passed the prime of life; here you are, you were in a
shipwreck once, or you had an accident, or you caught the fever; but you
did not die, and here you are, God still speaks to you, not saying, “Go,”
but “Come, come.” Christ has not yet said to you, “Depart, ye cursed,” but
he still cries, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest.” This is how God calls, and how he gathers men by the pertinacity of his infinite compassion, in still inviting them to come unto
him that they may obtain eternal life.
III. Well, now, a third point, and a very important one is this, WHAT MEN NEED TO MAKE THEM COME TO GOD. According to the text, God does gather men; but what is wanted on their part? Our Savior said of those that rejected him, “Ye would not.”
What is wanted is, first, the real will to come to God. You have heard a
great deal, I dare say, about the wonderful faculty of free will. I have
already told you my opinion of free will; but it also happens that that is the
very thing that is wanted, a will towards that which is good. There is where
the sinner fails, what he needs is a real will. “Oh, yes!” men say, “we are
willing, we are willing.” But you are not willing; if we can get the real
truth, you are not willing; there is no true willingness in your hearts, for a
true willingness is a practical willingness. The man who is willing to come
to Christ says, “I must away with my sins, I must away with my self-righteousness, and I must seek him who alone can save me.”
Men talk about being willing to be saved, and dispute about free will; but
when it comes to actual practice, they are not willing. They have no heart
to repent, they will to keep on with their sin, they will to continue in their
self-righteousness; but they do not will, with any practical resolve, to come
to Christ. There is need of an immediate will. Every unconverted person
here is willing to come to Christ before he dies; I never met with a person
yet who was not; but are you willing to come to Christ now? That is the
point. “To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” But you
answer, “Our hearts are not hardened, we only ask for a little more time.”
A little more time for what? A little more time in which to go on rebelling
against God? A little more time in which to run the awful risk of eternal
destruction?
So, you see, it is a real will and an immediate will that is needed.
With some, it is a settled will that is wanted. Oh, yes, they are ready! They
feel directly the preacher begins to speak; they are impressed curing the
singing of the first hymn. There is a revival service, and in the after-meeting
they begin telling you what they have felt. Look at those people on
Wednesday. They have got over Monday and Tuesday with some little
“rumblings of heart”; but what about Wednesday? They are as cold as a
cucumber; every feeling that they had on Sunday is gone from them, they have no memory of it whatever. Their goodness is as the morning cloud,
and as the early dew it passes away. How some people do deceive us with
their good resolves, in which there is nothing at all, for there is no settled
will!
With others, what is lacking is a submissive will. Yes, they are willing to be
saved; but then they do not want to be saved by grace; they are not willing
to give themselves up altogether to the Savior; they will not renounce their
own righteousness, and submit themselves to the righteousness of Christ.
Well, that practically means that there is not any willingness at all, for
unless you accept God’s way of salvation, it is no use for you to talk about
your will. Here is the great evil that is destroying you, and that will destroy
you before long, and land you in hell: “Ye would not, ye would not.” Oh,
that God’s grace might come upon you, subduing and renewing your will,
and making you willing in the day of his power!
IV. My last point is a very solemn one. I shall not weary you with it. WHAT WILL BECOME OF MEN WHO ARE NOT GATHERED TO CHRIST? What will become of men of whom it continues to be said, “Ye would not?”
The text suggests to us two ways of answering the question. What
becomes of chicks that do not come to the shelter of the hen’s wings?
What becomes of chicks that are not gathered to the hen? Well, the hawk
devours some, and the cold nips others; they miss the warmth and comfort
that they might have had. That is something. If there were no hereafter, I
should like to be a Christian. If I had to die like a dog, the joy I find in
Christ would make me wish to be his follower. You are losers in this world
if you love not God; you are losers of peace, and comfort, and strength,
and hope, even now; but what will be your loss hereafter, with no wing to
cover you when the destroying angel is abroad, no feathers beneath which
you may hide when the dread thunderbolts of justice shall be launched, one
after another, from God’s right hand? You have no shelter, and
consequently no safety.
“He that hath made his refuge God,
Shall find a most secure abode,”
but he who has not that refuge shall be among the great multitude who will
call to the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them, to hide them from
the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. O sirs, I pray you, run not the awful risk of attempting to live without the shelter of God in Christ Jesus!
But the text suggests a second question, What became of Jerusalem in the
end? “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, but ye would not!” Well, what happened to Jerusalem,
after all? I invite you, who are without God, and without Christ, to read
Josephus, with the hope that he may be of service to you. What became of
the inhabitants of that guilty city of Jerusalem? Well, they crucified the
Lord of glory, and they hunted out his disciples, and yet they said to
themselves, “We live in the city of God, no harm can come to us; we have
the temple within our walls, and God will guard his own holy place.” But
very soon they tried to throw off the Roman yoke, and there were different
sets of zealots who determined to fight against the Romans, and they
murmured and complained, and began to fight amongst themselves.
Before the. Romans attacked Jerusalem, the inhabitants had begun to kill
one another. The city was divided by the various factions, three parties
took possession of different portions of the place, and they fought against
one another, night and day. This is what happens to ungodly men;
manhood breaks loose against itself, and when there are inward
contentions, one part of man’s soul fighting against another part, there is
an internal war of the most horrible kind. What is the poor wretch to do
who is at enmity with himself, one part of his nature saying, “Go,” another
part crying, “Go back,” and yet a third part shouting, “Stop where you
are?” Are there not many of you who are just like battle-fields trampled
with the hoofs of horses, torn up with the ruts made by the cannon wheels,
and stained with blood? Many a man’s heart is just like that. “Rest?” says
he, “that has gone from me long ago.” Look at him in the morning after a
drinking bout; look at him after he has been quarrelling with everybody;
look at the man who has been unfaithful to his wife, or that other man who
has been dishonest to his employer, or that other who is gambling away all
that he has. Why, how does he sleep, poor wretch? He does not rest; he
dreams, he starts, he is always in terror. I would not change places with
him, nay, not for five minutes. The depths of poverty, and an honest
conscience, are immeasurably superior to the greatest luxury in the midst
of sin. The man who is evidently without God begins to quarrel with
himself.
By-and-by, one morning, they who looked over the battlements of
Jerusalem cried, “The Romans are coming, in very deed they are marching
up towards the city.” Vespasian came with an army of 60,000 men, and,
after a while, Titus had thrown up mounds round about the city, so that no
one could come in or go out of it. He had surrounded it so completely that
they were all shut in. It was, as you remember, at the time of the Passover,
when the people had come from every part of the land, a million and more
of them; and he shut them all up in that little city. So, a time comes, with
guilty men, when they are shut up; this sometimes happens before they die,
they are shut up, they cannot have any pleasure in sin as they used to have,
and they have no hope. They seem cooped up altogether; they have not
been gathered by God’s love, but now, at last, they are gathered by an
avenging conscience, they are shut up in God’s justice.
I shall never forget being sent for, in my early days, to see a man who was
dying. As I entered the room, he greeted me with an oath; I was only a
youth, a pastor about seventeen and a half years of age, and he somewhat
staggered me. He would not lie down on his bed; he defied God; he said he
would not die. “Shall I pray for you? “I asked. I knelt down, and I had not
uttered many sentences before he cursed me in such dreadful language that
I started to my feet, and then again he cried, and begged me to pray with
him again, though it was not any good. He said, “It is no use; your prayer
will never be heard for me, I am damned already;” and the poor wretch
spoke as though he really were so, and were realizing it in his own soul. I
tried to persuade him to lie down upon his bed. It was of no avail; he
tramped up and down the room as fast as he could go, he knew that he
should die, but he could not die while he could keep on walking, and so he
kept on. Then again I must pray with him, and then would come another
awful burst of blasphemy, because it was not possible that the prayer
should be heard. It does not often happen that one sees a person quite as
bad as that; but there is a condition of heart that is not so visible, but which
is quite as sad, and which comes to men dying without Christ. They are
shut up; the Roman soldiers are, as it were, marching all round the city,
and there is no escape, and they begin to feel it, and so they die in despair.
But then, when the Roman soldiers did come, the woes of Jerusalem did
not end. There was a famine in the city, a famine so dreadful that what
Moses said wag fulfilled, and the tender and delicate woman ate the fruit of
her own body. They came to search the houses, because they thought there
was food there; and a woman brought out half of her own babe, and said, “Well, eat that, if you can,” and throughout the city, they fed upon one
another; and oh, when there is no God in the heart, what a famine it makes
in a man’s soul! How he longs for a something which he cannot find, and
that all the world cannot give him, even a mouthful to stay the ravenousness of his spirit’s hunger!
And this doom will be worse still in the next world. You know that
Jerusalem was utterly destroyed, not one stone was left upon another; and
this is what is to happen to you if you refuse your Savior, you will be
destroyed, you will be an eternal ruin, no temple of God, but an everlasting
ruin. Destroyed, — that is the punishment for you; destroyed from the
presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power, and so abiding for ever,
with no indwelling God, no hope, no comfort. How terrible will be your
doom unless you repent!
“Ye sinners, seek his grace
Whose wrath ye cannot bear;
Fly to the shelter of his cross,
And find salvation there.”
I pray you, do so, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“It Came upon the Midnight Clear” by Edmund H. Sears, 1810-1876
1. It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
from heaven’s all-gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
to hear the angels sing.
2. Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o’er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains,
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o’er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.
3. And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!
4. For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.

Through the Bible in One Year:
Ruth 1 to 4
1 In the days when the Judges were governing, a famine occurred in the country and a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah went-he, his wife and his two sons — to live in the Plains of Moab.
2 The man was called Elimelech, his wife Naomi and his two sons Mahlon and Chilion; they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem of Judah. Going to the Plains of Moab, they settled there.
3 Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she and her two sons were left.
4 These married Moabite women: one was called Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there for about ten years.
5 Mahlon and Chilion then both died too, and Naomi was thus bereft of her two sons and her husband.
6 She then decided to come back from the Plains of Moab with her daughters-in-law, having heard in the Plains of Moab that God had visited his people and given them food.
7 So, with her daughters-in-law, she left the place where she was living and they took the road back to Judah.
8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, ‘Go back, each of you to your mother’s house.
9 May Yahweh show you faithful love, as you have done to those who have died and to me. Yahweh grant that you may each find happiness with a husband!’ She then kissed them, but they began weeping loudly,
10 and said, ‘No, we shall go back with you to your people.’
11 ‘Go home, daughters,’ Naomi replied. ‘Why come with me? Have I any more sons in my womb to make husbands for you?
12 Go home, daughters, go, for I am now too old to marry again. Even if I said, “I still have a hope: I shall take a husband this very night and shall bear more sons,”
13 would you be prepared to wait for them until they were grown up? Would you refuse to marry for their sake? No, daughters, I am bitterly sorry for your sakes that the hand of Yahweh should have been raised against me.’
14 They started weeping loudly all over again; Orpah then kissed her mother-in-law and went back to her people. But Ruth stayed with her.
15 Naomi then said, ‘Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her god. Go home, too; follow your sister-in-law.’
16 But Ruth said, ‘Do not press me to leave you and to stop going with you, for wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.
17 Where you die, I shall die and there I shall be buried. Let Yahweh bring unnameable ills on me and worse ills, too, if anything but death should part me from you!’
18 Seeing that Ruth was determined to go with her, Naomi said no more.
19 The two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. Their arrival set the whole town astir, and the women said, ‘Can this be Naomi?’
20 To this she replied, ‘Do not call me Naomi, call me Mara, for Shaddai has made my lot bitter.
21 I departed full, and Yahweh has brought me home empty. Why, then, call me Naomi, since Yahweh has pronounced against me and Shaddai has made me wretched?’
22 This was how Naomi came home with her daughter-in-law, Ruth the Moabitess, on returning from the Plains of Moab. They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.
1 Naomi had a kinsman on her husband’s side, well-to-do and of Elimelech’s clan. His name was Boaz.
2 Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, ‘Let me go into the fields and glean ears of corn in the footsteps of some man who will look on me with favour.’ She replied, ‘Go, daughter.’
3 So she set out and went to glean in the fields behind the reapers. Chance led her to a plot of land belonging to Boaz of Elimelech’s clan.
4 Boaz, as it happened, had just come from Bethlehem. ‘Yahweh be with you!’ he said to the reapers. ‘Yahweh bless you!’ they replied.
5 Boaz said to a servant of his who was in charge of the reapers, ‘To whom does this young woman belong?’
6 And the servant in charge of the reapers replied, ‘The girl is the Moabitess, the one who came back with Naomi from the Plains of Moab.
7 She said, “Please let me glean and pick up what falls from the sheaves behind the reapers.” Thus she came, and here she stayed, with hardly a rest from morning until now.’
8 Boaz said to Ruth, ‘Listen to me, daughter. You must not go gleaning in any other field. You must not go away from here. Stay close to my work-women.
9 Keep your eyes on whatever part of the field they are reaping and follow behind. I have forbidden my men to molest you. And if you are thirsty, go to the pitchers and drink what the servants have drawn.’
10 Ruth fell on her face, prostrated herself and said, ‘How have I attracted your favour, for you to notice me, who am only a foreigner?’
11 Boaz replied, ‘I have been told all about the way you have behaved to your mother-in-law since your husband’s death, and how you left your own father and mother and the land where you were born to come to a people of whom you previously knew nothing.
12 May Yahweh repay you for what you have done, and may you be richly rewarded by Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge!’
13 She said, ‘My lord, I hope you will always look on me with favour! You have comforted and encouraged me, though I am not even the equal of one of your work-women.’
14 When it was time to eat, Boaz said to her, ‘Come and eat some of this bread and dip your piece in the vinegar.’ Ruth sat down beside the reapers and Boaz made a heap of roasted grain for her; she ate till her hunger was satisfied, and she had some left over.
15 When she had got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his work-people, ‘Let her glean among the sheaves themselves. Do not molest her.
16 And be sure you pull a few ears of corn out of the bundles and drop them. Let her glean them, and do not scold her.’
17 So she gleaned in the field till evening. Then she beat out what she had gleaned and it came to about a bushel of barley.
18 Taking it with her, she went back to the town. Her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. Ruth also took out what she had kept after eating all she wanted, and gave that to her.
19 Her mother-in-law said, ‘Where have you been gleaning today? Where have you been working? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!’ Ruth told her mother-in-law in whose field she had been working. ‘The name of the man with whom I have been working today’ she said, ‘is Boaz.’
20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, ‘May he be blessed by Yahweh who does not withhold his faithful love from living or dead! This man’, Naomi added, ‘is a close relation of ours. He is one of those who have the right of redemption over us.’
21 Ruth the Moabitess said to her mother-in-law, ‘He also said, “Stay with my work-people until they have finished my whole harvest.” ‘
22 Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, ‘It is better for you, daughter, to go with his work-women than to go to some other field where you might be ill-treated.’
23 So she stayed with Boaz’s work-women, and gleaned until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she went on living with her mother-in-law.
1 Her mother-in-law Naomi then said, ‘Daughter, is it not my duty to see you happily settled?
2 And Boaz, the man with whose work-women you were, is he not our kinsman? Tonight he will be winnowing the barley on the threshing-floor.
3 So wash and perfume yourself, put on your cloak and go down to the threshing-floor. Don’t let him recognise you while he is still eating and drinking.
4 But when he lies down, take note where he lies, then go and turn back the covering at his feet and lie down yourself. He will tell you what to do.’
5 Ruth said, ‘I shall do everything you tell me.’
6 So she went down to the threshing-floor and did everything her mother-in-law had told her.
7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking, he went off happily and lay down beside the pile of barley. Ruth then quietly went, turned back the covering at his feet and lay down.
8 In the middle of the night, he woke up with a shock and looked about him; and there lying at his feet was a woman.
9 ‘Who are you?’ he said; and she replied, ‘I am your servant Ruth. Spread the skirt of your cloak over your servant for you have the right of redemption over me.’
10 ‘May Yahweh bless you, daughter,’ he said, ‘for this second act of faithful love of yours is greater than the first, since you have not run after young men, poor or rich.
11 Don’t be afraid, daughter, I shall do everything you ask, since the people at the gate of my town all know that you are a woman of great worth.
12 But, though it is true that I have the right of redemption over you, you have a kinsman closer than myself.
13 Stay here for tonight and, in the morning, if he wishes to exercise his right over you, very well, let him redeem you. But if he does not wish to do so, then as Yahweh lives, I shall redeem you. Lie here till morning.’
14 So she lay at his feet till morning, but got up before the hour when one man can recognise another; and he thought, ‘It must not be known that this woman came to the threshing-floor.’
15 He then said, ‘Let me have the cloak you are wearing, hold it out!’ She held it out while he put six measures of barley into it and then loaded it on to her; and off she went to the town.
16 When Ruth got home, her mother-in-law asked her, ‘How did things go with you, daughter?’ She then told her everything that the man had done for her.
17 ‘He gave me these six measures of barley and said, “You must not go home empty-handed to your mother-in-law.” ‘
18 Naomi said, ‘Do nothing, daughter, until you see how things have gone; I am sure he will not rest until he has settled the matter this very day.’
1 Boaz, meanwhile, had gone up to the gate and sat down, and the relative of whom he had spoken then came by. Boaz said to him, ‘Here, my friend, come and sit down’; the man came and sat down.
2 Boaz then picked out ten of the town’s elders and said, ‘Sit down here’; they sat down.
3 Boaz then said to the man who had the right of redemption, ‘Naomi, who has come back from the Plains of Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our brother, Elimelech.
4 I thought I should tell you about this and say, “Acquire it in the presence of the men who are sitting here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you want to use your right of redemption, redeem it; if you do not, tell me so that I know, for I am the only person to redeem it besides yourself, and I myself come after you.”‘
5 Boaz then said, ‘The day you acquire the field from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the man who has died, to perpetuate the dead man’s name in his inheritance.’
6 The man with the right of redemption then said, ‘I cannot use my right of redemption without jeopardising my own inheritance. Since I cannot use my right of redemption, exercise the right yourself.’
7 Now, in former times, it was the custom in Israel to confirm a transaction in matters of redemption or inheritance by one of the parties taking off his sandal and giving it to the other. This was how agreements were ratified in Israel.
8 So, when the man with the right of redemption said to Boaz, ‘Acquire it for yourself,’ he took off his sandal.
9 Boaz then said to the elders and all the people there, ‘Today you are witnesses that from Naomi I acquire everything that used to belong to Elimelech, and everything that used to belong to Mahlon and Chilion
10 and that I am also acquiring Ruth the Moabitess, Mahlon’s widow, to be my wife, to perpetuate the dead man’s name in his inheritance, so that the dead man’s name will not be lost among his brothers and at the gate of his town. Today you are witnesses to this.’
11 All the people at the gate said, ‘We are witnesses’; and the elders said, ‘May Yahweh make the woman about to enter your family like Rachel and Leah who together built up the House of Israel. Grow mighty in Ephrathah, be renowned in Bethlehem!
12 And through the children Yahweh will give you by this young woman, may your family be like the family of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.’
13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. And when they came together, Yahweh made her conceive and she bore a son.
14 And the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be Yahweh who has not left you today without anyone to redeem you. May his name be praised in Israel!
15 The child will be a comfort to you and the prop of your old age, for he has been born to the daughter-in-law who loves you and is more to you than seven sons.’
16 And Naomi, taking the child, held him to her breast; and she it was who looked after him.
17 And the women of the neighbourhood gave him a name. ‘A son’, they said, ‘has been born to Naomi,’ and they called him Obed. This was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18 These are the descendants of Perez. Perez fathered Hezron,
19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab,
20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,
21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed,
22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Friday, January 27, 2012:
Psalm 40
1 [For the choirmaster Of David Psalm] I waited, I waited for Yahweh, then he stooped to me and heard my cry for help.
2 He pulled me up from the seething chasm, from the mud of the mire. He set my feet on rock, and made my footsteps firm.
3 He put a fresh song in my mouth, praise of our God. Many will be awestruck at the sight, and will put their trust in Yahweh.
4 How blessed are those who put their trust in Yahweh, who have not sided with rebels and those who have gone astray in falsehood.
5 How much you have done, Yahweh, my God — your wonders, your plans for us — you have no equal. I will proclaim and speak of them; they are beyond number.
6 You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but you gave me an open ear, you did not ask for burnt offering or sacrifice for sin;
7 then I said, ‘Here I am, I am coming.’ In the scroll of the book it is written of me,
8 my delight is to do your will; your law, my God, is deep in my heart.
9 I proclaimed the saving justice of Yahweh in the great assembly. See, I will not hold my tongue, as you well know.
10 I have not kept your saving justice locked in the depths of my heart, but have spoken of your constancy and saving help. I have made no secret of your faithful and steadfast love, in the great assembly.
11 You, Yahweh, have not withheld your tenderness from me; your faithful and steadfast love will always guard me.
12 For troubles surround me, until they are beyond number; my sins have overtaken me; I cannot see my way. They outnumber the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, Yahweh, to rescue me, Yahweh, come quickly and help me!
14 Shame and dismay to all who seek to take my life. Back with them, let them be humiliated who delight in my misfortunes.
15 Let them be aghast with shame, those who say to me, ‘Aha, aha!’
16 But joy and happiness in you to all who seek you! Let them ceaselessly cry, ‘Great is Yahweh’ who love your saving power.
17 Poor and needy as I am, the Lord has me in mind. You, my helper, my Saviour, my God, do not delay.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 54
1 [For the choirmaster On stringed instruments Poem Of David When the Ziphites went to Saul and said,'Is not David hiding with us?'] God, save me by your name, in your power vindicate me.
2 God, hear my prayer, listen to the words I speak.
3 Arrogant men are attacking me, bullies hounding me to death, no room in their thoughts for God.Pause
4 But now God is coming to my help, the Lord, among those who sustain me.
5 May their wickedness recoil on those who lie in wait for me. Yahweh, in your constancy destroy them.
6 How gladly will I offer you sacrifice, and praise your name, for it is good,
7 for it has rescued me from all my troubles, and my eye has feasted on my enemies.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 51
1 [For the choirmaster Of David When the prophet Nathan had come to him because he had gone to Bathsheba] Have mercy on me, O God, in your faithful love, in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;
2 wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin.
3 For I am well aware of my offences, my sin is constantly in mind.
4 Against you, you alone, I have sinned, I have done what you see to be wrong, that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence, and your victory may appear when you give judgement,
5 remember, I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.
6 But you delight in sincerity of heart, and in secret you teach me wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop till I am clean, wash me till I am whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness, and the bones you have crushed will dance.
9 Turn away your face from my sins, and wipe away all my guilt.
10 God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit,
11 do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness.
12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.
13 I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.
16 Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire.
17 Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.
18 In your graciousness do good to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,-burnt offerings and whole oblations — and young bulls will be offered on your altar.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 17:15-27
15 Furthermore God said to Abraham, ‘As regards your wife Sarai, you must not call her Sarai, but Sarah.
16 I shall bless her and moreover give you a son by her. I shall bless her and she will become nations: kings of peoples will issue from her.’
17 Abraham bowed to the ground, and he laughed, thinking to himself, ‘Is a child to be born to a man one hundred years old, and will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?’
18 Abraham said to God, ‘May Ishmael live in your presence! That will be enough!’
19 But God replied, ‘Yes, your wife Sarah will bear you a son whom you must name Isaac. And I shall maintain my covenant with him, a covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him.
20 For Ishmael too I grant you your request. I hereby bless him and will make him fruitful and exceedingly numerous. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I shall make him into a great nation.
21 But my covenant I shall maintain with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear you at this time next year.’
22 When he had finished speaking to Abraham, God went up from him.
23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael, all the slaves born in his household or whom he had bought, in short all the males among the people of Abraham’s household, and circumcised their foreskins that same day, as God had said to him.
24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when his foreskin was circumcised.
25 Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when his foreskin was circumcised.
26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the very same day,
27 and all the men of his household, those born in the household and those bought from foreigners, were circumcised with him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 10:11-25
11 Every priest stands at his duties every day, offering over and over again the same sacrifices which are quite incapable of taking away sins.
12 He, on the other hand, has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his seat for ever, at the right hand of God,
13 where he is now waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.
14 By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all who are sanctified.
15 The Holy Spirit attests this to us, for after saying:
16 No, this is the covenant I will make with them, when those days have come. the Lord says: In their minds I will plant my Laws writing them on their hearts,
17 and I shall never more call their sins to mind, or their offences.
18 When these have been forgiven, there can be no more sin offerings.
19 We have then, brothers, complete confidence through the blood of Jesus in entering the sanctuary,
20 by a new way which he has opened for us, a living opening through the curtain, that is to say, his flesh.
21 And we have the high priest over all the sanctuary of God.
22 So as we go in, let us be sincere in heart and filled with faith, our hearts sprinkled and free from any trace of bad conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us keep firm in the hope we profess, because the one who made the promise is trustworthy.
24 Let us be concerned for each other, to stir a response in love and good works.
25 Do not absent yourself from your own assemblies, as some do, but encourage each other; the more so as you see the Day drawing near.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 6:1-15
1 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee — or of Tiberias-
2 and a large crowd followed him, impressed by the signs he had done in curing the sick.
3 Jesus climbed the hillside and sat down there with his disciples.
4 The time of the Jewish Passover was near.
5 Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, ‘Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?’
6 He said this only to put Philip to the test; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do.
7 Philip answered, ‘Two hundred denarii would not buy enough to give them a little piece each.’
8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said,
9 ‘Here is a small boy with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that among so many?’
10 Jesus said to them, ‘Make the people sit down.’ There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down.
11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were sitting there; he then did the same with the fish, distributing as much as they wanted.
12 When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, ‘Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing is wasted.’
13 So they picked them up and filled twelve large baskets with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves.
14 Seeing the sign that he had done, the people said, ‘This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.’
15 Jesus, as he realised they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, fled back to the hills alone.(New Jerusalem Bible)
[Lydia, Dorcas & Phoebe]
Psalm 100
1 [Psalm For thanksgiving] Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth,
2 serve Yahweh with gladness, come into his presence with songs of joy!
3 Be sure that Yahweh is God, he made us, we belong to him, his people, the flock of his sheepfold.
4 Come within his gates giving thanks, to his courts singing praise, give thanks to him and bless his name!
5 For Yahweh is good, his faithful love is everlasting, his constancy from age to age.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Malachi 3:16-18
16 Then those who feared Yahweh talked to one another about this, and Yahweh took note and listened; and a book of remembrance was written in his presence recording those who feared him and kept his name in mind.
17 ‘On the day when I act, says Yahweh Sabaoth, they will be my most prized possession, and I shall spare them in the way a man spares the son who serves him.
18 Then once again you will see the difference between the upright person and the wicked one, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Acts 16:11-15
11 Sailing from Troas we made a straight run for Samothrace; the next day for Neapolis,
12 and from there for Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of that district of Macedonia.
13 After a few days in this city we went outside the gates beside a river as it was the Sabbath and this was a customary place for prayer. We sat down and preached to the women who had come to the meeting.
14 One of these women was called Lydia, a woman from the town of Thyatira who was in the purple-dye trade, and who revered God. She listened to us, and the Lord opened her heart to accept what Paul was saying.
15 After she and her household had been baptised she kept urging us, ‘If you judge me a true believer in the Lord,’ she said, ‘come and stay with us.’ And she would take no refusal.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 8:1-3
1 Now it happened that after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. With him went the Twelve,
2 as well as certain women who had been cured of evil spirits and ailments: Mary surnamed the Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,
3 Joanna the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John Chrysostom (date provisionally moved to Sept. 13)
Psalm 49:1-8
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Psalm] Hear this, all nations, listen, all who dwell on earth,
2 people high and low, rich and poor alike!
3 My lips have wisdom to utter, my heart good sense to whisper.
4 I listen carefully to a proverb, I set my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble? Malice dogs me and hems me in.
6 They trust in their wealth, and boast of the profusion of their riches.
7 But no one can ever redeem himself or pay his own ransom to God,
8 the price for himself is too high; it can never be(New Jeremiah Bible)
Jeremiah 42:1-6
1 Then all the military leaders, in particular Johanan son of Kareah and Azariah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from least to greatest, approached
2 the prophet Jeremiah and said, ‘Please hear our petition and intercede with Yahweh your God for us and for all this remnant — and how few of us are left out of many, your own eyes can see-
3 so that Yahweh your God may show us the way we are to go and what we must do.’
4 The prophet Jeremiah replied, ‘I hear you; I will indeed pray to Yahweh your God as you ask; and whatever answer Yahweh your God gives you, I will tell you, keeping nothing back from you.’
5 They in their turn said to Jeremiah, ‘May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us, if we do not follow the instructions that Yahweh your God sends us through you.
6 Whether we like it or not, we shall obey the voice of Yahweh our God to whom we are sending you, so that we may prosper by obeying the voice of Yahweh our God.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
1 Corinthians 12:31–13:7
31 Set your mind on the higher gifts. And now I am going to put before you the best way of all.
1 Though I command languages both human and angelic — if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.
2 And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains — if I am without love, I am nothing.
3 Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned — if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.
4 Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited,
5 it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances.
6 Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth.
7 It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 21:12-15
12 ‘But before all this happens, you will be seized and persecuted; you will be handed over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and brought before kings and governors for the sake of my name
13 -and that will be your opportunity to bear witness.
14 Make up your minds not to prepare your defence,
15 because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 11:1-17
1 At the turn of the year, at the time when kings go campaigning, David sent Joab and with him his guards and all Israel. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah-of-the-Ammonites. David, however, remained in Jerusalem.
2 It happened towards evening when David had got up from resting and was strolling on the palace roof, that from the roof he saw a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.
3 David made enquiries about this woman and was told, ‘Why, that is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite.’
4 David then sent messengers to fetch her. She came to him, and he lay with her, just after she had purified herself from her period. She then went home again.
5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, ‘I am pregnant.’
6 David then sent word to Joab, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite,’ whereupon Joab sent Uriah to David.
7 When Uriah reached him, David asked how Joab was and how the army was and how the war was going.
8 David then said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and wash your feet.’ Uriah left the palace and was followed by a present from the king’s table.
9 Uriah, however, slept at the palace gate with all his master’s bodyguard and did not go down to his house.
10 This was reported to David; ‘Uriah’, they said ‘has not gone down to his house.’ So David asked Uriah, ‘Haven’t you just arrived from the journey? Why didn’t you go down to your house?’
11 To which Uriah replied, ‘The ark, Israel and Judah are lodged in huts; my master Joab and my lord’s guards are camping in the open. Am I to go to my house, then, and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As Yahweh lives, and as you yourself live, I shall so no such thing!’
12 David then said to Uriah, ‘Stay on here today; tomorrow I shall send you off.’ So Uriah stayed that day in Jerusalem.
13 The next day, David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk. In the evening, Uriah went out and bedded down with his master’s bodyguard, but did not go down to his house.
14 Next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah.
15 In the letter he wrote, ‘Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest and then fall back, so that he gets wounded and killed.’
16 Joab, then besieging the city, stationed Uriah at a point where he knew that there would be tough fighters.
17 The people of the city sallied out and engaged Joab; there were casualties in the army, among David’s guards, and Uriah the Hittite was killed as well.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 51:1-10
1 [For the choirmaster Of David When the prophet Nathan had come to him because he had gone to Bathsheba] Have mercy on me, O God, in your faithful love, in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;
2 wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin.
3 For I am well aware of my offences, my sin is constantly in mind.
4 Against you, you alone, I have sinned, I have done what you see to be wrong, that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence, and your victory may appear when you give judgement,
5 remember, I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.
6 But you delight in sincerity of heart, and in secret you teach me wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop till I am clean, wash me till I am whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness, and the bones you have crushed will dance.
9 Turn away your face from my sins, and wipe away all my guilt.
10 God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit,(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 4:26-34
26 He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the land.
27 Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know.
28 Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
29 And when the crop is ready, at once he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’
30 He also said, ‘What can we say that the kingdom is like? What parable can we find for it?
31 It is like a mustard seed which, at the time of its sowing, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.
32 Yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’
33 Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it.
34 He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were by themselves.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Friday, 27 January 2012
Friday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Angela Merici, Virgin (c. 1470-1540)
Commentary of the day:
Saint Ambrose (c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
Commentary on Saint Luke’s Gospel, VII, 179-182 ; SC 52
Christ sown in the earth
It was in a garden that Christ was both arrested and buried: he grew in this garden and there he was also brought back to life. Thus he became a tree… You too, then, should sow Christ in your garden… With Christ grind the mustard seed, tread it down and sow faith. Faith is hard pressed when we believe in Christ crucified. Paul pressed faith hard when he said: «When I came to you proclaiming the mystery of God, I did not come with sublimity of words or of wisdom. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified» (1Cor 2,1-2)… Now, we sow faith when we believe in the Lord’s Passion following the Gospel or the readings from the apostles and prophets. In a manner of speaking, we sow faith when we cover it with soil that has been dug over and broken up with the flesh of the Lord… For whoever has believed that the Son of God became man believes that he died for us and believes that he was raised for us. Therefore, I am sowing faith when I set the sepulchre of Christ in the middle of my garden.
Do you want to know that Christ is a seed and that it is he who is sown? «Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies it bears much fruit» (Jn 12,24)… It is Christ himself who says so. So he is both a grain of wheat since he «fortifies the hearts of men» (Ps 104[103],15), and a mustard seed, since he warms men’s hearts… He is a grain of wheat when it is a matter of his resurrection, since the Word of God and the proof of his resurrection nourish the soul, increase hope and strengthen love – for Christ is «the bread of God come down from heaven» (Jn 6,33). And he is a mustard seed because there is no more bitterness or harshness in speaking about the Passion of the Lord.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Friday 27th January 2012
LOOK AGAIN AND THINK by Oswald Chambers
Take no thought for your life.(Matthew 6:25)
A warning which needs to be reiterated is that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, will choke all that God puts in. We are never free from the recurring tides of this encroachment. If it does not come on the line of clothes and food, it will come on the line of money or lack of money; of friends or lack of friends; or on the line of difficult circumstances. It is one steady encroachment all the time, and unless we allow the Spirit of God to raise up the standard against it, these things will come in like a flood.
“Take no thought for your life.” “Be careful about one thing only,” says our Lord – “your relationship to Me.” Common sense shouts loud and says – “That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to live, I must consider what I am going to eat and drink.” Jesus says you must not. Beware of allowing the thought that this statement is made by One Who does not understand our particular circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things so as to make them the one concern of our life. Whenever there is competition, be sure that you put your relationship to God first.
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” How much evil has begun to threaten you to-day? What kind of mean little imps have been looking in and saying – Now what are you going to do next month – this summer? “Be anxious for nothing,” Jesus says. Look again and think. Keep your mind on the “much more” of your heavenly Father.

Reflecting God-”Oh God, Restore Us!”
Friday, January 27, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 60
1 [For the choirmaster To the tune 'The decree is a lily' In a quiet voice Of David To be learnt When he was at war with Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah, and Joab marched back to destroy twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt] God, you have rejected us, broken us, you were angry, come back to us!
2 You made the earth tremble, split it open; now mend the rifts, it is tottering still.
3 You have forced your people to drink a bitter draught, forced us to drink a wine that made us reel.
4 You gave a signal to those who fear you to let them escape out of range of the bow.Pause
5 To rescue those you love, save with your right hand and answer us.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary, ‘In triumph I will divide up Shechem, and share out the Valley of Succoth.
7 ‘Mine is Gilead, mine Manasseh, Ephraim the helmet on my head, Judah my commander’s baton,
8 ‘Moab a bowl for me to wash in, on Edom I plant my sandal. Now try shouting “Victory!” over me, Philistia!’
9 Who will lead me against a fortified city, who will guide me into Edom,
10 if not you, the God who has rejected us? God, you no longer march with our armies.
11 Bring us help in our time of crisis, any human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall do deeds of valour, he will trample down our enemies.(New Jerusalem Bible)
“Oh God, Restore Us!” by Gerald Crispin
Have you ever been angry at someone? Has anyone ever been angry at you? I know that may sound like an obvious question, but stop and think about it. No matter how angry you may have become, or how angry someone has become with you, how can it compare to the anger of a holy God toward those who willfully turn away from him–those who do not fear him. By “fear” I do not mean “being afraid” of God: I mean not respecting him.
David knew that truth all to well. God’s anger had shaken and torn the land. That is why David pleads to God, to “to restore us”(verse 1).
We all get angry from time to time, sometimes we have a good reason and sometimes not. One difference between God and us is that he always has a good reason. Another difference is God’s willingness to forgive us when we ask him in genuine sorrow for our sin. He will restore us and make us new. No one else can do that.
Let us call upon God, he will forgive us, with him we will gain the victory!
Hymn for Today:
“Revive Us Again” by William P. Mackay
1. We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
2. We praise Thee, O God!
For Thy Spirit of light,
Who hath shown us our Savior,
And scattered our night.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
3. All glory and praise
To the Lamb that was slain,
Who hath borne all our sins,
And hath cleansed every stain.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
4. All glory and praise
To the God of all grace,
Who hast brought us, and sought us,
And guided our ways.
Refrain:
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
5. Revive us again;
Fill each heart with Thy love;
May each soul be rekindled
With fire from above.
2nd Thought for Today:
“First [God's] will and then [God's] work”(Neil B. Wiseman).
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in the United Kingdom.

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Friday, January 27, 2012
One Day at a Time
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Lamentations 3:21-26
21 This is what I shall keep in mind and so regain some hope:
22 Surely Yahweh’s mercies are not over, his deeds of faithful love not exhausted;
23 every morning they are renewed; great is his faithfulness!
24 ‘Yahweh is all I have,’ I say to myself, ‘and so I shall put my hope in him.’
25 Yahweh is good to those who trust him, to all who search for him.
26 It is good to wait in silence for Yahweh to save.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.(Isaiah 41:10 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
“One day at a time.” That is my favorite saying as I live as a cancer survivor. Whether I am working at my job as an assistant high-school principal or officiating on the sports field, living one day at time has many implications; but the most important is that I need God to get me through each day no matter what I am doing or confronting.
On difficult days at school, I may pray for help as I work with a problem student. On the sports field, I ask God to help me make the right call. And as a cancer survivor, I thank God each day for my life.
For Christians, “one day at time” can mean starting and ending the day with Christ, whether it is through prayer and reading the Bible or listening to others as they witness to their faith through meditations in The Upper Room. Nahum 1:7 says: “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” Our Creator is present with each and every one of us, every day of our lives. by Peter Perich (New Hampshire, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: To see a photo of Peter officiating on the sports field, go to www.upperroom.org.
Prayer: Healer of the sick, teach us to come to you continually in prayer. Be with us as we leave our worries with you, and give us the courage to face each day — one hour, one minute at a time. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Those living with cancer
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — January 27, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
“All that is hidden, all that is plain, I have come to know, instructed by Wisdom who designed them all.”(Wisdom 7:21-22)
The irony of ego “consciousness” is that it always excludes and eliminates the unconscious—so it is actually not conscious at all! It insists on knowing, of being certain, and it refuses all unknowing. So most people who think they are fully conscious (read: “smart”) have that big leaden manhole covering their unconscious. It gives them control but seldom compassion or wisdom. That is exactly why politicians, priests, CEOs of anything, and know-it-alls must continue to fail and fall (spiritually speaking) or they will never come to any real wisdom. The trouble is that we have to put up with them in the meantime and wait for another growth spurt. Sometimes that very power position makes failing and falling quite rare and even impossible for them. From A Lever and a Place to Stand:
The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer, p. x (foreword)
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Friday January 27, 2012
Healing Our Hearts Through Forgiveness
How can we forgive those who do not want to be forgiven? Our deepest desire is that the forgiveness we offer will be received. This mutuality between giving and receiving is what creates peace and harmony. But if our condition for giving forgiveness is that it will be received, we seldom will forgive! Forgiving the other is first and foremost an inner movement. It is an act that removes anger, bitterness, and the desire for revenge from our hearts and helps us to reclaim our human dignity. We cannot force those we want to forgive into accepting our forgiveness. They might not be able or willing do so. They may not even know or feel that they have wounded us.
The only people we can really change are ourselves. Forgiving others is first and foremost healing our own hearts. by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

5th Thought for Today:
Friday 27 January 2012
Awakening the Beautiful
Power and strength can separate people; whereas weakness and recognition of weakness and the cry for help brings people together. When you are weak, you need people. It’s very easy. When you are strong you don’t need people, you can do everything on your own. So, somewhere the weak person calls people together. And when the weak call forth the strong, what happens is they awaken what is most beautiful in a human person–compassion, goodness, openness to another and so on. Our weakness brings people together. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

1.27.12 – “Everything that has been created by God is good” from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:3 “they forbid marriage and prohibit foods which God created to be accepted with thanksgiving by all who believe and who know the truth.
4 Everything God has created is good, and no food is to be rejected, provided it is received with thanksgiving:
5 the word of God and prayer make it holy.
6 If you put all this to the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus and show that you have really digested the teaching of the faith and the good doctrine which you have always followed.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
Some early Christians were tempted to adopt ascetic Greek philosophies like Stoicism, which forbade all sex, as a shield from impurity. The idea that unmarried, celibate Christians are automatically holier than others has continued through the centuries. Not so, Paul warned Timothy. Marriage is a good gift from God, one to honor, celebrate and enjoy.
Paul did not say “everything is good,” but “everything God created is good.” He was answering false teachers who forbade marriage, and imposed strict dietary rules. How can we tell the difference between good things God created, and behaviors or attitudes that may “feel” spiritual, but reflect our brokenness rather than God’s good purposes?
William Barclay wrote that, throughout the history of Christianity, some people have “tried to be stricter than God.” Which do you find to be more of a struggle for you: being too strict, or not being strict enough? How can gratitude for God’s gifts, and a commitment to live by the values in God’s word, help you grow past either struggle?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week, teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Friday 1.27.12 Insight from Darren Lippe
Darren Lippe helps facilitate Journey 101 “Loving God” classes, guides a 3rd grade Sunday school class, is a member of a small group & a men’s group, and serves on the Curriculum team.
As we consider today’s passage from Paul’s letter to Timothy, let’s play a little Family Feud, “old school.” Take it away, Richard:
First question: Roughly 8/10 adults are dissatisfied with what?
Survey says the number one answer is: Their physical appearance &/or weight.
Second question: Over 5/10 adults list this issue as a constant top concern.
Survey says: Their physical health.
Final question: 8/7 adults say this was the toughest subject in elementary school.
Survey says: Fractions.
As we reflect on the first 2 survey answers, it really isn’t surprising that, like the folks in Paul’s day, there is a tremendous temptation to view our physical bodies as creation’s weakest link.
This viewpoint is pervasive, regardless of age. Youngsters want to look more mature, want to be taller/shorter, want curlier/straighter hair, or want the latest smart phone. (Huh? – Editor. Well, not all teenage angst is limited to just physical appearance- they occasionally branch out to other areas just to mix it up.)
We adults aren’t immune to this temptation either. We miss the luxuriant hair of yesterday, we get frustrated when we can’t eat spicy foods late in the day, we get angry that our arms are too short to read a simple menu, and we’d love to see a re-make of a classic movie or TV show that was half as good as the original.
However, while our physical bodies fail to meet our expectations in many ways, we would be remiss to think that God agrees with us. It is no accident that God deliberately chose to have the Word made flesh and, as evidenced by the empty tomb, that God intends to redeem our entire being. God views our bodies as worthy of His kingdom & revels in the idea that we are made in His image.
While we see wrinkles, God sees laugh lines & great memories. While we struggle to keep the pace with the younger hikers, God lets us use these pauses to savor the journey. While we envy the energy younger colleagues bring to the work force, God relishes the experience we can bring to the table to help decision-making be more effective.
So what are we to do? Perhaps we could resist the temptation to worship our physical appearance and, instead, choose to honor God by properly caring for our body through diet, exercise & rest. As we submit our bodies to God & His Kingdom, we might just find that this helps put our health concerns in better perspective as well.
Bonus Question: How did God describe creation after the 6th day?
Survey Says: “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed, it was very good.” Good answer! Good answer! (Clapping.)
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflections with GOD for Thursday, January 26, 2012

Quotes for Today:
We only know of one duty, and that is to love. by Albert Camus (1913 – 1960)
It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs. by Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), ‘Treasury for the Free World,’ 1946
The first duty of a leader is to make himself be loved without courting love. To be loved without ‘playing up’ to anyone – even to himself. by Andre Malraux (1901 – 1976)
I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty…This is my highest and best use as a human. by Ben Stein, E! Online, 12-20-03
A sense of duty is useful in work, but offensive in personal relations. People wish to be liked, not be endured with patient resignation. by Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970), Conquest of Happiness (1930) ch. 10
The first duty of a man is the seeking after and the investigation of truth. by Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)
There are some duties we owe even to those who have wronged us. There is, after all, a limit to retribution and punishment. by Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)
There is no duty more obligatory than the repayment of kindness. by Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)
There is no such thing as luck. It’s a fancy name for being always at our duty, and so sure to be ready when good time comes. by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803 – 1873)
Majesty: when a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares it as his duty. by George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), Caesar and Cleopatra, act III
When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty. by George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) Act III
The reward of one duty is the power to fulfill another. by George Eliot (1819 – 1880)
The paths of glory at least lead to the grave, but the paths of duty may not get you any where. by James Thurber (1894 – 1961)
The strongest is never strong enough to be always the master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience into duty. by Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778), The Social Contract, 1762
How can you come to know yourself? Never by thinking, always by doing. Try to do your duty, and you’ll know right away what you amount to. by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 – 1832)
Duty is ours, results are God’s. by John Quincy Adams (1767 – 1848)
Life is not so important as the duties of life. by John Randolph (1773 – 1833)
A duty dodged is like a debt unpaid; it is only deferred, and we must come back and settle the account at last. by Joseph F. Newton
When you have a number of disagreeable duties to perform, always do the most disagreeable first. by Josiah Quincy
I take it as a man’s duty to restrain himself. by Lois McMaster Bujold, Ethan of Athos, 1986
The dead cannot cry out for justice; it is a duty of the living to do so for them. by Lois McMaster Bujold, Diplomatic Immunity, 2002
We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow. by Lord Palmerston, Remarks in the House of Commons, March 1, 1848
Do something every day that you don’t want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain. by Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
The first duty of love is to listen. by Paul Tillich (1886 – 1965), O Magazine, February 2004
Duty then is the sublimest word in the English language. You should do your duty in all things. You can never do more, you should never wish to do less. by Robert E. Lee (1807 – 1870)
There is no duty we so much underrate as the as the duty of being happy. by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894), An Apology for Idlers, 1874
There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894)
Be eager to fulfill the smallest duty and flee from transgression for one duty includes another and one transgression induces another transgression. by Talmud, We Have Met the Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess, 2011
Property has its duties as well as its rights. by Thomas Brummond
He that would make his own liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. by Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809)

Sermon for Today:
Belief In the Resurrection by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 3452 PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, APRIL 1ST, 1915. DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON. ON THURSDAY EVENING, SEPT. 15TH, 1870.
“He is risen.”(Mark 16:6)
OUR Lord always told his disciples that he would rise. They were astonished to hear that he would die at all: they could not think it possible that he could die by the terrible death which he often hinted at. Had they understood and really believed that he would rise again, they might not have been so surprised at his death, but often as he spoke of it, their minds seemed to have been like their eyes on some occasions, holden that they should not see, and if they perceived his meaning, it ran so contrary to all their ideas of a kingdom for a Messiah, that they could not somehow grasp it as a reality.
Now one of the first things that strikes the reader of the chapter before us shall furnish us with our first head of contemplation tonight: —
I. THE ALMOST UNIVERSAL POWER OF UNBELIEF IN THE CHURCH.
This is a good instance to illustrate a general fact, for our Savior had to their ears in plain terms told them he would rise again. Yet on the third day not one that we know of expected him to rise. When they were informed that he had risen, by eye-witnesses, by persons whom they had been accustomed to treat as deserving of all credence, persons with whom they had been long acquainted, they, everyone of them, were incredulous: they could not believe it, though it were testified to them again and again. As you read this chapter through, you meet with first one instance and then another of this general incredulity about a thing on which all ought to have been sound believers. You find, first, the women — very tender, very
loving, always accustomed to minister to Christ’s necessities in the days of his flesh: now their very love leads them to an unbelieving act. If he be risen, and he said he would rise, what need of grave-cloths, what need of precious ointments, and spikenard, and spice, in which to embalm him? ‘Twas love that said “Embalm him,” but ‘twas unbelieving love that made them think the thing was necessary to be done.
All through those tender hearts, wherein so much of heavenly ardor for Christ was found, there was also found this leaven of mischief. But the men — the strong sex, will not they also, their hearts being full of love, and having walked with Christ, having strong judgments many of them, having noticed and weighed what he said, will not they believe? No! Peter and John, though they come to the sepulcher come there with heavy hearts, evidently with no expectation such as would have been excited by the belief that Christ had risen. The whole brotherhood of the disciples appear to have gone altogether over to an unbelief of the thought that Jesus Christ would rise. But there were some favored ones — there were the eleven. These were the elect out of the elect, the spiritual lifeguard, the very bodyguard of the Savior. Surely, if faith be extinct everywhere else, we shall find it in them. They were in the garden at his passion, some of them were on Labor at his transfiguration, three of them, at any rate, were in the chamber where he raised the dead. They had seen his miracles, they had themselves distributed the bread which by a miraculous power he had multiplied for the feeding of the multitude. They had seen him walk the sea — one of them had himself trodden on the liquid wave, and found it marble beneath his feet when Christ had bidden him come. They had marked the tempest hushed, they had seen devils expelled, many marvellous displays of divine power had they all of them beheld. These choice ones, especially those three mighty, those chosen three, would believe! Yet they also were tinctured with this same evil; they had not such a faith in their Master as they should have had.
And now this was but, I think, a portrait of what has been ever since the great mischief in the Church of God. This sin of sins — unbelief — is still at this very hour too common among the people of God. Suppose I talk to the mass of God’s people, the quiet, humble people, who go about their business and serve God in their households. Shall I find them all full of faith, giving glory to God? No, I am not long with some of them but I hear their doubts as to whether they are his or not. I hear some of them singing:
“Do I love the Lord or no;
Am I his, or am I not?”
True, I see many of them happy and joyful, contented and trustful, but not always so, even they. Sometimes even these seem to give way to fears and suspicions, and they half think that he has forgotten to be gracious — will be mindful of them no more. Truly is it written, “If the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?” He may look for it, and look for it long,for amongst his own believing people. yet is faith all too rare a thing — hard to be discovered. It is true it is in its essence always in the Church, but yet so feeble that oftentimes the fire is rather that which trembles in the smoking flax, and almost expires, than the spark that seeks the sun, the Father, the flame from which at first it came.
Now suppose I turn away from the mass of Christians, and select for myself those that take once in Christ’s Church, appointed by him, gifted, anti given, as the result of tile ascension, to the Church as the Church’s treasure. My brethren, what shall I say about deacons, elders, and such like in the Church of God? How find I you? Do I not discover oftentimes in church officers a slackness of enterprise, a fear lest this should be too great a thing or that too venturesome? Have I not heard — though certainly I may say I have not experienced have I not heard that sometimes those that should lead the Church have held her back, and those that should be first and foremost to sustain the Christian ministry in every holy effort, have they not been sometimes a very drag upon the wheels to hinder it? And if it be so in their official acting, I fear it is not much better in their own private capacity before God. Alas! O Israel, thy captains are weak; thy mighty men tremble.
But suppose I select those God has especially favored and made the winners of souls. Do I find these at all times confident in the God whose gospel they proclaim? Are they always calmly reliant, upon that eternal power which has ordained them to their work? We must, each man, speak for himself; but I fear the most of us might take up a wailing for ourselves, and confess that we also too often must say, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” The prayer of the apostles is a suitable prayer for ministers, “Lord increase our faith” For, if our faith be not increased, we cannot expect that the faith of the multitude will be. Christ’s ministers ought to be to Christ’s army a sort of spiritual Uhlans, that ride on ahead to investigate the country. to take hold of it before the main body comes up. They should be the men to lead the forlorn hope; they should be first in the trench whenever a citadel is to be taken by storm. Their hearts should never fail them; they should be men of large conceptions and bold designs: men to fall back upon the Infinite, and rely upon the unseen. Are we always such, or such to such a degree as we ought to be? No, I fear that the chapter church history which is being now written is, in the sight of God, much blotted by the unbelief of all his people. Faith there is — I bless God for it — and in some cases very eminent faith; but taking us all round, alas! we must make up a sorrowful confession of our shortcomings in the matter of our faith in the living God. Now, turning to the chapter again, we shall get our second point of consideration: —
II. THE GREAT CURE WHICH OUR LORD PRESCRIBED FOR THE MATTER OF UNBELIEF.
As far as this chapter goes, it lies in the fact that he is risen He is risen from the dead. You will observe everywhere here, where we meet with the unbelief of man, we meet with the fact of the resurrection of Christ brought in like light to subdue the darkness. Here are the women in difficulties: it is the resurrection of Christ that removes the difficulty. Who shall roll us away the stone? The stone is rolled away because Christ is risen. The angel has taken away the stone door of the prison house because it was time that the captive should go free. Now here the Lord seems to tell us that the best and grandest cure of all our fear about difficulty lies in this, “The Lord is risen.” You serve a living Savior. What is the difficulty? Is it a providential one? the is the Master of providence, for “the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God.” That difficulty, then, which would obstruct you in your pathway to heaven, if you trust in him, must vanish because Jesus lives. If the Captain of the host were dead, it would be an ill thing for us to be serving a dead Captain, but since he dives, girt with omnipotence, difficulties must vanish before him. Does it happen that the difficulty which troubles us is one concerning our Service to our Lord? Have we a hard heart to deal with in the child whose conversion we seek, in our class, in the Sabbath School, or have we prejudices that stop our way in the congregation that we address week by week, and that he hope to convert to Jesus by his Spirit? Are we called to plough an unthankful soil that breaks the ploughshare, Is there something just now before us that looks like a gate of brass and a wall of iron? Here is the one comfort concerning it all. The Lord liveth. “He is not here; lie is risen.” He is not dead; his power lies not paralysed in the tomb; he lives and goes before you, leading the van of all the noble, of those who died for his crown and glory. On with you, then, in the name of God! Be this your might that Jesus lives. henceforth, let difficulties be only rejoiced in as things to be over come, as opportunities for glorifying him by the exercise of your faith in him, which will be followed by the revelation of his power. So, then, that vanishes. If unbelief raises difficulties, “The Lord is risen” is the cure for them all.
Suppose our unbelief takes the shape of fright. It does sometimes. It did in the case of these good women — they were affrighted, we are told in the fifth verse. We are told again in the eighth verse that they fled from the sepulcher, for they trembled. Now we may be frightened at a great manythings. Some persons are so timid that they are frightened at nothing: their own shadow will frighten them. But there may be real matters that should cause us to tremble if we had not something better to fall back upon than ourselves. Now a Christian in a fright is like a man out of his wits. He is pretty sure to do something that will make his danger greater. Self-possession, calm composure, a quiet mind, these have often saved lives, have frequently prevented the destruction of a cause that was just then in peril. If thou canst be calm amidst bewildering circumstances, confident of victory in the end, that will half win the battle itself. If thou canst rest in the Lord. or, to use the words of Moses, “stand still and see the salvation of God,” thou wilt surely come out unscathed the evil. Now the best cure for fright is the fact that Jesus is risen. Why, how am I to be afraid when he who is flying of Kings and Lord of Lords is my shepherd, and will surely interpose for my protection? If my Lord were dead, then were I unsafe, but while Jesus lives I am secure. “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Oh! what a grand sentence is that! “I give unto ny sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” Who art thou, then, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man that is but as the moth? Rest thou in thy living Savior “Fear not; I am with thee — I am with thee — be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. When thou passest through the rivers, I will be with thee; the floods shall not overflow thee. When thou goest through the fire, thou shalt not he burned, neither shall the flange kindle upon thee.” “I am God, I change not; therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” Come back, then, if you pro tempest-tossed, terrified, trembling, and affrighted, and, because Jesus lives, be quiet, and in patience possess your souls.
I notice in the chapter that the next form of unbelief is amazement. These good women, in addition to being afraid, were amazed — could not make it out. It was too great a mystery. How could it be? It troubled them — it troubled them. Now in all times of our amazement about great gospel truths, we shall find always the best way to get out of the amazement is to hold fast by faith to the veracity and truthfulness of God, and to hold fast to what we can understand — to a fact that has been proved better than other facts of history have been proved, the fact that the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead. It is generally when you are in trouble about some great doctrine; a bad thing to argue about that doctrine while you are troubled about it. Think more of what you do believe, of what you are sure of, than just now of that matter which staggers you. You will find that, if you receive the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and rest in that as being a guarantee of your resurrection, you have the key of many other precious truths; and as one doctrine draws on another as the links of a chain, you will find your amazement at some of the most stupendous mysteries of the faith will be cured by your grasping the first simplicity and fundamental doctrine of the faith of the gospel, that the Lord Jesus, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, and dead, and buried, and the third day rose again in very flesh and blood. and ever liveth, sitting on the right hand of God, reigning in exceeding power. You will not be Amazed nor affrighted; you will not be made to tremble, or be bewildered, if you keep close to this — “He lives! He lives! This I know, and on this I rest.”
Further, it seems that these good women were much prevented in doing their duty by their unbelief. They were told to go and speak to the disciples, but, fat any rate for a time, they did not do so, for it is written, “Neither said they anything to any man, for they were afraid.” Those tongues that by-and-bye in calmer moments would bear such a sure testimony were, through their fears which sprang of their unbelief, quite dumb. They could not speak. Oh! arid this is a complaint that is very common in the Church. I know some that could preach, but do not, and it is unbelief that silences them. And you today, perhaps, were in society where you ought to have spoken a loving and an earnest word, and you did not, and it was a wrong timidity that kept you quiet. And you have been many times in your life cast into positions where usefulness would have been very easy, but at the same time you found it hard, because you forgot that Jesus lives — you forgot that he lives to watch his people, lives to render them assistance when they are in the path of service. Oh! if we knew he lived — aye! knew that he was here — knew that he was close to us, and that his heart never forgot us, and his eye was never closed upon us — we should be swift in the ways of duty, and a stammering tongue would begin to speak; and the now unhallowed silence which spoils the Church and robs her of many a triumph, would be broken by our willing testimony and by our cheerful song. The best cure for the dumb devil that sometimes, possesses us is a belief in the living and pleading Savior.
Further on, as your eye glances down the chapter, you will see unbelief connecting itself with wounded affection. When Mary Magdalene came to the disciples, she found them weeping, weeping for sorrow, men and women of God– a very mournful company, all weeping, weeping for a dead Savior — the dearest friend they had ever had, who first had given them spiritual conceptions and lifted them out off their former grovelling state. He was gone: he was dead, and they could not but weep. But they left off weeping, or would have done if they had known or believed that. he was risen. It was the last thing they should have done, to be weeping. He rising, and they weeping! All the harps of heaven ringing out melodious praise, and those most concerned in the glorious fact still weeping! Every angel in heaven bending from the sacred battlements to look down upon a risen Savior with admiring gaze, and yet his own dear people who had known and loved him, sitting down and weeping amidst the universal festival! It was very strange.
Now oftentimes the same mischief happens to us. We lose a friend. Who among us has not? We lose a husband, a wife, a child. Very dear are these associations; and when the ties are snapped our heart bleeds, and sometimes we weep, and weep, and weep again until there is a want of submission to the Savior’s will, there is a want of resignation to his divine purpose and decree. Now if we recollected that he lives we should also remember that they also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him: for if Jesus rose from the dead, so must all his people. We sorrow not as those without hope; we commit our precious dust to the earth, but it is only far a while. We lay it low, but we thank God it can go no lower. Corruption shall not consume, but refine this flesh until, when the trumpet sounds, the very body that we wept over shall rise again in sacred lustre, fashioned in the image of Christ’s own glorious body. Death is robbed of all its sting when we remember this — the soul in the company of the living Savior; the body, like Esther, bathing itself in spices to make it ready for the embrace of the all-glorious Lord; the old, worn-out vesture laid aside awhile, until God refits it, and makes it fit to be worn in the high festivals of heaven. Oh! if Jesus lives, we wipe away the tear, and we carry not our dead to their graves with sound of weeping and with the noise of lamentation, but with the sound of holy psalm and shoutings of victory; we lower the conquering champion into his rest in sure and certain hope that he shall rive to participate in his great Captain’s everlasting, victory. “Christ is risen” is the cure for wounded affection, when the wound rankles
through unbelief.
Further, remark that this blessed doctrine, that Christ is risen cures us of the difficulties we have as to intercourse with heavenly things. It is earlier in the chapter, though I mention it last. The angel appeared unto the women — two angels appeared to certain other women, according to Luke, and instead of speaking to the angels, they ran away. They were afraid and amazed. “Fear not ye,” said the angels, “for we know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not l here, for he is risen.” Now I think if you and I were in a state of full faith in the risen Savior, if we met an angel, we should not be amazed. If we saw an angel — if once again the spirits could put on the semblance of bodies and soon appear to the organs of our vision I think if we revere full of faith, we should avail ourselves of the opportunity to learn some thing about them, and about the heaven they dwell in, and, most of all, about their Lord.
Oh! methinks I would like an hour with some bright spirit to question him about some of those mysteries that, as yet, eye hath not seen. If it were lawful for him to utter what, perhaps, he might not tell — if it were lawful for him to tell of some of the glories within the veil, and some of the mysteries of those streets of gold, and those walls of twelve foundations calf precious stones, our inquisitiveness might take a holy turn. Act any rate, if we might not ask questions, we would hold fellowship; we would be glad to see these spirits that are so near akin to us, for even now — even we — we are not strangers to them. They bear us up in their hands lest we clash our foot against a stone, and we are come to the general assembly and Church of the firstborn — we are come to the host of angels, and to those whose names are written in heaven: we are come to that innumerable company, even now, by faith, and if we could get a glimpse of them, we should not be afraid. Now it is a fact that Christ is risen that makes an open door between us and the spiritual world. A man in flesh and blood is gone into the skies: a man who ate a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb — a man that said, “Handle me and see that it is I myself”: a man of whom it is written, “He showed them his hands and his side”: a man who said to one of his acquaintance, “Reach hither thy finger behold my hand, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side” — such a man is gone into the excellent glory, and he has opened a living way by which our intercourse with angels, and with the angels’ Master, is complete. Oh! herein there is subject for spiritual minds greatly to rejoice at, and the difficulties which unbelief would put in our way are swept away by the full conviction that the Lord is risen — is risen indeed.
But I must not dwell longer on that. The great power of unbelief receives its antidote in the blessed and well-ascertained fact that Jesus is risen. Now let us see still further: —
III. SOME OTHER CONSEQUENCES OF OUR LORD’S RISING.
We observe in the chapter that one of the first consequences of his rising was a more general, a more intense, a more universal activity in the Church. He said to them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” We see again, “He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.” From which I gather that, if we did more fully perceive that Christ is risen, we should be all of us more active. It is very hard to get up enthusiasm for an idea — certainly in England it is — it may not be in some more mercurial clime among a more sensitive and responsive people — but here we do not generally get into a state of enthusiasm for an idea. But what men are there that are not moved to enthusiasm for a person? A man, a person, will always command more fully the activity of human hearts than will a mere doctrine or dogma. Bring before me in history the leading principles, and you will generally find that the principles did little or nothing until they wore embodied in a man, and when some bold man represented the principles, then the principles opened the man’s way to human hearts.
It is so in the Church. I suppose some people are enthusiastic about creeds and about dogmas. I don’t know, but I know this: that the most enthusiastic people in all the Church are those that know him, and love him, and live with him, and serve him. The enthusiasm of heaven seems to be about them. They cast their crowns at his feet, and they sing “Hallelujah” when they behold God and the Lamb. There is an adoration of persons, and their souls are moved by the presence of blessed and divine persons, and so in the Church should it be. We have a living Savior, a living Captain. He is not out of the fight: he still looks down upon us: he still is fighting with us in the grand old cause. Oh! who of us will be a laggard when the Captain’s eye is upon him? Jesus is looking on — Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, is looking on the course. Let us run with patience, because we look at, and are looked upon by, him. May this principle of Christian patience move every person here to do something, and continue to do something for the honor and glory of his Master.
But, in addition to this cause, we find that the presence of Christ gave to the church at that time miracles. The risen Savior endowed them with unknown tongues, and they spoke, though they were uninstructed men, so that men understand them from every clime: they began to work wonders Our faith leads us not to these, nor will it. This is wisely denied us. At the same time, though we work not miracles in the outer world, all true preaching is miracle working. Commonly to declare a doctrine, commonly to speak a thing well — all this may be no preaching as God would call it— eloquence, oratory, refinement, the putting of words well together — this is common to all mankind. After their measure, all may speak — after some sort. This is not God’s work; but true preaching, soul-saving preaching, the Spirit’s voice speaking through man — this is miracle working. You know, my brethren, there are some who cannot preach — they say they cannot preach the gospel. I mean this: they will preach sermons to God’s living people, to God’s quickened ones, and then they say, “As for you that are dead in sin, I have nothing, to say to you.” That is their notion. They are very candid. God never set them to preach the gospel, and they own they cannot do it.
Well, a pity that they should try; but another man whom God sends knows, as the other did, that the hearer who is unconverted is dead in trespasses and sins. He knows that ordinarily to speak to such people would be a very idle thing. He knows he dare not attempt it in his own strength, and that to say to the dead, to the spiritual dead, “Live,” is in itself the extreme of folly. But he, feels that God is with him, that God has sent him, and looking, like Ezekiel of old, upon the congregation of sinners, as in the valley full of dry bones, he does not say, “I have nothing to say to you; you are dead”; but bursting out in his Master’s name, he says, ‘Ye dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord, ye dry bones, ‘Live.’” God sent the man, and while he prophesies thus upon the bones, they come together, bone to his bone, and live. The two apostles at the beautiful gate of the temple did not say to the lame man. “You are lame; we trust in God’s time you will get cured of your lament — we have nothing to say to you”; but they said, “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” They bid the man do what he could not do, but as they bade him do it, the strength came to him to do it.
And while we say to the sinner, “Believe and live,” God sends the power of the gospel command, and they do repent, do believe, do live, do fly for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel; and to this day each Christian is a miracle worker in his own sphere, in the sphere of spiritual things. He opens blind eyes by God’s power, and unstops deaf ears by Jesus’ might. He, too, raises the dead; he, too, casts out devils, still in the higher realm, the realm of mind, the realm of spirit; and our ascended Lord has given us this — this power — we receive it entirely from him because all power is given unto him in heaven and in earth. Therefore, go we and teach all nations, and that teaching works results.
I must not detain you longer, except to notice that, in consequence of our Lord’s resurrection, there is divine power, the highest degree of power concentrated in the person of Jesus Christ. He was ever God, and now as God — man Mediator all power is concentrated in him. And this power is not laid up there to be idle — not as so much stored up ammunition never to be expended, for if you notice the last verse, “The Lord working with them.” Is it not a delightful thought that Jesus is not a sufferer, but he is a worker still?” The Lord working with them. “Redeeming work is done; saving work is going on. “The Lord is working with them.” We do not see it, but he is working. Often that power which is least seen is most mighty, and certainly in the Church that which is not perceptible by the senses is the strongest power.
Believer, if the conversion of the world rested with the Church, if the outgathering of the elect depended upon us, it never would be done; but God makes us work for this end, and so he works first in us, and then lie works with us. How this ought to encourage us to work! This little arm, what can it do? But that eternal arm, what can it not do? This tongue, how feebly can it speak; but the voice of him who spake as never man spake, how persuasively can it speak? Our spirits, narrow and limited, what can they effect? But his unbounded Spirit, what cannot he perform? Oh! let everyone here who has been serving his Master bid farewell to everything like a discouraging or desponding thought. The great army of God is not defeated; it never can be, in the long run it must conquer. And even those parts of the divine strategy of our great Commander. which looked like retreat, are only portions of his perpetual victory. He is fighting on, and will win the battle, even to the end.
It is a great consolation to the believer to know that Jesus lives, and lives in triumph. I do remember, and I cannot help repeating what I have told you before — I do remember, when in an hour of the most overwheming sorrow through which a mind could pass, this one thing restored and comforted me. After that dreadful catastrophe in the Surrey Gardens, when my mind gave way, and my sorrow was extreme — when I had almost lost my reason for some three weeks. and was desponding and brokenhearted, I was alone, walking in solitude, mourning, and weeping as I did day and night and on a sudden there came into my mind, as though it dropped from heaven, this text, “Him hath God highly exalted and given him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”; you know the rest. The thought that crossed my mind was this, I am one of his soldiers, and I am lying in a ditch to die. It does not matter: the King has won the victory— Christ has won the victory — Christ is to the fore. If I die like a dog, I care not. The crown is on his head. He is safely exalted.” In a moment I was happy; my trouble was gone; I found myself perfectly restored; I fell on my knees in a solitary place, praising God who, in infinite mercy, had made that text to be a balm to my spirit. Now there may be someone here who feels much as I did — disconsolate, cast down If you really love Jesus, there is not a nobler balm for your care than this: he reigns, he is glorious; the government is not taken from his shoulders. Our King is no captive; our Emperor has not yielded up his sword: our Prince Imperial is not banished: our Empire never fails, the city of Jerusalem is not besieged: there shall be no straitness of bread in her streets. “God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved; God shall help her, and that right early.” Let the heathen rage: let the people and nations be moved: let the whole earth rock and reel, and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, God is our refuge and strength, our very present help in time of trouble. God reigneth, and the kingdom of Jesus is settled by an unchangeable decree.
Therefore. lift up your heads, ye saints, for your redemption draweth nigh, and even now clap ye your joyful hands, and go ye back again to the conflict of life until your Master galls you home like true heroes, that henceforth shall know no fear, and shall never turn your backs in the day of battle. God grant it may be so for his name’s sake. Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” by Polish carol; translated by Edith M.G. Reed, 1885-1933
1. Infant holy, infant lowly,
for his bed a cattle stall;
oxen lowing, little knowing,
Christ the babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging angels singing,
noels ringing, tidings bringing:
Christ the babe is Lord of all.
2. Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping
vigil till the morning new
saw the glory, heard the story,
tidings of a gospel true.
Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow,
praises voicing, greet the morrow:
Christ the babe was born for you.

Through the Bible in One Year:
Judges 21
1 The men of Israel had sworn this oath at Mizpah, ‘None of us is to give his daughter in marriage to Benjamin.’
2 The people went to Bethel and stayed there until evening, sitting before God and raising their voices, made a great lament,
3 and exclaiming, ‘Yahweh, God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel that a tribe should be missing from Israel today?
4 The next day the people got up early and built an altar there; they presented burnt offerings and communion sacrifices.
5 The Israelites then said, ‘Out of all the tribes of Israel, who has not come to Yahweh, to the assembly?’ — for they had sworn a solemn oath that anyone who did not come to Yahweh at Mizpah would certainly die.
6 Now the Israelites felt sorry about Benjamin their brother. ‘Today’, they said, ‘a tribe has been amputated from Israel.
7 What shall we do to provide wives for those who are left, since we have sworn by Yahweh not to give them any of our own daughters in marriage?’
8 They then asked, ‘Out of the tribes of Israel, who is it that has not come to Yahweh at Mizpah?’ It was discovered that no one from Jabesh in Gilead had come to the camp for the assembly;
9 for, a muster having been called of the people, none of the inhabitants of Jabesh in Gilead was present.
10 The community then despatched twelve thousand of their bravest men there, with these orders: ‘Go and slaughter all the inhabitants of Jabesh in Gilead, including the women and children.
11 This is what you are to do. All males and all those women who have ever slept with a man, you will put under the curse of destruction, but the lives of the virgins you will spare.’ And this they did.
12 Among the inhabitants of Jabesh in Gilead they found four hundred young virgins who had never slept with a man, and brought them to the camp (to Shiloh in the territory of Canaan).
13 The whole community then sent messengers to offer peace to the Benjaminites who were at the Rock of Rimmon.
14 Benjamin then came home: they were given those of the women of Jabesh in Gilead whose lives had been spared, but there were not enough for all.
15 The people felt sorry about Benjamin, Yahweh having made a breach in the tribes of Israel.
16 And the elders of the community said, ‘What shall we do to provide wives for the survivors, since the women of Benjamin have been wiped out?’
17 They went on, ‘How can we preserve a remnant for Benjamin so that a tribe may not be lost to Israel?
18 We cannot give them our own daughters in marriage’ — for the Israelites had taken an oath, ‘Accursed be the man who gives a wife to Benjamin!’
19 ‘However,’ they said, ‘there is the feast of Yahweh, held every year at Shiloh.’ (The town lies north of Bethel, east of the highway that runs from Bethel up to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.)
20 So they told the Benjaminites to do as follows, ‘Put yourselves in ambush in the vineyards.
21 Keep watch: when the girls of Shiloh come out in groups to dance, you then come out of the vineyards, each of you seize a wife from the girls of Shiloh and make for Benjaminite territory.
22 If their fathers or brothers come and complain to us, we shall say, “Let us have them, since we could not take wives for everyone in the battle; and you could not give them to them, or you would then have been guilty.” ‘
23 The Benjaminites did this and, from the dancers whom they caught, took as many wives as there were men and then, setting off, went back to their heritage, rebuilt the towns and settled down in them.
24 The Israelites then dispersed, each man to rejoin his tribe and clan, each leaving that place for his own heritage.
25 In those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did as he saw fit.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Thursday, January 26, 2012:
Psalm 50
1 [Psalm Of Asaph] The God of gods, Yahweh, is speaking, from east to west he summons the earth.
2 From Zion, perfection of beauty, he shines forth;
3 he is coming, our God, and will not be silent. Devouring fire ahead of him, raging tempest around him,
4 he summons the heavens from on high, and the earth to judge his people.
5 ‘Gather to me my faithful, who sealed my covenant by sacrifice.’
6 The heavens proclaim his saving justice, ‘God himself is judge.’Pause
7 ‘Listen, my people, I am speaking, Israel, I am giving evidence against you, I, God, your God.
8 ‘It is not with your sacrifices that I find fault, those burnt offerings constantly before me;
9 I will not accept any bull from your homes, nor a single goat from your folds.
10 ‘For all forest creatures are mine already, the animals on the mountains in their thousands.
11 I know every bird in the air, whatever moves in the fields is mine.
12 ‘If I am hungry I shall not tell you, since the world and all it holds is mine.
13 Am I to eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14 ‘Let thanksgiving be your sacrifice to God, fulfil the vows you make to the Most High;
15 then if you call to me in time of trouble I will rescue you and you will honour me.’
16 But to the wicked, God says: ‘What right have you to recite my statutes, to take my covenant on your lips,
17 when you detest my teaching, and thrust my words behind you?
18 ‘You make friends with a thief as soon as you see one, you feel at home with adulterers,
19 your conversation is devoted to wickedness, and your tongue to inventing lies.
20 ‘You sit there, slandering your own brother, you malign your own mother’s son.
21 You do this, and am I to say nothing? Do you think that I am really like you? I charge you, indict you to your face.
22 ‘Think it out, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart without hope of a rescuer.
23 Honour to me is a sacrifice of thanksgiving; to the upright I will show God’s salvation.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 59
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'Do not destroy' Of David In a quiet voice When Saul sent men to watch David's house in order to have him killed] Rescue me from my enemies, my God, be my stronghold from my assailants,
2 rescue me from evil-doers, from men of violence save me.
3 Look at them, lurking to ambush me, violent men are attacking me, for no fault, no sin of mine, Yahweh,
4 for no guilt, they come running to take up position. Wake up, stand by me and keep watch,
5 Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, God of Israel, rise up, to punish all the nations, show no mercy to all these malicious traitors.Pause
6 Back they come at nightfall, snarling like curs, prowling through the town.
7 Look how they rant in speech with swords on their lips, ‘Who is there to hear us?’
8 For your part, Yahweh, you laugh at them, you make mockery of all nations.
9 My strength, I keep my eyes fixed on you. For my stronghold is God,
10 the God who loves me faithfully is coming to meet me, God will let me feast my eyes on those who lie in wait for me.
11 Do not annihilate them, or my people may forget; shake them in your power, bring them low, Lord, our shield.
12 Sin is in their mouths, sin on their lips, so let them be trapped in their pride for the curses and lies that they utter.
13 Destroy them in your anger, destroy them till they are no more, and let it be known that God is Master in Jacob and the whole wide world.Pause
14 Back they come at nightfall, snarling like curs, prowling through the town,
15 scavenging for something to eat, growling unless they have their fill.
16 And so I will sing of your strength, in the morning acclaim your faithful love; you have been a stronghold for me, a refuge when I was in trouble.
17 My strength, I will make music for you, for my stronghold is God, the God who loves me faithfully.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 60
1 [For the choirmaster To the tune 'The decree is a lily' In a quiet voice Of David To be learnt When he was at war with Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah, and Joab marched back to destroy twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt] God, you have rejected us, broken us, you were angry, come back to us!
2 You made the earth tremble, split it open; now mend the rifts, it is tottering still.
3 You have forced your people to drink a bitter draught, forced us to drink a wine that made us reel.
4 You gave a signal to those who fear you to let them escape out of range of the bow.Pause
5 To rescue those you love, save with your right hand and answer us.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary, ‘In triumph I will divide up Shechem, and share out the Valley of Succoth.
7 ‘Mine is Gilead, mine Manasseh, Ephraim the helmet on my head, Judah my commander’s baton,
8 ‘Moab a bowl for me to wash in, on Edom I plant my sandal. Now try shouting “Victory!” over me, Philistia!’
9 Who will lead me against a fortified city, who will guide me into Edom,
10 if not you, the God who has rejected us? God, you no longer march with our armies.
11 Bring us help in our time of crisis, any human help is worthless.
12 With God we shall do deeds of valour, he will trample down our enemies.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 8
1 [For the choirmaster On the . . . of Gath Psalm Of David] Yahweh our Lord, how majestic is your name throughout the world! Whoever keeps singing of your majesty higher than the heavens,
2 even through the mouths of children, or of babes in arms, you make him a fortress, firm against your foes, to subdue the enemy and the rebel.
3 I look up at your heavens, shaped by your fingers, at the moon and the stars you set firm-
4 what are human beings that you spare a thought for them, or the child of Adam that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him little less than a god, you have crowned him with glory and beauty,
6 made him lord of the works of your hands, put all things under his feet,
7 sheep and cattle, all of them, and even the wild beasts,
8 birds in the sky, fish in the sea, when he makes his way across the ocean.
9 Yahweh our Lord, how majestic your name throughout the world!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 84
1 [For the choirmaster On the . . . of Gath Of the sons of Korah Psalm] How lovely are your dwelling-places, Yahweh Sabaoth.
2 My whole being yearns and pines for Yahweh’s courts, My heart and my body cry out for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, the swallow a nest to place its young: your altars, Yahweh Sabaoth, my King and my God.
4 How blessed are those who live in your house; they shall praise you continually. Pause
5 Blessed those who find their strength in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of the Balsam, they make there a water-hole, and — a further blessing — early rain fills it.
7 They make their way from height to height, God shows himself to them in Zion.
8 Yahweh, God Sabaoth, hear my prayer, listen, God of Jacob.
9 God, our shield, look, and see the face of your anointed.
10 Better one day in your courts than a thousand at my own devices, to stand on the threshold of God’s house than to live in the tents of the wicked.
11 For Yahweh God is a rampart and shield, he gives grace and glory; Yahweh refuses nothing good to those whose life is blameless.
12 Yahweh Sabaoth, blessed is he who trusts in you.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 16:15-17:14
15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave his son borne by Hagar the name Ishmael.
16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old Yahweh appeared to him and said, ‘I am El Shaddai. Live in my presence, be perfect,
2 and I shall grant a covenant between myself and you, and make you very numerous.’
3 And Abram bowed to the ground. God spoke to him as follows,
4 ‘For my part, this is my covenant with you: you will become the father of many nations.
5 And you are no longer to be called Abram; your name is to be Abraham, for I am making you father of many nations.
6 I shall make you exceedingly fertile. I shall make you into nations, and your issue will be kings.
7 And I shall maintain my covenant between myself and you, and your descendants after you, generation after generation, as a covenant in perpetuity, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 And to you and to your descendants after you, I shall give the country where you are now immigrants, the entire land of Canaan, to own in perpetuity. And I shall be their God.’
9 God further said to Abraham, ‘You for your part must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation.
10 This is my covenant which you must keep between myself and you, and your descendants after you: every one of your males must be circumcised.
11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and that will be the sign of the covenant between myself and you.
12 As soon as he is eight days old, every one of your males, generation after generation, must be circumcised, including slaves born within the household or bought from a foreigner not of your descent.
13 Whether born within the household or bought, they must be circumcised. My covenant must be marked in your flesh as a covenant in perpetuity.
14 The uncircumcised male, whose foreskin has not been circumcised — that person must be cut off from his people: he has broken my covenant.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 10:1-10
1 So, since the Law contains no more than a reflection of the good things which were still to come, and no true image of them, it is quite incapable of bringing the worshippers to perfection, by means of the same sacrifices repeatedly offered year after year.
2 Otherwise, surely the offering of them would have stopped, because the worshippers, when they had been purified once, would have no awareness of sins.
3 But in fact the sins are recalled year after year in the sacrifices.
4 Bulls’ blood and goats’ blood are incapable of taking away sins,
5 and that is why he said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or cereal offering, but you gave me a body.
6 You took no pleasure in burnt offering or sacrifice for sin;
7 then I said, ‘Here I am, I am coming,’ in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, God.
8 He says first You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be offered, that is: the sacrifices, the cereal offerings, the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them;
9 and then he says: Here I am! I am coming to do your will. He is abolishing the first sort to establish the second.
10 And this will was for us to be made holy by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ made once and for all.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 5:30-47
30 By myself I can do nothing; I can judge only as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
31 Were I to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be true;
32 but there is another witness who speaks on my behalf, and I know that his testimony is true.
33 You sent messengers to John, and he gave his testimony to the truth-
34 not that I depend on human testimony; no, it is for your salvation that I mention it.
35 John was a lamp lit and shining and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave.
36 But my testimony is greater than John’s: the deeds my Father has given me to perform, these same deeds of mine testify that the Father has sent me.
37 Besides, the Father who sent me bears witness to me himself. You have never heard his voice, you have never seen his shape,
38 and his word finds no home in you because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
39 You pore over the scriptures, believing that in them you can find eternal life; it is these scriptures that testify to me,
40 and yet you refuse to come to me to receive life!
41 Human glory means nothing to me.
42 Besides, I know you too well: you have no love of God in you.
43 I have come in the name of my Father and you refuse to accept me; if someone else should come in his own name you would accept him.
44 How can you believe, since you look to each other for glory and are not concerned with the glory that comes from the one God?
45 Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father: you have placed your hopes on Moses, and Moses will be the one who accuses you.
46 If you really believed him you would believe me too, since it was about me that he was writing;
47 but if you will not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?(New Jerusalem Bible)
Timothy, Titus [& Silas]:
Psalm 112:1-9
1 Alleluia! How blessed is anyone who fears Yahweh, who delights in his commandments!
2 His descendants shall be powerful on earth, the race of the honest shall receive blessings:
3 Riches and wealth for his family; his uprightness stands firm for ever.
4 For the honest he shines as a lamp in the dark, generous, tender-hearted, and upright.
5 All goes well for one who lends generously, who is honest in all his dealing;
6 for all time to come he will not stumble, for all time to come the upright will be remembered.
7 Bad news holds no fears for him, firm is his heart, trusting in Yahweh.
8 His heart held steady, he has no fears, till he can gloat over his enemies.
9 To the needy he gives without stint, his uprightness stands firm for ever; his reputation is founded on strength.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Isaiah 42:5-9
5 Thus says God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and spread them out, who hammered into shape the earth and what comes from it, who gave breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it:
6 I, Yahweh, have called you in saving justice, I have grasped you by the hand and shaped you; I have made you a covenant of the people and light to the nations,
7 to open the eyes of the blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from the dungeon.
8 I am Yahweh, that is my name! I shall not yield my glory to another, nor my honour to idols.
9 See how the former predictions have come true. Fresh things I now reveal; before they appear I tell you of them.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Acts 15:22-26,30-33
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose delegates from among themselves to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood,
23 and gave them this letter to take with them: ‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of gentile birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.
24 We hear that some people coming from here, but acting without any authority from ourselves, have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds;
25 and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with our well-beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 who have committed their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
30 The party left and went down to Antioch, where they summoned the whole community and delivered the letter.
31 The community read it and were delighted with the encouragement it gave them.
32 Judas and Silas, being themselves prophets, spoke for a long time, encouraging and strengthening the brothers.
33 These two spent some time there, and then the brothers wished them peace andwent back to those who had sent them.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Acts 16:1-5
1 From there he went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra, where there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was Jewish and had become a believer; but his father was a Greek.
2 The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him,
3 and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality where everyone knew his father was a Greek.
4 As they visited one town after another, they passed on the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, with instructions to observe them.
5 So the churches grew strong in the faith, as well as growing daily in numbers.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 10:1-10
1 ‘In all truth I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a bandit.
2 He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock;
3 the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out.
4 When he has brought out all those that are his, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice.
5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him because they do not recognise the voice of strangers.’
6 Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he was saying to them.
7 So Jesus spoke to them again: In all truth I tell you, I am the gate of the sheepfold.
8 All who have come before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep took no notice of them.
9 I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: such a one will go in and out and will find pasture.
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 7:18-19,24-29
18 King David then went in, sat down in Yahweh’s presence and said: ‘Who am I, Lord Yahweh, and what is my lineage, for you to have led me as far as this?
19 Yet, to you, Lord Yahweh, this seemed too little, and now you extend your promises for your servant’s family into the distant future. Such is human destiny, Lord Yahweh.
24 for you constituted your people Israel your own people for ever and you, Yahweh, became their God.
25 ‘Now, Yahweh God, may the promise which you have made for your servant and for his family stand firm forever as you have said,
26 so that your name will be exalted for ever and people will say, “Israel’s God is Yahweh Sabaoth.” Your servant David’s dynasty will be secure before you,
27 since you, Yahweh Sabaoth, the God of Israel, have disclosed to your servant, “I am going to build you a dynasty.” Hence, your servant has ventured to offer this prayer to you.
28 Yes, Lord Yahweh, you are God indeed, your words are true and you have made this generous promise to your servant.
29 What is more, you have deigned to bless your servant’s dynasty, so that it may remain for ever before you; for you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken; and may your servant’s dynasty be blessed with your blessing for ever.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 132:1-5,11-15
1 [Song of Ascents] Yahweh, remember David and all the hardships he endured,
2 the oath he swore to Yahweh, his vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
3 ‘I will not enter tent or house, will not climb into bed,
4 will not allow myself to sleep, not even to close my eyes,
5 till I have found a place for Yahweh, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob!’
11 Yahweh has sworn to David, and will always remain true to his word, ‘I promise that I will set a son of yours upon your throne.
12 If your sons observe my covenant and the instructions I have taught them, their sons too for evermore will occupy your throne.’
13 For Yahweh has chosen Zion, he has desired it as a home.
14 ‘Here shall I rest for evermore, here shall I make my home as I have wished.
15 ‘I shall generously bless her produce, give her needy their fill of food,(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 4:21-25
21 He also said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under a tub or under the bed? Surely to be put on the lamp-stand?
22 For there is nothing hidden, but it must be disclosed, nothing kept secret except to be brought to light.
23 Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’
24 He also said to them, ‘Take notice of what you are hearing. The standard you use will be used for you — and you will receive more besides;
25 anyone who has, will be given more; anyone who has not, will be deprived even of what he has.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Thursday, 26 January 2012
Saint Timothy and Saint Titus, bishops – Memorial
Saint(s) of the day:Ss Timothy and Titus, Bishops – Memorial
Titus 1:1-5
1 From Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion,
2 and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by God. He does not lie
3 and so, in due time, he made known his message by a proclamation which was entrusted to me by the command of God our Saviour.
4 To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share. Grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Saviour.
5 The reason I left you behind in Crete was for you to organise everything that still had to be done and appoint elders in every town, in the way that I told you,(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 96
1 Sing a new song to Yahweh! Sing to Yahweh, all the earth!
2 Sing to Yahweh, bless his name! Proclaim his salvation day after day,
3 declare his glory among the nations, his marvels to every people!
4 Great is Yahweh, worthy of all praise, more awesome than any of the gods.
5 All the gods of the nations are idols! It was Yahweh who made the heavens;
6 in his presence are splendour and majesty, in his sanctuary power and beauty.
7 Give to Yahweh, families of nations, give to Yahweh glory and power,
8 give to Yahweh the glory due to his name! Bring an offering and enter his courts,
9 adore Yahweh in the splendour of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, ‘Yahweh is king.’ The world is set firm, it cannot be moved. He will judge the nations with justice.
11 Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad! Let the sea thunder, and all it holds!
12 Let the countryside exult, and all that is in it, and all the trees of the forest cry out for joy,
13 at Yahweh’s approach, for he is coming, coming to judge the earth; he will judge the world with saving justice, and the nations with constancy.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 10:1-9
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting.
2 And he said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting.
3 Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!”
6 And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.
7 Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
8 Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you.
9 Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Commentary of the day:
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (313-350), Bishop of Jerusalem, Doctor of the Church
Catechesis before baptism no.18, § 23-25
Timothy and Titus spread the faith of the apostles throughout the world
The Church is called catholic (or universal) because she exists throughout the world, from end to end of the earth, and because she teaches universally, without fail, every doctrine we need to know concerning both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly realities. Besides this she is called catholic because she submits all humanity, both leaders and subjects, learned and unlearned, to the true religion; because she tends and heals throughout the world every kind of sin committed by soul or body; and finally, because she possesses in herself every kind of virtue, in deed or word, whatever names they bear, and all the various sorts of spiritual gift.
This name ‘Church’ – which means ‘assembly’ – suits it perfectly since she assembles and gathers everyone together as the Lord commands in Leviticus: «Assemble the whole community at the entrance of the Meeting Tent» (Lv 8,3)… And in Deuteronomy. God says to Moses: «Assemble the people before me; I will have them hear my words» (Dt 4,10)… The Psalmist also says: «I will give you thanks in the vast assembly; in the mighty throng I will praise you» (Ps 35[34],18)…
But subsequently the Savior instituted a second assembly from among the gentiles: our own holy Church, the church of Christians, concerning which he said to Peter: «Upon this rock I will build my Church and the power of death shall not prevail against it» (cf Mt 16,18)… When the first assembly that used to be in Judaea was destroyed, the churches of Christ were multiplied through all the earth. It is of these that the Psalms speak when they say: «Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints» (Ps 150[149],1)… And it was of the same holy, catholic Church that Paul writes to Timothy: «You should know how to behave in the household of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth» (1Tim 3,15).

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Thursday 26th January 2012
LOOK AGAIN AND CONSECRATE by OSWALD CHAMBERS
If God so clothe the grass of the field . . . shall He not much more clothe you?(Matthew 6:30)
A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us if we are not simple. How are we going to be simple with the simplicity of Jesus? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, obeying Him as He brings the word of God, and life will become amazingly simple. “Consider,” says Jesus, “how much more your Father Who clothes the grass of the field will clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him.” Every time we have gone back in spiritual communion it has been because we have impertinently known better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed the cares of the world to come in, and have forgotten the “much more” of our Heavenly Father.
“Behold the fowls of the air” – their main aim is to obey the principle of life that is in them and God looks after them. Jesus says that if you are rightly related to Him and obey His Spirit that is in you, God will look after your ‘feathers.’
“Consider the lilies of the field” – they grow where they are put. Many of us refuse to grow where we are put, consequently we take root nowhere. Jesus says that if we obey the life God has given us, He will look after all the other things. Has Jesus Christ told us a lie? If we are not experiencing the “much more,” it is because we are not obeying the life God has given us, we are taken up with confusing considerations. How much time have we taken up worrying God with questions when we should have been absolutely free to concentrate on His work? Consecration means the continual separating of myself to one particular thing. We cannot consecrate once and for all. Am I continually separating myself to consider God every day of my life?

Reflecting God-Enemy In A Friend’s Clothing
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 55:12-23
12 Were it an enemy who insulted me, that I could bear; if an opponent pitted himself against me, I could turn away from him.
13 But you, a person of my own rank, a comrade and dear friend,
14 to whom I was bound by intimate friendship in the house of God! May they recoil in disorder,
15 may death descend on them, may they go down alive to Sheol, since evil shares their home with them.
16 For my part, I appeal to God, and Yahweh saves me;
17 evening, morning, noon, I complain and I groan. He hears my cry,
18 he ransoms me and gives me peace from the feud against me, for they are taking me to law.
19 But God will listen and will humble them, he who has been enthroned from the beginning; no change of heart for them, for they do not fear God.
20 They attack those at peace with them, going back on their oaths;
21 though their mouth is smoother than butter, enmity is in their hearts; their words more soothing than oil, yet sharpened like swords.
22 Unload your burden onto Yahweh and he will sustain you; never will he allow the upright to stumble.
23 You, God, will thrust them down to the abyss of destruction, men bloodthirsty and deceptive, before half their days are spent. For my part, I put my trust in you.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Enemy In A Friend’s Clothing by Gerald Crispin
Have you ever been betrayed? Did that betrayal come from a friend, someone you trusted? It is bad enough when we are disregarded or suffer abuse from a stranger, but if you have ever been betrayed by a friend, someone you loved and trusted, then you can understand David’s despair. The one who “reproaches me”(verse 12, NASB) is his “familiar friend” and “companion.” You can feel David’s disappointment at the betrayal. This was an enemy in friend’s clothing.
Maybe, like David, you have become angry and tempted to call down on those who have hurt you. I know I have. David does something spectacular: he casts his burden on the Lord, the only one in heaven and earth who will hear his cry and save him. As a result, God ransoms David unharmed from the battle waged against him (verse 18).
God will do the same for us if we will only cry out to him. Even though we may have enemies dressed in friend’s clothing we can cast our cares on the Lord. “He will never let the righteous fall”(verse 22).
Hymn for Today:
“All Your Anxiety” by Edward Henry Joy
1. Is there a heart o’er bound by sorrow?
Is there a life weighed down by care?
Come to the cross each burden bearing.
All our anxiety leave it there.
Refrain:
All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus.
2. No other friend so keen to help you,
No other friend so quick to hear.
No other place to leave your burden;
No other one to hear our prayer.
Refrain:
All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus.
3. Come then at once; delay no longer!
Heed His entreaty kind and sweet.
You need not fear a disappointment;
You shall find peace at the mercy seat.
Refrain:
All your anxiety, all your care,
Bring to the mercy seat leave it there;
Never a burden He cannot bear,
Never a friend like Jesus.
2nd Thought for Today:
“Reality, sincerity, and integrity are available to us through our Redeemer-God”(Neil B. Wiseman).
Prayer Needs:
Many people in the United Kingdom will come to know Christ and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Shalom,
In the last few weeks, Arab countries have launched an all out cyber war
against Israel and its citizens.
First, Saudi hackers stole the personal information of 15,000 Israeli citizens
from an Israeli sports website.
And last week, the Saudi computer hackers disrupted access to the online
websites of three Israeli banks, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, and El Al airlines.
Yesterday, the websites of two Israeli hospitals, the Assuta Medical Center
in Tel Aviv and the Sheeba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer and, were
attacked, although the hospital security systems reportedly held back the
attack and patient information wasn’t compromised.
Shortly afterwards, the websites Dan Public Transportation company, the
Israel Festival, the Cinematheque and the Haaretz newspaper were
simultaneouly attacked.
It makes one wonder if we are just another step closer to embedding
personal information in a chip implanted in the forehead or hand to make it
more secure.
“No one could buy or sell anything if he did not have this mark. This mark is
the name of the beast or the number of its name.” (Revelations 3:17)
Traditional Military Response in the Face of the Privatization of War
Ever since the 9/11 (September 11, 2001) terrorist attacks on the United
States, military and political analysts have been warning about “the
privatization of war.”
In other words, instead of a massive attack against a country’s infrastructure
or civilian population by another country, the war would be waged by small
group of individuals.
Al Qaida showed the world on 9/11 that massive attacks against the civilian
and military infrastructure of a foreign country can be carried out by a small
terrorist group that did not have the support of a government.
Cyberspace: New Frontier for Waging War
One of the most important new battlefields in privatized war is the Internet.
Hackers are private, anonymous individuals with Internet skills that enable
them to break into government and corporation websites, databases and
networks to steal, manipulate or change the data stored there, including
personal information, email passwords, documents, financial information, etc.
And hackers can be, literally, anywhere on earth.
All they need is a connection to the Internet, and they can access any
computer anywhere else in the world.
They could be anyone, from a 12-year-old kid living in a one room
apartment down the hall to a soldier trained and sponsored by a government.
Most countries including the US, Israel, Russia, China, and Iran, have
recruited professional hackers for the purpose of fighting in cyberspace
and defending themselves against other hackers.
Cyberspace War in the Middle East
This current “Middle East” cyberspace war has erupted between hackers
from Arab countries and Israel.
It started a few weeks ago after a group of Saudi hackers dubbed
“Group-XP” posted personal information of thousands of Israelis on a
public website.
OxOmar, who identified himself as a member of the group, urged people to
cause Israel economic pain by using the numbers to make online purchases
in order to damage the economy of Israel.
In an email to the Jerusalem Post, OxOmar, who said he was a 19-year-old
from Saudi Arabia, explained that he “wanted to hurt Israel” any way he could.
He also said that a group of like-minded Pro-Palestinian hackers called
“Nightmare” had joined the Group XP battle against the Jewish State.
More attacks followed, including denial of service attacks against the
personal websites of Israeli government officials, the Fire and Rescue
Service, and others.
But OxOmar didn’t know what he’d started.
Israel Retaliates in Cyberspace
In the days following the attacks on Israeli websites, a group of hackers
calling itself the “IDF Team” (Israel Defense Team) launched attacks on
two large financial websites in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia,
promising that it was just the beginning unless the cyber attacks against
Israeli institutions stopped.
“We will not attack without a reason. We are waiting to see if there are
more attacks on Israel,” one member of the Israeli team told the Jerusalem
Post. “Our next steps will be taken slowly… the message we wish to pass
[along] is that we are not frightened to retaliate and we will not be
frightened of continuing with the attacks.”
But the attacks against Israel didn’t stop, nor did the Israeli retaliatory attacks.
In addition to the economic and even physical damage the conflict has
caused, thousands of helpless individuals in Israel and the Arab world had
their personal data, including medical records and other confidential items,
posted online for the whole world to see.
All of this was done (and continues to be done) without any government
anywhere being able to affect the course of events because it’s being done
by “private” hackers.
Further east, in a similar cyber conflict, Iranian hackers invaded
neighboring Azerbaijan, an ally of Israel, as well as the community of
Shiloh in Samaria.
There is a growing list of similar incidents all over the world.
Hamas (the Palestinian government of Gaza), seeing the value of an
electronic war against Israel, has called for an escalation of hacking Israeli websites.
To deal with these new threats, the Israeli Defense Ministry has announced
that it will establish a special cyber warfare administration.
Lawlessness Increases as War becomes a Hobby for Individuals
War, once the exclusive domain of governments, has become a hobby for
private individuals.
The barriers that once existed to give life in this world, if not exactly
stability, at least a certain amount of predictability, have slowly begun to
disappear. What we’re left with is a growing regime of pandemonium,
chaos and disorder.
In other words, lawlessness.
As Believers, we know who benefits from lawlessness.
“Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy
comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of
worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself
as being God.” (2 Thessalonians: 2: 2–3)
Time is indeed short.
The only hope for anyone is the Prince of Peace, the Son of God, Yeshua
HaMashiach (Jesus Christ).
“But you, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time
of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
(Daniel 12:4)
In our generation, and specifically with the Internet, smart phones, and
Google in the last 10 years, more than any time previously recorded in
history has knowledge increased to this extent!
The people of Israel, who often seem the primary focus of attacks in these
end times need to know about the prophecies about Yeshua in the book of
Daniel, Isaiah, Zechariah, Nehemiah, and Micah.
The best way they can learn about Yeshua and the prophetic Scriptures is
through reading the Messianic Prophecy Bible.
Will you help us bring this knowledge of the Word of God to them?
“I will bless those that bless Israel.” (Genesis 12:3)

3rd Thought for Today:
Thursday 26 January 2012
Maturity
What is a mature man or woman? What does it mean to be fully human? We are focused much more in terms of success and diplomas, and so we have to re-find the language of human maturity. What does it mean to be fully human? by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

1.26.12 – “Honor God with your body” from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: 1 Corinthians 6:12 “‘For me everything is permissible’; maybe, but not everything does good. True, for me everything is permissible, but I am determined not to be dominated by anything.
13 Foods are for the stomach, and the stomach is for foods; and God will destroy them both. But the body is not for sexual immorality;
14 it is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. God raised up the Lord and he will raise us up too by his power.
15 Do you not realise that your bodies are members of Christ’s body; do you think one can take parts of Christ’s body and join them to the body of a prostitute? Out of the question!
16 Or do you not realise that anyone who attaches himself to a prostitute is one body with her, since the two, as it is said, become one flesh.
17 But anyone who attaches himself to the Lord is one spirit with him.
18 Keep away from sexual immorality. All other sins that people may commit are done outside the body; but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.
19 Do you not realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you and whom you received from God?
20 You are not your own property, then; you have been bought at a price. So use your body for the glory of God.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
Sexual immorality was common in Corinth. Many Greek and Roman thinkers said that humans are done with their bodies at death, so what they do with them in life doesn’t matter. Paul totally rejected that view: “The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, The Message).
“Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?” Paul asked (verse 19). In what ways does knowing that God wants to dwell in you all the time help you make better choices about what you do with your body, and how you think about it?
Scholars debate whether “I have the freedom to do anything” was the Corinthians’ opinion or Paul’s view of a Christian’s freedom before God. In either case, Paul did not directly dispute it. Instead, he said, in effect, “Some things [like the sexual immorality common in Corinth] are not good for you, are not smart.” In what ways have you seen sexual immorality have hurtful results in your own life, your family of origin or friends?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week, teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Wednesday 1.25.12 Insight from Angela LaVallie
Angela LaVallie is the Member Connection Program Director at The Church of the Resurrection. She provides oversight to our member connection efforts through the Connection Point, the Weekday Hospitality Team, Coffee With the Pastors, the New Member Team and our Spiritual Gifts Placement Team.
In this passage, the Apostle Paul is not writing as an enforcer of rules or laws. He’s not trying to keep people from having a good time. He’s writing because knows that by living a holy lifestyle, people will have an even better time, a more fulfilling life.
In verse 19, he writes of “people who lack all sense of right and wrong, and who have turned themselves over to doing whatever feels good and to practicing every sort of corruption along with greed.” These people are being selfish, doing whatever they want to do, regardless of the consequences for themselves and for others. Sometimes the results of our actions may not be immediate, so we have to take time to consider the long-term effects of what we are doing. It is so easy to justify one small action, not ever intending to take a step further down the path away from right living, then another step, then another.
When I was in high school, my youth minister explained to the youth group that we needed to think through possible situations that might come up in which we would be tempted to do something contrary to what we knew or felt we shouldn’t be doing. In doing this exercise, we were training ourselves on how to resist the temptations. The more determined we were ahead of time, the more likely we were to make wise choices if and when the situations did arise. Of course, he also taught us that the closer to God we were, the more we knew the Bible’s teachings, the better the chances were that we would be open to God’s guidance and would be more apt to live a life that was more closely aligned to the life God designed for us.
Thursday 1.26.12 Insight from Janelle Gregory
Janelle Gregory serves on the Resurrection staff as a Human Resources Specialist.
Many would assume that a good sex life and a strong faith in God are mutually exclusive. We have this view that God and the church are anti-sex. Butch Hancock said that he learned this about the church’s view on the subject matter:
“sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love.”
Seems a bit silly when you read it, but it’s a warranted misconception. But the truth is that God isn’t anti-sex at all. We’re talking about the inventor of sex here. Let’s face it, if you read beyond what they put in most small group curriculum, you’d know that should certain parts of the Bible were ever made into a movie, it would only be shown in seedy theaters.
But as the inventor, God does provide a few guidelines. Because He, better than us, knows what sex is capable of doing.
I’d like to think of sex as like fire. Given the right parameters-
It can provide warmth.
It can be powerful.
It can be beautiful.
But it’s interesting how that same beautiful fire can be so destructive just outside the bounds of where it should be.
It can destroy lives.
It can wreck homes.
It can leave scars.
These painful images are reminders that if we play with fire, we cannot only burn ourselves, but that the blaze and smoke damage may destroy those around us as well. Which of us would knowingly burn the ones we love?
But then just as, if not more, horrifying is that Paul reminds us that our bodies are not our own, but they belong to God. Would you take a match to your Savior?
I am a firm believer that God can bring beauty out of ashes, and I don’t want to give any other impression. But I would be doing nobody a favor by painting a less vivid picture. We need to grasp consequences.
So appreciate the fire where the fire should be, but if you should see sparks start to fly, go find a bucket of cold water immediately.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

4th Thought for Today:
Thursday January 26, 2012
Forgiveness, the Way to Freedom
To forgive another person from the heart is an act of liberation. We set that person free from the negative bonds that exist between us. We say, “I no longer hold your offense against you” But there is more. We also free ourselves from the burden of being the “offended one.” As long as we do not forgive those who have wounded us, we carry them with us or, worse, pull them as a heavy load. The great temptation is to cling in anger to our enemies and then define ourselves as being offended and wounded by them. Forgiveness, therefore, liberates not only the other but also ourselves. It is the way to the freedom of the children of God. by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Thursday, January 26, 2012
After the Fire
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read 2 Corinthians 4:8-14
8 We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;
9 we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us;
10 always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body.
11 Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.
12 In us, then, death is at work; in you, life.
13 But as we have the same spirit of faith as is described in scripture — I believed and therefore I spoke -we, too, believe and therefore we, too, speak,
14 realising that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up with Jesus in our turn, and bring us to himself — and you as well.(New Jerusalem Bible)
You died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.(Colossians 3:3 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
Exploring a wildfire-ravaged area in Victoria, Australia, I never became accustomed to the sight of skeletal trees blackened by fire or ghost-like forests where the scorched bark had peeled away from the trees. However, amazing signs of renewed life made the greatest impression. Passing one hollow remnant of an ancient tree — blackened both inside and out — I was astonished to see a new tree emerging from a gash in this corpse-like stump; it was a vivid illustration of resurrection.
I can relate to this because I have been devastated by circumstances. When bereavement, illness, depression, or doubt leaves us feeling lost, abundant life seems a thing of the past. Simply believing in Jesus, hanging on by our fingernails, may take all the energy we have.
That burned-out tree appeared to be lifeless, yet deep down — hidden from sight — life waited, ready to burst forth again. No matter what we may feel, no matter how unlikely it may seem at times, resurrection is possible. by Carol Griffin (Shropshire, England)
5th Thought for the Day: Go to www.upperroom.org to see a picture of the blackened tree.
Prayer: God of compassion, send your Spirit to strengthen those who have no strength, to bring peace to those who have no peace, and to give hope to all in despair. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Those overwhelmed by despair
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — January 26, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
“I begged and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.”(Wisdom 7:7)
People’s willingness to find God in their own struggle with life—and let it change them—is their deepest and truest obedience to God’s eternal will. We must admit this is what all of us do anyway, as “God comes to us disguised as our life”! Remember, always remember, that the heartfelt desire to do the will of God is, in fact, the truest will of God. At that point, God has won, and the ego has lost, and your prayer has already been answered.
To sum up the importance of an alternative mind, this message from an unknown source says it all:
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
From Breathing Under Water: Spirituality and the Twelve Steps, p. 103
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

Reflections with GOD for Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Quotes for Today:
Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them. by Dr. Martin Henry Fischer
I never took hallucinogenic drugs because I never wanted my consciousness expanded one unnecessary iota. by Fran Lebowitz (1950 – )
Reality is a crutch for people who can’t cope with drugs. by Lily Tomlin (1939 – )
I love drugs, but I hate hangovers, and the hatred of the hangover wins by a landslide every time. by Margaret Cho, weblog, 10-30-03
[Addiction's] not about placating the bad dog – it’s about feeding the good dog. You still have to feed the bad dog, but only enough so that the ASPCA doesn’t bring you up on charges. by Robert Downey Jr., Entertainment Weekly, 11-21-08
The last time somebody said, ‘I find I can write much better with a word processor.’, I replied, ‘They used to say the same thing about drugs.’ by Roy Blount Jr.
Junkies might be easy to knock down, but they’re never fragile. They have souls like old leather shoes studded with steel, and they’re about as much good as friends. by Scott Westerfeld, The Last Days, 2006
The truth is, marijuana probably isn’t going to make you kill people. Most likely isn’t going to fund terrorists, but pot makes you feel fine with being bored and it’s when you’re bored that you should be learning a new skill or some new science or being creative. If you smoke pot you may grow up to find out that you’re not good at anything. by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park, My Future Self n’ Me, 2002

Sermon for Today:
Ruth Deciding For God by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 2680 INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD’S-DAY, JUNE 24TH, 1900, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 21ST, 1881.
“And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from
following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where
thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy
God my God.”(Ruth 1:16).
THIS was a very brave, outspoken confession of faith. Please to notice that
it was made by a woman, a young woman, a poor woman, a widow
woman, and a foreigner. Remembering all that, I should think there is no
condition of gentleness, or of obscurity, or of poverty, or of sorrow, which
should prevent anybody from making an open confession of allegiance to
God when faith in the Lord Jesus Christ has been exercised. If that is your
experience, my dear friend, then whoever you may be, you will find an
opportunity, somewhere or other, of declaring that you are on the Lord’s
side. I am glad that all candidates for membership in our church make their
confession of faith at our church-meetings. I have been told that such an
ordeal must keep a great many from joining us; yet I notice that, where
there is no such ordeal, they often have very few members, but here are we
with five thousand six hundred, or thereabouts, in church-fellowship, and
very seldom, if ever, finding anybody kept back by having to make an open
confession of faith in Christ. It does the man, the woman, the boy, or the
girl, whoever it is, so much good for once, at least, to say right out
straight, “I am a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I am not ashamed of
it,” that I do not think we shall ever deviate from our custom. I have also
noticed that, when people have once confessed Christ before men, they are
very apt to do it again somewhere else; and they thus acquire a kind of
boldness and outspokenness upon religious matters, and a holy courage as
followers of Christ, which more than make up for any self-denial and
trembling which the effort may have cost them.
I think Naomi was quite right to drive Ruth, as it were, to take this brave
stand, in which it became an absolute necessity for her to speak right
straight out, and say, in the words of our text, “Intreat me not to leave
thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will
go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God.” What is there for any of us to be ashamed of in
acknowledging that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ? What can there be
that should cause us to be ashamed of Jesus, or make us blush to own his
name
“Ashamed of Jesus! that dear Friend On whom my hopes of heaven
depend! No: when I blush, be this my shame, That I no more revere his
name.”
We ought to be ashamed of being ashamed of Jesus; we ought to be afraid
of being afraid to own him; we ought to tremble at trembling to confess
him, and to resolve that we will take all suitable opportunities that we can
find of saying, first to relatives, and then to all others with whom we come
into contact, “We serve the Lord Christ.”
I should think that Naomi was — certainly she ought to have been —
greatly cheered by hearing this declaration from Ruth, especially the last
part of it: “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” Naomi
had suffered great temporal loss; she had lost her husband and her two
sons; but now she had found the soul of her daughter-in-law; and I believe
that, according to the scales of true judgment, there ought to have been
more joy in her heart at the conversion of Ruth’s soul than grief over the
death of her husband and her sons. Our Lord Jesus has told us that “there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth;”
and I always understand, by that expression, that there is joy in the heart of
God himself over every sinner’s repentance. Well, then, if Naomi’s husband
and sons were true believers, — if they had been walking aright before the
Lord, — as, let us hope, they had done, she need not have felt such sorrow
for them as could at all compare with the joy of her daughter-in-law being
saved.
Perhaps, some of you, dear friends, have had bereavements in your homes;
but if the death — the temporal death — of one should be the means of the
spiritual life of another, there is a clear gain, I am sure there is; and though
you may have gone weeping to the grave, yet, if you have evidence that,
with those tears, there were also tears of repentance on the part of others
of your family, and with that sad glance into the grave there was also a
believing look at the dying, risen, and living Savior, you are decidedly a
gainer, and you need not say, with Naomi, “I went out full, and the Lord
hath brought me home again empty.” Really Naomi, with her converted
daughter-in-law at her side, if she had only been able to look into the
future, might have been a happier woman than when she went away with
her husband and her boys, for now she had with her one who was to be in
the direct line of the progenitors of Christ, — a right royal woman; for I
count that the line of Christ is the true imperial line, and that they were the
most highly honored among men and women who were in any way
associated with the birth of the Savior into this world; and Ruth, though a
Moabitess, was one of those who were elected to share in this high
privilege. So I beg you, if you have been sorrowful because of any deaths
in your family circle, to pray God to outweigh that sorrow with a greater
measure of joy because, by his grace, he has brought other members of
your family to trust in Jesus.
Another thought strikes me here; that is, that it was when Naomi returned
to the land which she ought never to have left, it was when she came out
from the idolatrous Moabites among whom she had, as you see, relatives,
and friends, and acquaintances, — it was when she said, “I will go back to
my own country, and people, and God,” — that then the Lord gave her the
soul of this young woman who was so closely related to her. It may be that
some of you professedly Christian people have been living at a distance
from God. You have not led the separated life; you have tried to be
friendly with the world as well as with Christ, and your children are not
growing up as you wish they would. You say that your sons are not
turning out well, and that your girls are dressy, and flighty, and worldly.
Do you wonder that it is so? “Oh!” you say, “I have gone a good way to
try to please them, thinking that, perhaps, by so doing, I might win them
for Christ.” Ah! you will never win any soul to the right by a compromise
with the wrong. It is decision for Christ and his truth that has the greatest
power in the family, and the greatest power in the world, too. If a soldier in
the barracks is converted, and he says, “I mean to be a Christian; but, at the
same time, I will join with the other men as much as I can; I will sometimes
step into the public-house with them,” and so forth, he will do no good.
But the moment he boldly takes his stand for his new Captain, and is
known to be a Christian, his comrades may begin to scoff at him, but they
will also begin to be impressed; and if he bravely maintains that stand, and
never gives way in the least degree, but is faithful to his Lord and Master,
then he will be likely to see conversions among his fellow-soldiers.
It was while Naomi was on her way back to her own land that she heard
the good news that her dear daughter-in-law had decided to be a follower
of Jehovah, and to say, “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my
God.” This gave her great joy; but how must some of you Christian people
feel when you find out that others have been caused to stumble through
your living at a distance from Christ? What pangs of remorse will seize you
when you discover that your arm has been paralyzed for good, that you
have been unable to lead others to the Savior, because you yourself were
living so far off from him that it was a serious question whether you were
not growing to be a worshipper of the Moabitish idols, and giving up
altogether your profession of being a follower of the one true God!
Now, with this as a preface, I come distinctly to the subject of the text.
Here is a young woman who says to a follower of Jehovah, “Thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God.”
I. My first observation is, that AFFECTION FOR THE GODLY SHOULD
INFLUENCE US TO GODLINESS.
It did so in this case. Affection for their godly mother-in-law influenced
both Orpah and Ruth for a time, “and they said unto her, Surely we will
return with thee unto thy people.” They were both drawn part of the way
towards Canaan; but, alas!natural affection has not sufficient power in itself
to draw anybody to decision for God. It may be helpful to that end; it may
be one of the “cords of a man” and “bands of love” which God, in his
infinite mercy, ellen uses in drawing sinners to himself; but there has to be
something more than that mere human affection. Still, it ought to be of
some service in leading to decision; and it is a very dreadful thing when
those who have godly parents seem to be the worse rather than the better
for that fact, or when men, who have Christian wives, rebel against the
light, and become all the more wicked because God has blessed their
homes with godly women who speak to them, lovingly and tenderly,
concerning the claims of the religion of Jesus. That is a terrible state of
affairs, for it ought always to be the case that our affection for godly
people should help to draw us towards godliness. In Ruth’s case, by the
grace of God, it was the means of leading her to the decision expressed in
our text, “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.”
Many forces may be combined to bring others to this decision. First, there
is the influence of companionship. Nobody doubts that evil company tends
to make a man bad, and it is equally sure that good companionship has a
tendency to influence men towards that which is good. It is a happy thing
to have side by side with you one whose heart is full of love to God. It is a
great blessing to have as a mother a true saint, or to have as a brother or a
sister one who fears the Lord; and it is a special privilege to be linked for
life, in the closest bonds, with one whose prayers may rise with ours, and
whose praises may also mingle with ours. There is something about
Christian companionship which must tell in the right direction unless the
heart be resolutely bent on mischief.
There is something more than this, however, and that is, the influence of
admiration. There can be no doubt whatever that Ruth looked with loving
reverence and admiration upon Naomi, for she saw in her a character
which won her heart’s esteem and affection. The few glimpses which we
have of that godly woman, in this Book of Ruth, show us that she was a
most disinterested and unselfish person, not one who, because of her own
great sorrow, would burden others with it, and pull them down to her own
level in order that they might in some way assist her. She was one who
considered the interests of others rather than her own; and all such persons
are sure to win admiration and esteem. When a Christian man so lives that
others see something about him which they do not perceive in themselves,
that is one way in which they are often attracted towards the Christian life.
When the sick Christian is patient, when the poor Christian is cheerful,
when the believer in Christ is forgiving, generous, tenderhearted,
sympathetic, honest, upright, then it is that observers say, “Here is
something worth looking at; whence came all this excellence?” And they
take knowledge of them that they have been with Jesus, and that they have
learnt these things of him; and in that way they are themselves inclined to
become his followers.
Nor is it only by companionship and admiration that people are won to the
Savior; there is also the influence of instruction. I have no doubt that
Naomi gave her daughter-in-law much helpful teaching. Ruth would want
to know about Naomi’s God, and Naomi would be only too glad to tell her
all she knew. When the Spaniards went over to South America, they
treated the poor natives so badly that the Indians did not wish to know
anything about the Spaniards’ god, for they thought, from the cruelties
they had suffered, that he must be a devil; and there are certain sorts of
professors who are so unkind, they have such an absence of everything
gentle and generous about them, that one does not want to know anything
about their god, for if they are like him, probably he is the devil.
But, dear friends, it ought not to be so with us. We should make people
want to know what our religion really is, and then be ready to tell them. I
have no doubt that, many a time, in the land of Moab, when her daughters-in-law ran in to see her, Naomi would begin telling them about the
deliverance at the Red Sea, and how the Lord brought his people through
the wilderness, and how the goodly land, which flowed with milk and
honey, had been given to them by the hand of Joshua. Then she would tell
them about the tabernacle and its worship, and talk to them about the lamb,
and the red heifer, and the bullock, and the sin-offering, and so on; and it
was thus, probably, that Ruth’s heart had been won to Jehovah the God of
Israel. And, perhaps, for that reason, — because of Naomi’s instruction, —
Ruth said to her, “‘Thy people shall be my people;’ I know so much about
them, that I want to be numbered with them; ‘and thy God shall be my
God.’ Thou hast told me about him, what wonders he has wrought, and I
have resolved to trust myself under the shadow of his wings.” Well,
beloved, it ought to be thus with us also. We should take care that the
influence of our companionship, the influence of our lives, in which there
should be something for observers to admire, and the influence of our
conversation, which should be full of gracious instruction, should lead
those who come under our influence in the right way.
Besides that, I have no doubt that some persons are drawn towards good
things by a desire to cheer the godly persons whom they love; and, though
I do not put this forward as one of the highest and strongest motives, yet I
do fee] at liberty to suggest to some young people here that their sins are a
great grief to their loving fathers and mothers, and that, if their hearts were
given to Christ, it would fill the whole house with holy joy. It was a great
joy to me when my sons were born, but it was an infinitely surpassing joy
as, one after the other, they told me that they had sought and found the
Savior. To pray with them, to point them yet more fully to Christ, to hear
the story of their spiritual troubles, and to help them out of their spiritual
difficulties, was an intense satisfaction to my soul. Ah! my young friends,
you do not know how much those who love you would be cheered if you
were converted, — especially any of you who have not lived as you should
have done, — who have, perhaps, even gone away from home, and acted
in a way that might well bring your father’s grey hairs in sorrow to the
grave. I think that he would almost dance with delight if he could only hear
that you were truly converted to God.
I know a minister, who took out of his pocket an old letter that was nearly worn to pieces; he made a journey from the country to bring it up for me to see. It was not really old, it was worn out because he had so constantly taken it out to read. It was somewhat to this effect. His son had been such a scapegrace, and such a disgrace to his family, that he was helped to go abroad, and he came to London to join the ship. As he had heard his father speak of me, he thought that he would spend his last Thursday night, before starting on the Friday morning, in hearing me in this Tabernacle; and here God met with him, for I was moved by the Holy Spirit to say, “Here you are, Jack; going away from home, from your father’s house. Oh, that the great Father in heaven would take you to himself!” It happened that his name was Jack, so it was the very word for him, and the Lord blessed it to him there and then. He went to America. He did not write to his father to tell him about his conversion till he had had time to prove the reality of it; but when he had
been baptized, and had joined the church, and walked consistently for six
months, he sent the good news home. The old man said, “I thought he
might have been lost at sea, but the Lord had saved him through your
preaching. God bless you, sir!” I had a thousand blessings heaped upon my
head by that grateful father. It was only a simple sermon that I had
preached on a Thursday night, but it was the means of that son’s
conversion, and it was the source of great joy to that father, he did not
mind about his son being in America, or what he was doing, so long as he
had become a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy it would
be if this sermon should be blessed as that one was!
I think, too, that there was another thing which had great influence over
Ruth, as it has had over a great many other people. That is, the fear of
separation. “Ah!” said one to me, only last week, “it used to trouble me
greatly when my wife went downstairs to the communion, and I had to go
home, or to remain with the spectators in the gallery. I did not like to be
separated from her even here; and then, sir, the thought stole over me, ‘
What if I have to be divided from her for ever and ever?’“ I think that a?382
similar reflection ought, with the blessing of God, to impress a good many.
Young man, if you live and die impenitent, you will see your mother no
more, except it be from an awful distance, with a great gulf fixed between
her and you, so that she cannot cross over to you, or you go over to her.
There will come a day when one shall be taken and another left; and before
the great separation takes place, at the judgment-seat of Christ, when there
shall be a sundering made between the goats and the sheep, and between
the tares and the wheat, I do implore you to let the influence of the godly
whom you love help to draw you towards decision for God and his Christ.
II. My time would fail me if I dwelt longer on this point, though it is a
very interesting one, so I must pass on to my second observation, which is,
that RESOLVES TO GODLINESS WILL BE TESTED. Ruth speaks very positively:
“Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” This was her
resolve, but it was a resolve which had already been put to the test, and
had in great measure satisfactorily passed through it.
First, it had been tested by the poverty and the sorrow of her mother-in-law.
Naomi said, “The Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me;” yet Ruth
says, “Thy God shall be my God.” I like that brave resolution of the young
Moabitess. Some people say, “We should like to be converted, for we want
to be happy.” Yes, but suppose you knew that you would not be happy
after conversion, you ought still to wish to have this God to be your God.
Naomi has lost her husband, she has lost her sons, she has lost everything;
she is going back penniless to Bethlehem, and yet her daughter-in-law says
to her, “Thy God shall be my God.” Oh, dear friends, if you can share the
lot of Christians when they are in trouble, if you can take God and
affliction, if you can accept Christ and a cross, then your decision to be his
follower is true and real. It has been tested by the afflictions and the trials
which you know belong to the people of God, yet you are content to suffer
with them in taking their God to be your God, too.
Next, Ruth’s decision had been tested when she was bidden to count the
cost. Naomi had put the whole case before her. She had told her daughter-in-
law that there was no hope that she should ever bear a son who could
become a husband to Ruth, and that she had better stay and find a husband
in her own land. She set before her the dark side of the case, — possibly
too earnestly. She seemed as if she wanted to persuade her to go back,
though I do not think that, in her heart, she could really have wished her to
do so. But, my young friend, before you say to any Christian, “Thy people
shall be my people, and thy God my God,” count the cost. Recollect, if you
are following an evil trade, you will have to give it up; if you have formed
bad habits, you will have to forsake them; and if you have had bad
companions, you will have to leave them. There are a great many things,
which have afforded you pleasure, which must become painful to you, and
must be renounced. Are you prepared to follow Christ through the mire
and the slough, as well as along the high road, and down in the valley as
well as up upon the hills? Are you ready to carry his cross as you hope,
afterwards, to share his crown? If you can stand the test in detail, — such a
test as Christ set before those who wanted to be his followers on earth,
then is your decision a right one, but not else.
Ruth had been tried, too, by the apparent coldness of one in whom she
trusted, and whom she had a right to trust, for Naomi did not at all
encourage her; indeed, she seemed to discourage her. I am not sure that
Naomi is to be blamed for that, and I am not certain that she is to be much
praised. You know, it is quite possible for you to encourage people too
much. I have known some encouraged in their doubts and fears till they
never could get out of them. At the same time, you can certainly very
easily chill enquirers and seekers. And though Naomi showed her love to
Ruth, yet she did not seem to have any very great desire to bring her to
follow Jehovah. This is a test that many young people find to be very
trying; but this young woman said to her mother-in-law, “Intreat me not to
leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I
will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my
people, and thy God my God.”
Another trial for Ruth was the drawing back of her sister-in-law. Orpah
kissed Naomi, and left her; and you know the influence of one young
person upon another when they are of the same age, or when they are
related as these two were. You went to the revival meeting with a friend,
and she was as much impressed as you were. She has gone back to the
world, and the temptation is for you to do the same. Can you stand out
against it? You two young men went to hear the same preacher, and you
both felt the force of the Word; but your companion has gone back to
where he used to be. Can you hold out now, and say, “I will follow Christ
alone if I cannot find a companion to go with me?” If so, it is well with
you.
“Can ye cleave to your Lord?
Can ye cleave to your Lord,
When the many turn aside?
Can ye witness he hath the living Word,
And none upon earth beside?
And can ye endure with the virgin band,
The lowly and pure in heart,
Who, whithersoever the Lamb doth lead,
From his footsteps ne’er depart?
“Do ye answer, ‘We can’? Do ye answer, ‘We can,
Through his love’s constraining power’?
But, ah! remember the flesh is weak,
And will shrink in the trial-hour.
Yet yield to his love, who round you now,
The bands of a man would cast;
The cords of his love, who was given for you,
To the altar binding you fast.”
But one of the worst trials that Ruth had was the silence of Naomi. I think
that is what is meant, for after she had solemnly declared that she would
follow the Lord, we read, “When she saw that she was stedfastly minded to
go with her, then she left speaking unto her.” She left off stating the black
side of the case, but she does not appear to have talked to her about the
bright side. “She left speaking unto her.” The good woman was so
sorrowful that she could not talk, her heart-break was so great that she
could not converse, but such silence must have been very trying to Ruth;
and when a young person has just joined the people of God, it is a severe
test to be brought face to face with a very mournful Christian, and not to
get one encouraging word. Sometimes, brethren and sisters, we must
swallow our own bitter pills as fast as ever we can, that we may not
discourage others by making a wry face over them. It is sometimes the very
best thing a sorrowful person can do to say, “I must not be sad; here is
young So-and-so coming in. I must be cheerful now, for here comes one
who might be discouraged by my grief.”
You remember how the psalmist, when he was in a very mournful state of mind, said, “If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me.” Let it be too painful for us to give any cause for stumbling or disquietude to those who have just come to the Savior, but let us cheer and encourage them all we can. Still, Naomi’s silence did not discourage Ruth; she was evidently a strong-minded though gentle young woman, and she gave herself up to God and his people without any reserve. Even though she might not be helped much by the older believer, and might even be discouraged by her, and still more by the departure of her sister-in-law Orpah, yet still she pressed on in the course she had chosen. Well, you do the same, Mary; and you, Jane, and John, and Thomas. Will you be like Mr. Pliable, and go back to the City of Destruction? Or will you, like Christian, pursue your way, and steadfastly hold on through the Slough of Despond, or whatever else may be in your pathway to the Celestial City?
III. Now, thirdly, and very briefly, TRUE GODLINESS MUST MAINLY LIE INTHE CHOICE OF GOD. That is the very pith of the text: “Thy God shall be my God.”
First, dear friends, God is the believer’s choicest possession; indeed, it is
the distinguishing mark of a Christian that he owns a God. Naomi had not
much else, — no husband, no son, no lands, no gold, no silver, no pleasure
even; but she had a God. Come, now, my friend, are you determined that,
henceforth, and for ever, the Lord shall be your chief possession? Can you
say, “God shall be mine; my faith shall grasp him now, and hold him fast?”
Next, God was, henceforth, to Ruth, as he had been to Naomi, her Ruler
and Law-giver. When anyone truthfully says, “God shall be my God,” there
is some practical meaning about that declaration; it means, “he shall
influence me; he shall direct me; he shall lead me; he shall govern me; he
shall be my King. I will yield to him and obey him in everything. I will
endeavor to do all things according to his will. God shall be my God.”
You must not want to take God to be your helper, in the sense of making him to be your servant; but to be your Master, and so to help you. Dear friends,
does the Holy Spirit lead you to make this blessed choice, and to declare,
“This God shall be mine, my Law-giver and Ruler from this time forth ?”
Well, then, he must also be your Instructor. At the present day, I am afraid
that nine people out of ten do not believe in the God who is revealed to us
in the Bible. “What?” you say. It is so, I grieve to say. I can point you to
newspapers, to magazines, to periodicals, and also to pulpits by the score,
in which there is a new god set up to be worshipped; — not the God of the
Old Testament, he is said to be too strict, too severe, too stern for our
modern teachers. They do not believe in him. The God of Abraham is
dethroned by many nowadays; and in his place they have a molluscous god,
like those of whom Moses spoke, “new gods that came newly up, whom
your fathers feared not.” They shudder at the very mention of the God of
the Puritans. If Jonathan Edwards were to rise from the dead, they would
not listen to him for a minute, they would say that they had quite a new
god since his day; but, brethren, I believe in the God of Abraham, and of
Isaac, and of Jacob; this God is my God; — ay, the God that drowned
Pharaoh and his host at the Red Sea, and moved his people to sing
“Hallelujah” as he did it; the God that caused the earth to open, and
swallow up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and all their company; — a
terrible God is the God whom I adore; — he is the God and Father of our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, full of mercy, compassion, and grace, tender
and gentle, yet just and dreadful in his holiness, and terrible out of his holy
places. This is the God whom we worship, and he who comes to him in
Christ, and trusts in him, will take him to be his Instructor, and so shall he
learn aright all that he needs to know. But woe unto the men of this day,
who have made unto themselves a calf of their own devising, which has no
power to bless or to save them! “Thy God” says Ruth to Naomi, — not
another god, — not Chemosh or Moloch, but Jehovah — “shall be my
God;” and so she took him to be her Instructor, as we also must do.
Then, let us take him to be our entire trust and stay. O my beloved friends,
the happiest thing in life is to trust God, — first to trust him with your soul
through Jesus Christ the Savior, and then to trust him with everything, and
in everything. I am speaking what I do know. The life of sense is death, but
the life of faith is life indeed. Trust God about temporals, — nay, I do not
know any division between temporals and spirituals; — trust God about
everything, about your daily livelihood, about your health, about your wife,
about your children; live a life of faith in God, and you will truly live, and
all things will be right about you. It is because we get partly trusting God
and partly trusting ourselves that we are often so unhappy. But when, by
simple faith, you just cast yourselves on God, then you find the highest joy
and bliss that is possible on earth, and a whole series of wonders is spread
out before you; your life becomes like a miracle, or a succession of
miracles, God hearing your prayers, and answering you out of heaven,
delivering you in the time of trial, supplying your every need, and leading
you ever onward by a matchless way which you know not, which every
moment shall cause you greater astonishment and delight as you see the
unfoldings of the character of God. Oh, that each one of you would say,?387
“This God shall be my God; I will trust him; by his grace, I will trust him
now.”
IV. The last thing is, that THIS DECISION SHOULD LEAD US TO CAST IN OUR LOT WITH GOD’S PEOPLE AS WELL AS WITH HIMSELF, for Ruth said, “Thy people shall be my people.”
She might have said, “You are not well spoken of, you Jews, you Israelites;
the Moabites, among whom I have lived, hate you.” But, in effect, she said,
“I am no Moabitess now. I am going to belong to Israel, and to be spoken
against, too. They have all manner of bad things to say in Moab about
Bethlehem-Judah; but I do not mind that, for I am going to be henceforth
an inhabitant of Bethlehem, and to be reckoned in the number of the
Bethlehemites, for no longer am I of Moab and the Moabites.”
Now, dear friend, will you thus cast in your lot with God’s people; and
though they are spoken against, will you be willing to be spoken against,
too? I daresay that the Bethlehemites were not all that Ruth could have
wished them to be. Even Naomi was not; she was too sad and sorrowful;
but, still, I expect that Ruth thought that her mother-in-law was a better
woman than she was herself. I have heard people find fault with the
members of our churches, and say that they cannot join with them, for they
are such inferior sort of people. Well, I know a great many different sorts
of people; and, after all, I shall be quite content to be numbered with God’s
people, as I see them even in his visible church, rather than to be numbered
with any other persons in the whole world. I count the despised people of
God the best company I have ever met with; and I often say of this
Tabernacle, as I hope members of other churches can say of their own
places of worship, —
“Here my best friends, my kindred dwell,
Here God my Savior reigns.”
“Oh!”says one, “I will join the church when I can find a perfect one.” Then
you will never join any. “Ah!” you say, “but perhaps I may.” Well, but it
will not be a perfect church the moment after you have joined it, for it will
cease to be perfect as soon as it receives you into its membership. I think
that, if a church is such as Christ can love, it is such as I can love; and if it
is such that Christ counts it as his Church, I may well be thankful to be a
member of it. Christ “loved the Church, and gave himself for it; “then may
I not think it an honor to be allowed to give myself to it??
Ruth was not joining a people out of whom she expected to get much.
Shame on those who think to join the church for what they can get! Yet
the loaves and fishes are always a bait for some people. But there was
Ruth, going with Naomi to Bethlehem, and all that the townsfolk would do
would be to turn out and stare at them, and say, “Is this Naomi? And pray
who is this young woman that has come with her? This Naomi, — dear
me! How altered she is! How worn she looks! Quite the old woman to
what she was when she left us.” Not much sympathy was given to them, as
far as I gather from that remark; yet Ruth seemed to say, “I do not care
how they treat me; they are God’s people, even if they have a great many
faults and imperfections, and I am going to join them.” And I invite all of
you who can say to us, “Your God is our God,” to join with the people of
God, openly, visibly, manifestly, decidedly, without any hesitancy, even
though you may gain nothing by it. Perhaps you will not; but, on the other
hand, you will bring a good deal to it, for that is the true spirit of Christ. “It
is more blessed to give than to receive.” Yet, in any case, cast in your lot
with the people of God, and share and share alike with them.
I conclude by saying that, whatever the other Bethlehemites might be, there
was among them one notable being, and it was worth while to join the
nation for the sake of union with him. Ruth found it all out by degrees.
There was a near kinsman among those people, and his name was Boaz.
She went to glean in his field; and, by-and-by, she was married to him. Ah!
that was the reason why I cast in my lot with the people of God, for I said
to myself, “There is One among them who, whatever faults they may have,
is so fair and lovely that he more than makes up for all their imperfections.
My Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of his people, makes them all fair in his
fairness; and makes me feel that, to be poor with the poorest and most
illiterate of the Church of Christ, meeting in a village barn, is an
unspeakable honor, since he is among them.” Our Lord Jesus Christ
himself is always present wherever two or three are gathered together in
his name. If his name is in the list, there may be a number of odds and ends
put down with him, — members of different denominations, some queer
persons, some very old people; but as long as his name is in the list, I do
not mind about what others are there, put my name down. Oh, that I might
have the eternal honor of having it written even at the bottom of the page
beneath the name of Jesus, my Lord, the Lamb! As Boaz was there, it was
enough for Ruth; and as Christ is here, that is quite enough for me. So I
hope I have said sufficient to persuade you, who say that our God is yours
God, to come and join with us, or with some other part of Christ’s Church,
and so to make his people to be your people. And mind you do it at once,
and in the Scriptural fashion, and God bless you in the doing of it, for
Christ’s sake! Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“In Thee Is Gladness” by Johann Lindemann; trans. by Catherine Winkworth
1. In thee is gladness, amid all sadness,
Jesus, sunshine of my heart.
By thee are given the gifts of heaven,
thou the true Redeemer art.
Our souls thou makest, our bonds thou breakest;
who trusts thee surely hath built securely,
and stands forever. Alleluia!
Our hearts are pining to see thy shining;
dying or living, to thee are cleaving;
naught can us sever. Alleluia!
2. If God be ours, we fear no powers,
not of earth or sin or death.
God sees and blesses in worst distresses,
and can change them in a breath.
Wherefore the story tell of God’s glory
with heart and voices; all heaven rejoices,
singing forever; Alleluia!
We shout for gladness, triumph o’er sadness,
loving and praising, voices still raising
glad hymns forever: Alleluia!

Through the Bible in One Year:
Judges 11 to 20
1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant warrior. He was a prostitute’s son. Gilead was Jephthah’s father,
2 but Gilead’s wife also bore him sons, and the sons of this wife, when they grew up, drove Jephthah away, saying, ‘No share of the paternal heritage for you, since you are a son of another woman.’
3 Jephthah fled far from his brothers and settled in the territory of Tob. Jephthah enlisted a group of adventurers who used to go raiding with him.
4 It was some time after this that the Ammonites made war on Israel.
5 And when the Ammonites had attacked Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah from the territory of Tob.
6 ‘Come’, they said, ‘and be our commander, so that we can fight the Ammonites.’
7 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, ‘Didn’t you hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why come to me now, when you are in trouble?’
8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, ‘That is why we are turning to you now. Come with us; fight the Ammonites and be our chief, chief of all the people living in Gilead.’
9 Jephthah then said to the elders of Gilead, ‘If you bring me home to fight the Ammonites and Yahweh defeats them for me, I am to be your chief?’
10 And the elders of Gilead then said to Jephthah, ‘Yahweh be witness between us, if we do not do as you have said!’
11 So Jephthah set off with the elders of Gilead. The people put him at their head as chief and commander; and Jephthah repeated all his conditions at Mizpah in Yahweh’s presence.
12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to say to him, ‘What do you have against us, for you to come and make war on my country?’
13 The king of the Ammonites replied to Jephthah’s messengers, ‘The reason is that when Israel came up from Egypt, they seized my country from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan; so now restore it to me peacefully.’
14 Jephthah sent messengers back to the king of the Ammonites
15 with this answer, ‘Jephthah says this, “Israel seized neither the country of Moab nor the country of the Ammonites.
16 When Israel came out of Egypt, they marched through the desert as far as the Sea of Reeds and, having reached Kadesh,
17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom to say: Please let me pass through your country, but the king of Edom would not listen. They sent similarly to the king of Moab, but he refused, and Israel remained at Kadesh;
18 later, moving on through the desert and skirting the countries of Edom and Moab until arriving to the east of Moabite territory, the people camped on the other side of the Arnon but did not enter Moabite territory, the Arnon being the Moabite frontier.
19 Israel then sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, ruling in Heshbon. Israel’s message was: Please let me pass through your country to my destination.
20 But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory; he mustered his whole army; they encamped at Jahaz, and he then joined battle with Israel.
21 Yahweh, God of Israel, delivered Sihon and his whole army into the power of Israel, who defeated them; as the result of which, Israel took possession of the entire territory of the Amorites living in that region.
22 Israel took possession of all the Amorite territory from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.
23 And now that Yahweh, God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites before his people Israel, do you think you can dispossess us?
24 Will you not keep as your possession whatever Chemosh, your god, has given you? And, just the same, we shall keep as ours whatever Yahweh our God has given us, to inherit from those who were before us!
25 Are you a better man than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he pick a quarrel with Israel? Did he make war on them?
26 When Israel settled in Heshbon and its dependencies, and in Aroer and its dependencies, or in any of the towns on the banks of the Arnon (three hundred years ago), why did you not recover them then?
27 I for my part have done you no harm, but you are wronging me by making war on me. Let Yahweh the Judge give judgement today between the Israelites and the king of the Ammonites.” ‘
28 But the king of the Ammonites took no notice of the message that Jephthah sent him.
29 The spirit of Yahweh was on Jephthah, who crossed Gilead and Manasseh, crossed by way of Mizpah in Gilead, and from Mizpah in Gilead crossed into Ammonite territory.
30 And Jephthah made a vow to Yahweh, ‘If you deliver the Ammonites into my grasp,
31 the first thing to come out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from fighting the Ammonites shall belong to Yahweh, and I shall sacrifice it as a burnt offering.’
32 Jephthah crossed into Ammonite territory to attack them, and Yahweh delivered them into his grasp.
33 He beat them from Aroer to the border of Minnith (twenty towns) and to Abel-Keramim. It was a very severe defeat, and the Ammonites were humbled by the Israelites.
34 As Jephthah returned to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him, dancing to the sound of tambourines. She was his only child; apart from her, he had neither son nor daughter.
35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and exclaimed, ‘Oh my daughter, what misery you have brought upon me! You have joined those who bring misery into my life! I have made a promise before Yahweh which I cannot retract.’
36 She replied, ‘Father, you have made a promise to Yahweh; treat me as the promise that you have made requires, since Yahweh has granted you vengeance on your enemies the Ammonites.’
37 She then said to her father, ‘Grant me this! Let me be free for two months. I shall go and wander in the mountains, and with my companions bewail my virginity.’
38 He replied, ‘Go,’ and let her go away for two months. So she went away with her companions and bewailed her virginity in the mountains.
39 When the two months were over she went back to her father, and he treated her as the vow that he had uttered bound him. She had remained a virgin. And hence, the custom in Israel
40 for the daughters of Israel to leave home year by year and lament over the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days every year.
1 The men of Ephraim mobilised; they crossed the Jordan near Zaphon and said to Jephthah, ‘Why did you go and make war on the Ammonites without asking us to go with you? We shall burn down your house over your head!’
2 Jephthah replied, ‘My people and I were in serious conflict with the Ammonites. I summoned you, but you did not come to rescue me from them.
3 When I saw that no one was coming to rescue me, I took my life in my hands and marched against the Ammonites, and Yahweh handed them over to me. So why advance on me today to make war on me?’
4 Jephthah then mustered all the men of Gilead and made war on Ephraim, and the men of Gilead defeated Ephraim — since the latter used to say, ‘You are only fugitives from Ephraim, you Gileadites in the heart of Ephraim and Manasseh.’
5 Gilead then cut Ephraim off from the fords of the Jordan, and whenever Ephraimite fugitives said, ‘Let me cross,’ the men of Gilead would ask, ‘Are you an Ephraimite?’ If he said, ‘No,’
6 they then said, ‘Very well, say Shibboleth.’ If anyone said, “Sibboleth”, because he could not pronounce it, then they would seize him and kill him by the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites fell on this occasion.
7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Jephthah the Gileadite then died and was buried in his town, in Gilead.
8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem was judge in Israel.
9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He gave his daughters in marriage outside his clan and brought in thirty brides from outside for his sons. He was judge in Israel for seven years.
10 Ibzan then died and was buried in Bethlehem.
11 After him, Elon of Zebulun was judge in Israel. He was judge in Israel for ten years.
12 Elon of Zebulun then died and was buried at Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun.
13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel of Pirathon was judge in Israel.
14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode seventy young donkeys. He was judge in Israel for eight years.
15 Abdon son of Hillel of Pirathon then died and was buried at Pirathon in the territory of Ephraim, in the Amalekite highlands.
1 Again the Israelites began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes, and Yahweh delivered them into the power of the Philistines for forty years.
2 There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren; she had borne no children.
3 The Angel of Yahweh appeared to this woman and said to her, ‘You are barren and have had no child, but you are going to conceive and give birth to a son.
4 From now on, take great care. Drink no wine or fermented liquor, and eat nothing unclean.
5 For you are going to conceive and give birth to a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy is to be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb; and he will start rescuing Israel from the power of the Philistines.’
6 The woman then went and told her husband, ‘A man of God has just come to me, who looked like the Angel of God, so majestic was he. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name.
7 But he said to me, “You are going to conceive and will give birth to a son. From now on, drink no wine or fermented liquor, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy is to be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb to his dying day.” ‘
8 Manoah then pleaded with Yahweh and said, ‘I beg you, Lord, let the man of God that you sent come to us again and instruct us what to do about the child when he is born.’
9 Yahweh heard Manoah’s prayer, and the Angel of Yahweh visited the woman again while she was sitting in a field and when her husband Manoah was not with her.
10 The woman quickly ran and told her husband, ‘Look,’ she said, ‘the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me again.’
11 Manoah got up, followed his wife, came to the man and said to him, ‘Are you the man who spoke to this woman?’ He replied, ‘I am.’
12 Manoah then said, ‘When your words come true, what will be the boy’s way of life?’
13 The Angel of Yahweh replied to Manoah, ‘From everything that I forbade this woman, let her abstain.
14 Let her swallow nothing that comes from the vine, let her drink no wine or fermented liquor, let her eat nothing unclean and let her obey all the orders that I have given her.’
15 Manoah then said to the Angel of Yahweh, ‘Allow us to detain you while we prepare a kid for you’ — for Manoah did not know that this was the Angel of Yahweh.
16 The Angel of Yahweh said to Manoah, ‘Even if you did detain me, I should not eat your food; but if you wish to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to Yahweh.’
17 Manoah then said to the Angel of Yahweh, ‘What is your name, so that we may honour you when your words come true?’
18 The Angel of Yahweh replied, ‘Why ask my name? It is a name of wonder.’
19 Manoah then took the kid and the oblation and offered it on the rock as a burnt offering to Yahweh the Wonderworker. Manoah and his wife looked on.
20 Now, as the flame rose heavenwards from the altar, the Angel of Yahweh ascended in this flame before the eyes of Manoah and his wife, and they fell face downwards on the ground.
21 After this, the Angel of Yahweh did not appear any more to Manoah and his wife, but Manoah understood that this had been the Angel of Yahweh.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, ‘We are certain to die, because we have seen God.’
23 His wife replied, ‘If Yahweh had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and oblation from us, he would not have let us see all this and, at the same time, have told us such things.’
24 The woman gave birth to a son and called him Samson. The child grew, and Yahweh blessed him;
25 and the spirit of Yahweh began to stir him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he noticed a woman, a Philistine girl.
2 He went home again and told his father and mother this. ‘At Timnah’, he said, ‘I noticed a woman, a Philistine girl. So now get her for me, to be my wife.’
3 His father and mother said to him, ‘Is there no woman among your brothers’ daughters or in our entire nation, for you to go and take a wife among these uncircumcised Philistines?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get that one for me; she is the one I am for me; she is the one I am fond of.’
4 His father and mother did not know that all this came from Yahweh, who was seeking grounds for a quarrel with the Philistines, since at this time the Philistines dominated Israel.
5 Samson went down to Timnah and, as he reached the vineyards of Timnah, he saw a young lion coming roaring towards him.
6 The spirit of Yahweh seized on him and he tore the lion to pieces with his bare hands as though it were a kid; but he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
7 He went down and talked to the woman, and he became fond of her.
8 Not long after this, Samson went back to marry her. He went out of his way to look at the carcase of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the lion’s body, and honey.
9 He took up some honey in his hand and ate it as he went along. On returning to his father and mother, he gave some to them, which they ate too, but he did not tell them that he had taken it from the lion’s carcase.
10 His father then went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, as is the custom for young men.
11 And when the Philistines saw him, they chose thirty companions to stay with him.
12 Samson then said to them, ‘Let me ask you a riddle. If you can give me the answer during the seven days of feasting, I shall give you thirty pieces of fine linen and thirty festal robes.
13 But if you cannot tell me the answer, then you in your turn must give me thirty pieces of fine linen and thirty festal robes.’ ‘Ask your riddle,’ they replied, ‘we are listening.’
14 So he said to them: Out of the eater came what is eaten, and out of the strong came what is sweet. But three days went by and they could not solve the riddle.
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Cajole your husband into explaining the riddle to us, or we shall burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?’
16 Samson’s wife then went to him in tears and said, ‘You only hate me, you do not love me. You have asked my fellow countrymen a riddle and told not even me the answer.’ He said to her, ‘I have not told even my father or mother; why should I tell you?’
17 She wept on his neck for the seven days that their feasting lasted. She was so persistent that on the seventh day he told her the answer, and she told her fellow-countrymen.
18 So on the seventh day, before he went into the bedroom, the men of the town said to him: What is sweeter than honey, and what stronger than a lion? He retorted: If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you would never have solved my riddle.
19 Then the spirit of Yahweh seized on him. He went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty men there, took what they wore and gave the festal robes to those who had answered the riddle, then burning with rage returned to his father’s house.
20 Samson’s wife was then given to the companion who had acted as his best man.
1 Not long after this, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife, with a kid; he said, ‘I wish to go to my wife in her room.’ But her father would not let him enter.
2 ‘I felt sure’, he said, ‘that you had taken a real dislike to her, so I gave her to your companion. But would not her younger sister suit you better? Have her instead.’
3 But Samson answered them, ‘I can get my revenge on the Philistines now only by doing them some damage.’
4 So Samson went off and caught three hundred foxes, then took torches and, turning the foxes tail to tail, put a torch between each pair of tails.
5 He lit the torches and set the foxes free in the Philistines’ cornfields. In this way he burned both sheaves and standing corn, and the vines and olive trees as well.
6 The Philistines asked, ‘Who has done this?’ and received the answer, ‘Samson, who married the Timnite’s daughter; his father-in-law took the wife back again and gave her to his companion instead.’ The Philistines then went and burned the woman and her father’s family to death.
7 Samson said to them, ‘If that is how you behave, I swear I will not rest till I have had my revenge on you.’
8 And he fell on them systematically and caused great havoc. Then he went down to the cave in the Rock of Etham and lived there.
9 The Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and made a foray against Lehi.
10 The men of Judah said to them, ‘Why are you attacking us?’ They replied, ‘We have come to seize Samson and to treat him as he has treated us.’
11 Three thousand men of Judah then went down to the cave of the Rock of Etham and said to him, ‘Don’t you know that the Philistines have us in their power? Now what have you done to us?’ He replied, ‘I have treated them only as they treated me.’
12 They then said, ‘We have come down to take you, to hand you over to the Philistines.’ He said, ‘Swear to me not to kill me yourselves.’
13 They replied, ‘No; we only want to bind you and hand you over to them; we certainly do not want to kill you.’ They then bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the Rock.
14 As he was approaching Lehi, and the Philistines came running towards him with triumphant shouts, the spirit of Yahweh was on him; the ropes on his arms became like burnt strands of flax and the cords round his hands came untied.
15 Coming across the fresh jawbone of a donkey, he reached out and snatched it up; and with it he slaughtered a thousand men.
16 And Samson said: With the jawbone of a donkey I have laid them in heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have felled a thousand men.
17 And with that he hurled the jawbone away; and that is why the place was called Ramath-Lehi.
18 And as he was very thirsty, he called on Yahweh and said, ‘You yourself have worked this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now must I die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?’
19 Then God opened a hollow in the ground, the hollow there is at Lehi, and water gushed out of it. Samson drank; his vigour returned and he revived. And therefore this spring was called En-ha-Kore; it is still at Lehi today.
20 Samson was judge in Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.
1 Samson then went to Gaza and, seeing a prostitute there, went in to her.
2 The men of Gaza being told, ‘Samson has arrived,’ surrounded the place and kept watch for him the whole night at the town gate. All that night they were going to make no move, thinking, ‘Let us wait until daybreak, and then kill him.’
3 Till midnight, however, Samson stayed in bed, and then at midnight he got up, seized the doors of the town gate and the two posts as well; he tore them up, bar and all, hoisted them on to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill overlooking Hebron.
4 After this, he fell in love with a woman in the Vale of Sorek; she was called Delilah.
5 The Philistine chiefs visited her and said, ‘Cajole him and find out where his great strength comes from, and how we can master him, so that we can bind him and subdue him. In return we shall each give you eleven hundred silver shekels.’
6 Delilah said to Samson, ‘Please tell me where your great strength comes from, and what would be needed to bind and subdue you.’
7 Samson replied, ‘If I were bound with seven new bowstrings which had not yet been dried, I should lose my strength and become like any other man.’
8 The Philistine chiefs brought Delilah seven new bowstrings which had not yet been dried and she took them and bound him with them.
9 She had men concealed in her room, and she shouted, ‘The Philistines are on you, Samson!’ Then he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of tow snaps at a touch of the fire. So the secret of his strength remained unknown.
10 Delilah then said to Samson, ‘You have been laughing at me and telling me lies. But now please tell me what would be needed to bind you.’
11 He replied, ‘If I were bound tightly with new ropes which have never been used, I should lose my strength and become like any other man.’
12 Delilah then took new ropes and bound him with them, and she shouted, ‘The Philistines are on you, Samson!’ She had men concealed in her room, but he snapped the ropes round his arms like thread.
13 Delilah then said to Samson, ‘Up to now you have been laughing at me and telling me lies. Tell me what would be needed to bind you.’ He replied, ‘If you wove the seven locks of my hair into the warp of a cloth and beat them together tight with the reed, I should lose my strength and become like any other man.’
14 She lulled him to sleep, then wove the seven locks of his hair into the warp, beat them together tight with the reed and shouted, ‘The Philistines are on you, Samson!’ He woke from his sleep and pulled out both reed and warp. So the secret of his strength remained unknown.
15 Delilah said to him, ‘How can you say that you love me, when your heart is not with me? Three times now you have laughed at me and have not told me where your great strength comes from.’
16 And day after day she pestered him with her talk, nagging him till he grew sick to death of it.
17 At last he confided everything to her; he said to her, ‘A razor has never touched my head, because I have been God’s nazirite from my mother’s womb. If my head were shorn, then my power would leave me and I should lose my strength and become like any other man.’
18 Delilah then realized that he had really confided in her; she sent for the Philistine princes with the message, ‘Come just once more: he has confided everything to me.’ And the Philistine chiefs came to her with the money in their hands.
19 She lulled Samson to sleep in her lap, summoned a man and had him shear off the seven locks from his head. Thus for the first time she got control over him, and his strength left him.
20 She cried, ‘The Philistines are on you, Samson!’ He awoke from sleep, thinking, ‘I shall break free as I have done time after time and shake myself clear.’ But he did not know that Yahweh had left him.
21 The Philistines seized him, put out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. They fettered him with a double chain of bronze and he spent his time turning the mill in the prison.
22 But his hair began to grow again when it had been cut off.
23 The Philistine chiefs assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god. And amid their festivities they said: Into our hands our god has delivered Samson our enemy.
24 And as soon as the people saw their god, they acclaimed him, shouting his praises: Into our hands our god has delivered Samson our enemy, the man who laid our country waste and killed so many of us.
25 And as their hearts were full of joy, they shouted, ‘Summon Samson out to amuse us.’ So Samson was summoned from prison, and he performed feats in front of them; then he was put to stand between the pillars.
26 Samson then said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, ‘Lead me where I can touch the pillars supporting the building, so that I can lean against them.’
27 Now the building was crowded with men and women. All the Philistine chiefs were there, while about three thousand men and women were watching Samson’s feats from the terrace.
28 Samson called on Yahweh and cried out, ‘Lord Yahweh, I beg you, remember me; give me strength again this once, O God, and let me be revenged on the Philistines at one blow for my two eyes.’
29 And Samson took hold of the two central pillars supporting the building, and braced himself with his right arm round one and his left round the other;
30 and he shouted, ‘Let me die with the Philistines!’ He then heaved with all his might, and the building fell on the chiefs and on all the people there. Those whom he brought to their death by his death outnumbered those whom he had done to death during his life.
31 His brothers and the whole of his father’s family came down and carried him away. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel for twenty years.
1 In the highlands of Ephraim there was a man called Micayehu.
2 He said to his mother, ‘The eleven hundred silver shekels which were taken from you and concerning which you uttered a curse, having said in my hearing . . . Look, I have got that silver. I was the one who took it.’ His mother said, ‘May Yahweh bless my boy!’
3 He gave the eleven hundred shekels back to his mother, who said, ‘I have indeed vowed to give this silver to Yahweh for my son, to have a statue carved and an idol cast in metal, but now I should like to give it back to you.’ He, however, returned the money to his mother.
4 His mother then took two hundred silver shekels and gave them to the metalworker. With them, he carved a statue (and cast an idol in metal) which was put in Micayehu’s house.
5 This man Micah owned a shrine; he made an ephod and some domestic images, and installed one of his sons to be his priest.
6 In those days there was no king in Israel, and everyone did as he saw fit.
7 There was a young man of Bethlehem in Judah, of the clan of Judah, who was a Levite and resided there as a stranger.
8 This man left the town of Bethlehem in Judah to settle wherever he could find a home. On his travels he came to the highlands of Ephraim and to Micah’s house.
9 Micah asked him, ‘Where do you come from?’ The other replied, ‘I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah. I am travelling, and am going to settle wherever I can find a home.’
10 Micah said to him, ‘Stay here with me; be my father and priest and I shall give you ten silver shekels a year, and clothing and food.’
11 The Levite agreed to remain in the man’s house, and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
12 Micah installed the Levite; the young man became Micah’s priest and stayed in his house.
13 And Micah said, ‘Now I know that Yahweh will treat me well, since I have this Levite as priest.’
1 In those days there was no king in Israel. Now in those days the tribe of Dan was in search of a territory to live in, for until then no territory had fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
2 From their clan the Danites sent five brave men from Zorah and Eshtaol to reconnoitre the country and explore it. They said to them, ‘Go and explore the country.’ The five men came to the highlands of Ephraim, as far as Micah’s house, and spent the night there.
3 When they were near Micah’s house, they recognised the voice of the young Levite and, going nearer, said to him, ‘Who brought you here? What are you doing here? What is keeping you here?’
4 He replied, ‘Micah has made certain arrangements with me. He pays me a wage and I act as his priest.’
5 They replied, ‘Then consult God, so that we may know whether the journey we are on will lead to success.’
6 The priest replied, ‘Go in peace; Yahweh is watching over your journey.’
7 The five men then left and, arriving at Laish, saw that the people living there had an untroubled existence, according to the customs of the Sidonians, peaceful and trusting, that there was no lack or shortage of any sort in the territory, that they were a long way away from the Sidonians and that they had no contact with the Aramaeans.
8 They then went back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol and, when the latter asked them, ‘What have you to report?’
9 they said, ‘Up! we must go against them, since we have looked at the country and it is excellent, though you take no action! Waste no time in setting out and taking possession of the country.
10 When you get there, you will find a trusting people. The country is wide, and God has put it at your mercy. It is a place where there is no lack of anything on earth.’
11 From these places, consequently, from the clan of Danites at Zorah and Eshtaol, six hundred men set out equipped for war.
12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-Jearim in Judah; and for this reason the place is still called the Camp of Dan today. It lies to the west of Kiriath-Jearim.
13 From there they entered the highlands of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.
14 The five men who had been to reconnoitre the country then spoke to their brothers. ‘Do you know’, they said, ‘that in these houses there is an ephod, some domestic images, a carved statue and an idol cast in metal? So now work out what you have got to do!
15 So, turning off the road, they went to the young Levite’s dwelling, to Micah’s house, and greeted him peacefully.
16 While the six hundred men of the Danites, equipped for war, stood at the threshold of the gate,
17 the five who had been to reconnoitre the country went on into the house and took the carved statue, the ephod, the domestic images and the idol cast in metal; meanwhile the priest remained at the threshold of the gate with the six hundred men equipped for war.
18 These men, having entered Micah’s house, took the carved statue, the ephod, the domestic images and the idol cast in metal. The priest, however, said, ‘What are you doing?’
19 ‘Be quiet,’ they replied. ‘Put your hand over your mouth and come with us, and become our father and priest. Are you better off as domestic priest to one man, or as priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?’
20 The priest was delighted; he took the ephod, the domestic images and the carved statue, and went off among the people.
21 Resuming their original line of march, they set off, having put the women, children, livestock and baggage out in front.
22 They had gone some distance from Micah’s house, when the people living in the houses near Micah’s house raised the alarm and set off in pursuit of the Danites.
23 As they shouted after the Danites, the latter, turning about, said to Micah, ‘What is the matter with you, that you are shouting like this?’
24 He replied, ‘You have taken away my god, which I have had made, and the priest as well. You are going away, and what have I got left? And now you ask me, “What is the matter?” ‘
25 The Danites said, ‘Let us hear no more from you, or quick-tempered men may set about you, and this might cost you your life and the lives of your family!’
26 So the Danites went on their way; and Micah, seeing that they were the stronger, turned and went home.
27 So, having taken the god made by Micah, and the priest who had been his, the Danites marched on Laish, on a peaceful and trusting people. They put it to the sword and they burned down the town.
28 There was no one to come to the rescue, since it was a long way from Sidon and had no contact with the Aramaeans. It lay in the valley running towards Beth-Rehob. They rebuilt the town and settled in it
29 and called it Dan, from the name of Dan their ancestor who had been born to Israel; originally, however, the town had been called Laish.
30 The Danites erected the carved statue for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons after him were priests for the tribe of Dan till the day when the inhabitants of the country were carried away into exile.
31 The carved statue made by Micah they installed for their own use, and there it stayed as long as the house of God remained at Shiloh.
1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, there was a man, a Levite, whose home was deep in the highlands of Ephraim. He took as concubine a woman from Bethlehem in Judah.
2 In a fit of anger his concubine left him and went back to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah, and she stayed there for some time — four months.
3 Her husband then set out after her, to appeal to her affections and fetch her back; he had his servant and two donkeys with him. As he was arriving at the house of the girl’s father, the father saw him and came happily to meet him.
4 His father-in-law, the girl’s father, kept him there; and he stayed with him for three days; they ate and drank and spent the nights there.
5 On the fourth day they got up early, and the Levite was preparing to leave when the girl’s father said to his son-in-law, ‘Have something to eat to gather strength; you can leave later.’
6 So they sat down and began eating and drinking, the two of them together; then the girl’s father said to the young man, ‘Please agree to spend tonight here too and enjoy yourself.’
7 And when the man got up to leave, the father-in-law pressed him again, and he spent another night there.
8 On the fifth day, the Levite got up early to leave, but the girl’s father said to him, ‘Please gather strength first!’ So they stayed on until the sun began to go down, and the two men had a meal together.
9 The husband was getting up to leave with his concubine and his servant when his father-in-law, the girl’s father, said, ‘Look, day is fading into evening. Please spend the night here. Look, the day is nearly over. Spend the night here and enjoy yourself. Then, early tomorrow, you can leave on your journey and go back home.’
10 But the man, refusing to stay the night, got up and went on his way, until he arrived within sight of Jebus — that is, Jerusalem. He had with him two donkeys saddled, his concubine and his servant.
11 By the time they were near Jebus, the light was going fast. The servant said to his master, ‘Come on, please, let us turn off into this Jebusite town and spend the night there.’
12 His master replied, ‘We shall not turn off into a town of foreigners, of people who are not Israelites; we shall go on to Gibeah.’
13 He then said to his servant, ‘Come on, we shall try to reach one or other of those places, either Gibeah or Ramah, and spend the night there.’
14 So they kept going and went on with their journey. As they approached Gibeah in Benjamin, the sun was setting.
15 So they turned that way to spend the night in Gibeah. Once inside, the Levite sat down in the town square, but no one offered to take them in for the night.
16 Eventually, an old man came along at nightfall from his work in the fields. He too was from the highlands of Ephraim, although he was living in Gibeah; the people of the place, however, were Benjaminites.
17 Looking up, he saw the traveller in the town square. ‘Where are you going?’ said the old man, ‘And where have you come from?’
18 ‘We are on our way’, the other replied, ‘from Bethlehem in Judah to a place deep in the highlands of Ephraim. That is where I come from. I have been to Bethlehem in Judah and now I am going home, but no one has offered to take me into his house,
19 although we have straw and provender for our donkeys, and I also have bread and wine for myself, and this maidservant and the young man who is travelling with your servant; we are short of nothing.’
20 ‘Welcome,’ said the old man. ‘I shall see that you have all you want. You cannot spend the night in the square.’
21 So he took him into his house and gave the donkeys provender. The travellers washed their feet, then ate and drank.
22 While they were enjoying themselves, some townsmen, scoundrels, came crowding round the house; they battered on the door and said to the old man, master of the house, ‘Send out the man who went into your house, we should like to have intercourse with him!’
23 The master of the house went out to them and said, ‘No, brothers, please, do not be so wicked. Since this man is now under my roof, do not commit such an infamy.
24 Here is my daughter; she is a virgin; I shall bring her out to you. Ill-treat her, do what you please with her, but do not commit such an infamy against this man.’
25 But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took hold of his concubine and brought her out to them. They had intercourse with her and ill-treated her all night till morning; when dawn was breaking they let her go.
26 At daybreak the girl came and fell on the threshold of her husband’s host, and she stayed there until it was light.
27 In the morning her husband got up and, opening the door of the house, was going out to continue his journey when he saw the woman, his concubine, lying at the door of the house with her hands on the threshold.
28 ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘we must leave!’ There was no answer. He then loaded her on his donkey and began the journey home.
29 Having reached his house, he took his knife, took hold of his concubine and cut her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces; he then sent her throughout the territory of Israel.
30 He gave instructions to his messengers, ‘This is what you are to say to all the Israelites, “Has anything like this been done since the day when the Israelites came out of Egypt until today? Take this to heart, discuss it; then give your verdict.” ‘ And all who saw it declared, ‘Never has such a thing been done or been seen since the Israelites came out of Egypt until today.’
1 The Israelites then all turned out and, as one man, the entire community from Dan to Beersheba, including Gilead, assembled in Yahweh’s presence at Mizpah.
2 The leaders of the entire people, of all the tribes of Israel, were present at this assembly of God’s people, four hundred thousand trained infantry.
3 The Benjaminites heard that the Israelites had gone up to Mizpah. The Israelites then said, ‘Tell us how this crime was committed.’
4 The Levite, husband of the murdered woman, spoke in reply and said,
5 ‘The men of Gibeah ganged up against me and, during the night, surrounded the house where I was lodging. They intended to murder me. They raped my concubine to death.
6 I then took my concubine, cut her up and sent her throughout the entire territory of the heritage of Israel, since these men had committed a shameful act, an infamy, in Israel.
7 Now, all you Israelites, discuss the matter and give your decision here and now.’
8 The whole people stood up as one man and said, ‘None of us will go home, none of us will go back to his house!
9 And this is what we are now going to do to Gibeah. We shall draw lots
10 and, throughout the tribes of Israel, select ten men out of a hundred, a hundred out of a thousand and a thousand out of ten thousand to collect food for the people, so that, on their arrival, the latter may treat Gibeah in Benjamin as this infamy perpetrated in Israel deserves.’
11 Thus, as one man, all the men of Israel mustered against the town.
12 The tribes of Israel sent messengers throughout the tribe of Benjamin to say, ‘What is this crime which has been committed in your territory?
13 Now, give up these men, these scoundrels, living in Gibeah, so that we can put them to death and wipe out this evil from Israel.’ The Benjaminites, however, would not listen to their brother Israelites.
14 The Benjaminites left their towns and mustered at Gibeah to fight the Israelites.
15 At the time, a count was made of the Benjaminites from the various towns: there were twenty-six thousand swordsmen; and the count excluded the inhabitants of Gibeah.
16 In this great army there were seven hundred first-rate left-handers, every man of whom could sling a stone at a hair and not miss it.
17 A count was also held of the men of Israel, excluding Benjamin: there were four hundred thousand men, all experienced swordsmen.
18 They moved off, up to Bethel, to consult God. The Israelites put the question, ‘Which of us is to go first into battle against the Benjaminites?’ And Yahweh replied, ‘Judah is to go first.’
19 In the morning, the Israelites moved off and pitched their camp over against Gibeah.
20 The men of Israel advanced to do battle with Benjamin; they drew up their battle line in front of Gibeah.
21 But the Benjaminites sallied out from Gibeah and that day massacred twenty-two thousand Israelites.
22 The army of the men of Israel then took fresh heart and again drew up their battle line in the same place as the day before.
23 The Israelites went and wept before Yahweh until evening; they then consulted Yahweh; they asked, ‘Shall we join battle again with the sons of our brother Benjamin?’ Yahweh replied, ‘March against him!’
24 This second day, the Israelites advanced against the Benjaminites,
25 and, this second day, Benjamin sallied out from Gibeah to meet them and massacred another eighteen thousand Israelites, all experienced swordsmen.
26 Then all the Israelites and the whole people went off to Bethel; they wept and sat in Yahweh’s presence; they fasted all day till the evening and presented burnt offerings and communion sacrifices before Yahweh.
27 The Israelites then consulted Yahweh. In those days, the ark of the covenant of God was there,
28 and Phinehas son of Eleazer, son of Aaron was its minister at the time. They said, ‘Ought I to go into battle against the sons of my brother Benjamin again, or should I stop?’ Yahweh replied, ‘March! For tomorrow I shall deliver him into your hands.’
29 Israel then positioned troops in ambush all round Gibeah.
30 On the third day the Israelites marched against the Benjaminites and, as before, drew up their line in front of Gibeah.
31 The Benjaminites sallied out to engage the people and let themselves be drawn away from the town. As before, they began by killing those of the people who were on the roads, one of which runs up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah through open country: some thirty men of Israel.
32 The Benjaminites thought, ‘We have beaten them, as we did the first time,’ but the Israelites had decided, ‘We shall run away and draw them away from the town along the roads.’
33 All the Israelites then retreated and reformed at Baal-Tamar, while the Israelite troops in ambush surged from their positions to the west of Gibeah.
34 Ten thousand picked men, chosen from the whole of Israel, launched their attack on Gibeah. The battle was fierce; and the others knew nothing of the disaster impending.
35 Yahweh defeated Benjamin before Israel and that day the Israelites killed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them trained swordsmen.
36 The Benjaminites saw that they were beaten. The Israelites had given ground to Benjamin, since they were relying on the ambush which they had positioned close to Gibeah.
37 The troops in ambush threw themselves against Gibeah at top speed; fanning out, they put the whole town to the sword.
38 Now it had been agreed between the Israelites and those of the ambush that the latter should raise a smoke signal from the town,
39 whereupon the Israelites in the thick of the battle would turn about. Benjamin began by killing some of the Israelites, about thirty men, and thought, ‘We have certainly beaten them, as we did in the first battle.’
40 But the signal, a column of smoke, began to rise from the town, and the Benjaminites looking back saw the whole town going up in flames to the sky.
41 The Israelites then turned about, and the Benjaminites were seized with terror, for they saw that disaster had struck them.
42 They broke before the Israelite onslaught and made for the desert, but the fighters pressed them hard, while the others coming out of the town took and slaughtered them from the rear.
43 They hemmed in the Benjaminites, pursued them relentlessly, crushing them opposite Gibeah on the east.
44 Of Benjamin, eighteen thousand men fell, all of them brave men.
45 They then turned tail and fled into the desert, towards the Rock of Rimmon. Five thousand of them were picked off on the roads, and the rest were relentlessly pursued as far as Gideon, two thousand of them being killed.
46 The total number of Benjaminites who fell that day was twenty-five thousand swordsmen, all of them brave men.
47 Six hundred men, however, turned tail and escaped into the desert, to the Rock of Rimmon, and there they stayed for four months.
48 The men of Israel then went back to the Benjaminites, and put them to the sword-people, livestock and everything else that came their way in the town. And they fired all the towns involved.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Wednesday, January 25, 2012:
Psalm 119:49-72
49 Keep in mind your promise to your servant on which I have built my hope.
50 It is my comfort in distress, that your promise gives me life.
51 Endlessly the arrogant have jeered at me, but I have not swerved from your Law.
52 I have kept your age — old judgements in mind, Yahweh, and I am comforted.
53 Fury grips me when I see the wicked who abandon your Law.
54 Your judgements are my song where I live in exile.
55 All night, Yahweh, I hold your name in mind, I keep your Law.
56 This is what it means to me, observing your precepts.
57 My task, I have said, Yahweh, is to keep your word.
58 Wholeheartedly I entreat your favour; true to your promise, take pity on me!
59 I have reflected on my ways, and I turn my steps to your instructions.
60 I hurry without delay to keep your commandments.
61 Though caught in the snares of the wicked, I do not forget your Law.
62 At midnight I rise to praise you for your upright judgements.
63 I am a friend to all who fear you and keep your precepts.
64 Your faithful love fills the earth, Yahweh, teach me your judgements.
65 You have been generous to your servant, Yahweh, true to your promise.
66 Teach me judgement and knowledge, for I rely on your commandments.
67 Before I was punished I used to go astray, but now I keep to your promise.
68 You are generous and act generously, teach me your will.
69 The arrogant blacken me with lies though I wholeheartedly observe your precepts.
70 Their hearts are gross like rich fat, but my delight is in your Law.
71 It was good for me that I had to suffer, the better to learn your judgements.
72 The Law you have uttered is more precious to me than all the wealth in the world.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 49
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Psalm] Hear this, all nations, listen, all who dwell on earth,
2 people high and low, rich and poor alike!
3 My lips have wisdom to utter, my heart good sense to whisper.
4 I listen carefully to a proverb, I set my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble? Malice dogs me and hems me in.
6 They trust in their wealth, and boast of the profusion of their riches.
7 But no one can ever redeem himself or pay his own ransom to God,
8 the price for himself is too high; it can never be
9 that he will live on for ever and avoid the sight of the abyss.
10 For he will see the wise also die no less than the fool and the brute, and leave their wealth behind for others.
11 For ever no home but their tombs, their dwelling-place age after age, though they gave their name to whole territories.
12 In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals.
13 So they go on in their self-assurance, right up to the end they are content with their lot.Pause
14 They are penned in Sheol like sheep, Death will lead them to pasture, and those who are honest will rule over them. In the morning all trace of them will be gone, Sheol will be their home.
15 But my soul God will ransom from the clutches of Sheol, and will snatch me up.Pause
16 Do not be overawed when someone gets rich, and lives in ever greater splendour;
17 when he dies he will take nothing with him, his wealth will not go down with him.
18 Though he pampered himself while he lived — and people praise you for looking after yourself-
19 he will go to join the ranks of his ancestors, who will never again see the light.
20 In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 53
1 [For the choirmaster In sickness Poem Of David] The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God!’ They are corrupt, vile and unjust, not one of them does right.
2 God looks down from heaven at the children of Adam, to see if a single one is wise, a single one seeks God.
3 All have proved faithless, all alike turned sour, not one of them does right, not a single one.
4 Are they not aware, these evil-doers? They are devouring my people; this is the bread they eat, and they never call upon God.
5 They will be gripped with fear, just where there is no need for fear, for God scatters the bones of him who besieges you; they are mocked because God rejects them.
6 Who will bring from Zion salvation for Israel? When God brings his people home, what joy for Jacob, what happiness for Israel!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 16:1-14
1 Abram’s wife Sarai had borne him no child, but she had an Egyptian slave-girl called Hagar.
2 So Sarai said to Abram, ‘Listen, now! Since Yahweh has kept me from having children, go to my slave-girl. Perhaps I shall get children through her.’ And Abram took Sarai’s advice.
3 Thus, after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan for ten years, Sarai took Hagar her Egyptian slave-girl and gave her to Abram as his wife.
4 He went to Hagar and she conceived. And once she knew she had conceived, her mistress counted for nothing in her eyes.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, ‘This outrage done to me is your fault! It was I who put my slave-girl into your arms but, now she knows that she has conceived, I count for nothing in her eyes. Yahweh judge between me and you!’
6 ‘Very well,’ Abram said to Sarai, ‘your slave-girl is at your disposal. Treat her as you think fit.’ Sarai accordingly treated her so badly that she ran away from her.
7 The angel of Yahweh found her by a spring in the desert, the spring on the road to Shur.
8 He said, ‘Hagar, slave-girl of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?’ ‘I am running away from my mistress Sarai,’ she replied.
9 The angel of Yahweh said to her, ‘Go back to your mistress and submit to her.’
10 The angel of Yahweh further said to her, ‘I shall make your descendants too numerous to be counted.’
11 Then the angel of Yahweh said to her: Now, you have conceived and will bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for Yahweh has heard your cries of distress.
12 A wild donkey of a man he will be, his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him, living his life in defiance of all his kinsmen.
13 Hagar gave a name to Yahweh who had spoken to her, ‘You are El Roi,’ by which she meant, ‘Did I not go on seeing here, after him who sees me?’
14 This is why the well is called the well of Lahai Roi; it is between Kadesh and Bered.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 9:15-28
15 This makes him the mediator of a new covenant, so that, now that a death has occurred to redeem the sins committed under an earlier covenant, those who have been called to an eternal inheritance may receive the promise.
16 Now wherever a will is in question, the death of the testator must be established;
17 a testament comes into effect only after a death, since it has no force while the testator is still alive.
18 That is why even the earlier covenant was inaugurated with blood,
19 and why, after Moses had promulgated all the commandments of the Law to the people, he took the calves’ blood, the goats’ blood and some water, and with these he sprinkled the book itself and all the people, using scarlet wool and hyssop;
20 saying as he did so: This is the blood of the covenant that God has made with you.
21 And he sprinkled both the tent and all the liturgical vessels with blood in the same way.
22 In fact, according to the Law, practically every purification takes place by means of blood; and if there is no shedding of blood, there is no remission.
23 Only the copies of heavenly things are purified in this way; the heavenly things themselves have to be purified by a higher sort of sacrifice than this.
24 It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was merely a model of the real one; he entered heaven itself, so that he now appears in the presence of God on our behalf.
25 And he does not have to offer himself again and again, as the high priest goes into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own,
26 or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began. As it is, he has made his appearance once and for all, at the end of the last age, to do away with sin by sacrificing himself.
27 Since human beings die only once, after which comes judgement,
28 so Christ too, having offered himself only once to bear the sin of many, will manifest himself a second time, sin being no more, to those who are waiting for him, to bring them salvation.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 5:19-29
19 To this Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, by himself the Son can do nothing; he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself does, and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you.
21 Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses;
22 for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son,
23 so that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. Whoever refuses honour to the Son refuses honour to the Father who sent him.
24 In all truth I tell you, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgement such a person has passed from death to life.
25 In all truth I tell you, the hour is coming — indeed it is already here — when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live.
26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself;
27 and, because he is the Son of man, has granted him power to give judgement.
28 Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice:
29 those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgement.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Conversion of St. Paul:
Psalm 19
1 [For the choirmaster Psalm Of David] The heavens declare the glory of God, the vault of heaven proclaims his handiwork,
2 day discourses of it to day, night to night hands on the knowledge.
3 No utterance at all, no speech, not a sound to be heard,
4 but from the entire earth the design stands out, this message reaches the whole world. High above, he pitched a tent for the sun,
5 who comes forth from his pavilion like a bridegroom, delights like a champion in the course to be run.
6 Rising on the one horizon he runs his circuit to the other, and nothing can escape his heat.
7 The Law of Yahweh is perfect, refreshment to the soul; the decree of Yahweh is trustworthy, wisdom for the simple.
8 The precepts of Yahweh are honest, joy for the heart; the commandment of Yahweh is pure, light for the eyes.
9 The fear of Yahweh is pure, lasting for ever; the judgements of Yahweh are true, upright, every one,
10 more desirable than gold, even than the finest gold; his words are sweeter than honey, that drips from the comb.
11 Thus your servant is formed by them; observing them brings great reward.
12 But who can detect his own failings? Wash away my hidden faults.
13 And from pride preserve your servant, never let it be my master. So shall I be above reproach, free from grave sin.
14 May the words of my mouth always find favour, and the whispering of my heart, in your presence, Yahweh, my rock, my redeemer.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Isaiah 45:18-25
18 For thus says Yahweh, the Creator of the heavens — he is God, who shaped the earth and made it, who set it firm; he did not create it to be chaos, he formed it to be lived in: I am Yahweh, and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in some dark corner of the underworld. I did not say, ‘Offspring of Jacob, search for me in chaos!’ I am Yahweh: I proclaim saving justice, I say what is true.
20 Assemble, come, all of you gather round, survivors of the nations. They have no knowledge, those who parade their wooden idols and pray to a god that cannot save.
21 Speak up, present your case, let them put their heads together! Who foretold this in the past, who revealed it long ago? Was it not I, Yahweh? There is no other god except me, no saving God, no Saviour except me!
22 Turn to me and you will be saved, all you ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other.
23 By my own self I swear it; what comes from my mouth is saving justice, it is an irrevocable word: All shall bend the knee to me, by me every tongue shall swear,
24 saying, ‘In Yahweh alone are saving justice and strength,’ until all those who used to rage at him come to him in shame.
25 In Yahweh the whole race of Israel finds justice and glory.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Philppians 3:4b-11
4 although, I myself could rely on these too. If anyone does claim to rely on them, my claim is better.
5 Circumcised on the eighth day of my life, I was born of the race of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrew parents. In the matter of the Law, I was a Pharisee;
6 as for religious fervour, I was a persecutor of the Church; as for the uprightness embodied in the Law, I was faultless.
7 But what were once my assets I now through Christ Jesus count as losses.
8 Yes, I will go further: because of the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, I count everything else as loss. For him I have accepted the loss of all other things, and look on them all as filth if only I can gain Christ
9 and be given a place in him, with the uprightness I have gained not from the Law, but through faith in Christ, an uprightness from God, based on faith,
10 that I may come to know him and the power of his resurrection, and partake of his sufferings by being moulded to the pattern of his death,
11 striving towards the goal of resurrection from the dead.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 119:89-112
89 For ever, Yahweh, your word is planted firm in heaven.
90 Your constancy endures from age to age; you established the earth and it stands firm.
91 Through your judgements all stands firm to this day, for all creation is your servant.
92 Had your Law not been my delight, I would have perished in my misery.
93 I shall never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.
94 I am yours, save me, for I seek your precepts.
95 The wicked may hope to destroy me, but all my thought is of your instructions.
96 I have seen that all perfection is finite, but your commandment has no limit.
97 How I love your Law! I ponder it all day long.
98 You make me wiser than my enemies by your commandment which is mine for ever.
99 I am wiser than all my teachers because I ponder your instructions.
100 I have more understanding than the aged because I keep your precepts.
101 I restrain my foot from evil paths to keep your word.
102 I do not turn aside from your judgements, because you yourself have instructed me.
103 How pleasant your promise to my palate, sweeter than honey in my mouth!
104 From your precepts I learn wisdom, so I hate all deceptive ways.
105 Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
106 I have sworn — and shall maintain it — to keep your upright judgements.
107 I am utterly wretched, Yahweh; true to your promise, give me life.
108 Accept, Yahweh, the tribute from my mouth, and teach me your judgements.
109 My life is in your hands perpetually, I do not forget your Law.
110 The wicked have laid out a snare for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.
111 Your instructions are my eternal heritage, they are the joy of my heart.
112 I devote myself to obeying your statutes, their recompense is eternal.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Ecclesiasticus 39:1-10
1 Not so with one who concentrates his mind and his meditation on the Law of the Most High. He researches into the wisdom of all the Ancients, he occupies his time with the prophecies.
2 He preserves the discourses of famous men, he is at home with the niceties of parables.
3 He researches into the hidden sense of proverbs, he ponders the obscurities of parables.
4 He enters the service of princes, he is seen in the presence of rulers. He travels in foreign countries, he has experienced human good and human evil.
5 At dawn and with all his heart he turns to the Lord his Creator; he pleads in the presence of the Most High, he opens his mouth in prayer and makes entreaty for his sins.
6 If such be the will of the great Lord, he will be filled with the spirit of intelligence, he will shower forth words of wisdom, and in prayer give thanks to the Lord.
7 He will grow upright in purpose and learning, he will ponder the Lord’s hidden mysteries.
8 He will display the instruction he has received, taking his pride in the Law of the Lord’s covenant.
9 Many will praise his intelligence and it will never be forgotten. His memory will not disappear, generation after generation his name will live.
10 Nations will proclaim his wisdom, the assembly will celebrate his praises.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Acts 9:1-22
1 Meanwhile Saul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest
2 and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he might find.
3 It happened that while he was travelling to Damascus and approaching the city, suddenly a light from heaven shone all round him.
4 He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
5 ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, and the answer came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
6 Get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’
7 The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they could see no one.
8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand.
9 For three days he was without his sight and took neither food nor drink.
10 There was a disciple in Damascus called Ananias, and he had a vision in which the Lord said to him, ‘Ananias!’ When he replied, ‘Here I am, Lord,’
11 the Lord said, ‘Get up and go to Straight Street and ask at the house of Judas for someone called Saul, who comes from Tarsus. At this moment he is praying,
12 and has seen a man called Ananias coming in and laying hands on him to give him back his sight.’
13 But in response, Ananias said, ‘Lord, I have heard from many people about this man and all the harm he has been doing to your holy people in Jerusalem.
14 He has come here with a warrant from the chief priests to arrest everybody who invokes your name.’
15 The Lord replied, ‘Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel;
16 I myself will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’
17 Then Ananias went. He entered the house, and laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’
18 It was as though scales fell away from his eyes and immediately he was able to see again. So he got up and was baptised,
19 and after taking some food he regained his strength. After he had spent only a few days with the disciples in Damascus,
20 he began preaching in the synagogues, ‘Jesus is the Son of God.’
21 All his hearers were amazed, and said, ‘Surely, this is the man who did such damage in Jerusalem to the people who invoke this name, and who came here for the sole purpose of arresting them to have them tried by the chief priests?’
22 Saul’s power increased steadily, and he was able to throw the Jewish colony at Damascus into complete confusion by the way he demonstrated that Jesus was the Christ.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 7:4-17
4 But that very night, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan:
5 ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Yahweh says this: Are you to build me a temple for me to live in?
6 I have never lived in a house from the day when I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have kept travelling with a tent for shelter.
7 In all my travels with all the Israelites, did I say to any of the judges of Israel, whom I had commanded to shepherd my people Israel: Why do you not build me a cedar-wood temple?”
8 This is what you must say to my servant David, “Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel;
9 I have been with you wherever you went; I have got rid of all your enemies for you. I am going to make your fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth.
10 I am going to provide a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there, and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked any more, as they were in former times
11 ever since the time when I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; and I shall grant you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh furthermore tells you that he will make you a dynasty.
12 And when your days are over and you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you (and I shall make his sovereignty secure.
13 He will build a temple for my name) and I shall make his royal throne secure for ever.
14 I shall be a father to him and he a son to me; if he does wrong, I shall punish him with a rod such as men use, with blows such as mankind gives.
15 But my faithful love will never be withdrawn from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
16 Your dynasty and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be for ever secure.” ‘
17 Nathan related all these words and this whole revelation to David.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 89:1-4
1 [Poem For Ethan the native-born] I shall sing the faithful love of Yahweh for ever, from age to age my lips shall declare your constancy,
2 for you have said: love is built to last for ever, you have fixed your constancy firm in the heavens.
3 ‘I have made a covenant with my Chosen One, sworn an oath to my servant David:
4 I have made your dynasty firm for ever, built your throne stable age after age.’Pause(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 4:1-20
1 Again he began to teach them by the lakeside, but such a huge crowd gathered round him that he got into a boat on the water and sat there. The whole crowd were at the lakeside on land.
2 He taught them many things in parables, and in the course of his teaching he said to them,
3 ‘Listen! Imagine a sower going out to sow.
4 Now it happened that, as he sowed, some of the seed fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate it up.
5 Some seed fell on rocky ground where it found little soil and at once sprang up, because there was no depth of earth;
6 and when the sun came up it was scorched and, not having any roots, it withered away.
7 Some seed fell into thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it produced no crop.
8 And some seeds fell into rich soil, grew tall and strong, and produced a good crop; the yield was thirty, sixty, even a hundredfold.’
9 And he said, ‘Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’
10 When he was alone, the Twelve, together with the others who formed his company, asked what the parables meant.
11 He told them, ‘To you is granted the secret of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside everything comes in parables,
12 so that they may look and look, but never perceive; listen and listen, but never understand; to avoid changing their ways and being healed.’
13 He said to them, ‘Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
14 What the sower is sowing is the word.
15 Those on the edge of the path where the word is sown are people who have no sooner heard it than Satan at once comes and carries away the word that was sown in them.
16 Similarly, those who are sown on patches of rock are people who, when first they hear the word, welcome it at once with joy.
17 But they have no root deep down and do not last; should some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, at once they fall away.
18 Then there are others who are sown in thorns. These have heard the word,
19 but the worries of the world, the lure of riches and all the other passions come in to choke the word, and so it produces nothing.
20 And there are those who have been sown in rich soil; they hear the word and accept it and yield a harvest, thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Wednesday, 25 January 2012
The Conversion of Saint Paul, apostle – Feast
Feast of the Church:The Conversion of St Paul, apostle – Feast
Acts 22:3-16
3 ‘I am a Jew’, Paul said, ‘and was born at Tarsus in Cilicia. I was brought up here in this city. It was under Gamaliel that I studied and was taught the exact observance of the Law of our ancestors. In fact, I was as full of duty towards God as you all are today.
4 I even persecuted this Way to the death and sent women as well as men to prison in chains
5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify. I even received letters from them to the brothers in Damascus, which I took with me when I set off to bring prisoners back from there to Jerusalem for punishment.
6 ‘It happened that I was on that journey and nearly at Damascus when in the middle of the day a bright light from heaven suddenly shone round me.
7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
8 I answered, “Who are you, Lord?” and he said to me, “I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.”
9 The people with me saw the light but did not hear the voice which spoke to me.
10 I said, “What am I to do, Lord?” The Lord answered, “Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told what you have been appointed to do.”
11 Since the light had been so dazzling that I was blind, I got to Damascus only because my companions led me by the hand.
12 ‘Someone called Ananias, a devout follower of the Law and highly thought of by all the Jews living there,
13 came to see me; he stood beside me and said, “Brother Saul, receive your sight.” Instantly my sight came back and I was able to see him.
14 Then he said, “The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will, to see the Upright One and hear his own voice speaking,
15 because you are to be his witness before all humanity, testifying to what you have seen and heard.
16 And now why delay? Hurry and be baptised and wash away your sins, calling on his name.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 117
1 Alleluia! Praise Yahweh, all nations, extol him, all peoples,
2 for his faithful love is strong and his constancy never-ending.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 16:15-18
15 And he said to them, ‘Go out to the whole world; proclaim the gospel to all creation.
16 Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.
17 These are the signs that will be associated with believers: in my name they will cast out devils; they will have the gift of tongues;
18 they will pick up snakes in their hands and be unharmed should they drink deadly poison; they will lay their hands on the sick, who will recover.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Commentary of the day:
Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe (467-532), Bishop in North Africa
A sermon attributed to, no. 59 Appendix ; PL 65, 929
«On his journey, as Paul was nearing Damascus, alight from the sky suddenly flashed around him» (Acts 9,3)
Saul was sent on the road to Damascus to become blind since, if he was blinded, it was to see the real Way (Jn 14,6)… He lost his bodily sight but his heart was enlightened so that the true light might shine in the eyes of both his heart and his body… He was sent into his own interior to seek himself… He was straying in his own company, an unthinking traveller, and he did not find himself because, interiorly, he had lost his way.
Therefore he heard a voice saying to him…: «Turn aside from the way of Saul to find the faith of Paul. Take off the tunic of your blindness and clothe yourself with the Savior (cf. Gal 3,27)… In your flesh I have wanted to manifest the blindness of your heart that you might see what you did not see and might not be like those who «have eyes but see not and ears and hear not» (Ps 115[113],5-6). Let Saul return with his futile letters (Acts 22,5) that Paul might write his most necessary letters. Let the blind Saul vanish… that Paul might become the light of believers»…
Paul, who has transformed you in this way? «Would you like to know who has done this? The man people call Christ… He anointed my eyes and said to me: ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, wash and you will see.’ I went; I washed, and now I see (Jn 9,11). Why this surprise? Behold, he who created me has re-created me and with the same power with which he created me he has now healed me. I had sinned but he has cleansed me.»
Come along, then, Paul; leave old Saul behind; soon you will see Peter, too… Ananias, touch Saul and give us Paul; dismiss the persecutor far away from us, send out the preacher on his mission. The lambs will no longer be afraid, Christ’s sheep will be full of joy. O touch the wolf who used to pursue Christ so that now, with Peter, he may lead the sheep to pasture.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Wednesday 25th January 2012
LEAVE ROOM FOR GOD by Oswald Chambers
But when it pleased God. . .(Galatians 1:15)
As workers for God we have to learn to make room for God – to give God “elbow room.” We calculate and estimate, and say that this and that will happen, and we forget to make room for God to come in as He chooses. Would we be surprised if God came into our meeting or into our preaching in a way we had never looked for Him to come? Do not look for God to come in any particular way, but look for Him. That is the way to make room for Him. Expect Him to come, but do not expect Him only in a certain way. However much we may know God, the great lesson to learn is that at any minute He may break in. We are apt to over look this element of surprise, yet God never works in any other way. All of a sudden God meets the life – “When it was the good pleasure of God. . .”
Keep your life so constant in its contact with God that His surprising power may break out on the right hand and on the left. Always be in a state of expectancy, and see that you leave room for God to come in as He likes.

Reflecting God-A God Who Listens
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 55:1-11
1 [For the choirmaster For strings Poem Of David] God, hear my prayer, do not hide away from my plea,
2 give me a hearing, answer me, my troubles give me no peace. I shudder
3 at the enemy’s shouts, at the outcry of the wicked; they heap up charges against me, in their anger bring hostile accusations against me.
4 My heart writhes within me, the terrors of death come upon me,
5 fear and trembling overwhelm me, and shuddering grips me.
6 And I say, ‘Who will give me wings like a dove, to fly away and find rest?’
7 How far I would escape, and make a nest in the desert!Pause
8 I would soon find a refuge from the storm of abuse, from the
9 destructive tempest, Lord, from the flood of their tongues. For I see violence and strife in the city,
10 day and night they make their rounds along the city walls, Inside live malice and mischief,
11 inside lives destruction, tyranny and treachery never absent from its central square.(New Jerusalem Bible)
A God Who Listens by Gerald Crispin
Betrayals, disloyalty, acts of violence and injustice have been faced by many people. King David faced these things. Much of this mistreatment came from David’s own family and his circle of former allies and supporters. This left him with a heart that was fearful, overwhelmed, and heavy. You can hear David’s agony throughout the psalm. David pleads, “Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea; hear me and answer me”(verses 1-2). Can you hear David’s deep groaning and loudly uttered cries echoing throughout the palace?
Maybe your own voice has uttered similar groans and cries when you have been mistreated, especially by someone close to you. David’s regard for God did not leave him faithless. He knew who to call upon. God was his constant companion and friend. In the “Amplified Bible,” David asks God to deal with his enemies, to “destroy [their schemes] . . .confuse their tongues”(verse 9).
If we regard God in our daily routines, stay close to him, and hide ourselves to his presence, the Lord will not ignore our pleas. He will hear and answer us when we call upon him in faith.
Hymn for Today:
“Pass Me Not” by Fanny J. Crosby
1. Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
2. Let me at thy throne of mercy
find a sweet relief,
kneeling there in deep contrition;
help my unbelief.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
3. Trusting only in thy merit,
would I seek thy face;
heal my wounded, broken spirit,
save me by thy grace.
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
4. Thou the spring of all my comfort,
more than life to me,
whom have I on earth beside thee?
Whom in heaven but thee?
Refrain:
Savior, Savior, hear my humble cry;
while on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by.
2nd Thought for Today:
“[T}he broken and contrite heart captures the immediate attention of God. It always has; it always will”(Neil B. Wiseman).
Prayer Needs:
Faculty and students as they prepare for full-time Christian ministry in Switzerland.

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
God’s Plans
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Jeremiah 29:10-14
10 For Yahweh says this: When the seventy years granted to Babylon are over, I shall intervene on your behalf and fulfil my favourable promise to you by bringing you back to this place.
11 Yes, I know what plans I have in mind for you, Yahweh declares, plans for peace, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
12 When you call to me and come and pray to me, I shall listen to you.
13 When you search for me, you will find me; when you search wholeheartedly for me,
14 I shall let you find me (Yahweh declares. I shall restore your fortunes and gather you in from all the nations and wherever I have driven you, Yahweh declares. I shall bring you back to the place from which I exiled you).(New Jerusalem Bible)
Today’s Scripture:
“ I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”(Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
When I divorced, I wondered if I had wrecked my life. Not only had I disappointed my family, but I am a pastor. I am supposed to set an example for Christian living. How could people take me seriously as a spiritual leader? How could I preach about marriage or covenant when my marriage had failed?
But Jeremiah 29:11 promises that God has good plans for us. A curious detail in that verse has caught my attention. The scripture doesn’t say “plan”; it says “plans.” The word is plural. God has more than one plan. Perhaps God has a Plan A for us; but if we mess that up, God also has a Plan B. And if Plan B doesn’t work out, God has a Plan C. And so on.
I doubt that many of us are living Plan A. And people like me may be rapidly approaching the end of the alphabet. Many people feel they have made so many mistakes that if God ever had a plan for them, it must be spoiled. But God does not give up on us. God has more than one way to give us hope and a future. Not only does God have more than one plan; God is at work to fulfill those plans. by Michael Raypholtz (Ohio, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: Our mistakes and sin cannot overrule God’s desire for our good.
Prayer: Dear God, we give thanks that you do not give up on us. Show us the path you put before us daily, and give us the strength to walk it. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Those experiencing divorce
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul — January 25, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul
“We have a wisdom to offer to those who have reached maturity . . . a hidden wisdom that the masters of this age did not know, or they would never have crucified!” from Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 2:6-8
In classical spiritual biographies and autobiographies, the seeker usually moves through several stages, today referred to as levels of consciousness. The seeker travels from simple consciousness (“the child”), to complex consciousness (most of the middle of life), and, hopefully, to enlightened consciousness, which looks surprisingly simple again! Is that the real meaning of “second childhood”? Such enlightenment is, of course, the goal.
The first simplicity and the second simplicity are, however, completely different. The first simplicity is naïve, dualistic, and far too sure of itself. This is what Paul regrets about his early zeal and righteousness, which led him to kill Christians. In our early years, we largely “split” for the sake of quick and false success—we split the natural from the spiritual, the light from the shadow, the weeds from the wheat, the friend from the enemy. But when we come to enlightened consciousness, which is the second simplicity, we have learned to include, accept, and forgive the negatives, the problems, and the contradictions that were revealed in the middle of life to be much more complex than we first imagined.
As Paul says above, we learn to stop “crucifying”—ourselves and others, which is precisely “resurrection”! Adapted from On the Threshold of Transformation:
Daily Meditations for Men, p. 32
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Wednesday January 25, 2012
Receiving Forgiveness
There are two sides to forgiveness: giving and receiving. Although at first sight giving seems to be harder, it often appears that we are not able to offer forgiveness to others because we have not been able fully to receive it. Only as people who have accepted forgiveness can we find the inner freedom to give it. Why is receiving forgiveness so difficult? It is very hard to say, “Without your forgiveness I am still bound to what happened between us. Only you can set me free.” That requires not only a confession that we have hurt somebody but also the humility to acknowledge our dependency on others. Only when we can receive forgiveness can we give it. by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.25.12 – No longer in the dark from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: Ephesians 4:17 “So this I say to you and attest to you in the Lord, do not go on living the empty-headed life that the gentiles live.
18 Intellectually they are in the dark, and they are estranged from the life of God, because of the ignorance which is the consequence of closed minds.
19 Their sense of right and wrong once dulled, they have abandoned all self-control and pursue to excess every kind of uncleanness.
20 Now that is hardly the way you have learnt Christ,
21 unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus.
22 You were to put aside your old self, which belongs to your old way of life and is corrupted by following illusory desires.
23 Your mind was to be renewed in spirit
24 so that you could put on the New Man that has been created on God’s principles, in the uprightness and holiness of the truth.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
Much of the time, our culture’s films, novels or music videos see sex with no constraints as a source and result of a higher, free awareness. Ephesians looked at things quite differently. Unrestrained sensuality, it said, darkens human understanding and destroys sensitivity. The new mind-set God offers us is not meant to squelch joy in life, but to make it truly possible.
Last week we read Galatians 5:22: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience….” When you read about God creating “true holiness” in your life, do you picture that “holiness” bringing you more of traits like love and joy? Do you see “holiness” more as 1) telling you not to enjoy life too much, or 2) the truest source of love and joy?
To these Gentile converts to Christianity, Ephesians strongly stressed the contrast between the “old” and the “new.” What meaning, if any, can this passage have for people who have been Christians all their life? In what ways did you have an “old” way of life to leave in order to find the “new” in Christ?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week, teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

4th Thought for Today:
Wednesday 25 January 2012
What Do We Want?
The important thing is to keep the eyes on what we want to grow into. Do we want to grow toward greater community, greater openness, greater compassion, greater listening? Or do we want to just be a tree that’s more powerful so that I’m the biggest tree and all the other little trees are stupid? It’s all about this question of growth. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

5th Thought for Today:
Pat
I enlisted Patrick as my partner in crime. Ethel told me that I could not try out her new electric lazy boy chair because I was too fat; she said that I would break it. With Ethel being out for supper, Pat was to warn me if she came home so I could get out of her chair without causing a third world war. I wasn’t even in the room when Ethel came home. When she did, Pat was quick to tell her, “Murray–ch–ch–ch–chair!” Pat is a rat; he can’t keep a secret.
Pat also can’t keep a secret about how he cares about me. At times he will engage me in conversation and at certain moments he will reach out his left hand to shake mine in a gesture of friendship and solidarity. He will ask me about work and he will ask about my car. Pat calls me to own, name and claim all the stuff that makes up my life. He calls me to reach out to Jesus for redemption and liberation as I continue to find in my L’Arche home a place for my heart. by Father Murray McDermott C.R., L’Arche Stratford

Reflections with GOD for Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Quotes for Today:
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God’s ways to man. by A. E. Housman (1859 – 1936)
Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking. by Dave Barry (1947 – ), “The Taming of the Screw”
If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. by Dean Martin
Bacchus hath drowned more men than Neptune. by Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 – 1734), Gnomologia, 1732
Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut. by Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961)
Great people talk about ideas, average people talk about things, and small people talk about wine. by Fran Lebowitz (1950 – )
My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle. by Henny Youngman (1906 – 1998)
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. by Henny Youngman (1906 – 1998)
[Water is] the only drink for a wise man. by Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do this when we relax over wine. by Heraclitus (540 BC – 480 BC), On the Universe
The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better unspoken. by Homer (800 BC – 700 BC), The Odyssey
Nothing anyone says in a bar is true. by Mark Ruffalo, In Style Magazine, 11-08
The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass. by Martin Mull (1943 – )
One reason I don’t drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time. by Nancy Astor (1879 – 1964)
I envy people who drink. At least they have something to blame everything on. by Oscar Levant (1906 – 1972)
Work is the curse of the drinking classes. by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), In Life of Oscar Wilde, H. Pearson
Drinking makes such fools of people, and people are such fools to begin with, that it’s compounding a felony. by Robert Benchley (1889 – 1945)
I always keep a supply of stimulant handy in case I see a snake–which I also keep handy. by W. C. Fields (1880 – 1946)
Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water. by W. C. Fields (1880 – 1946)
It’s always difficult to make conversation with a drunk, and there’s no denying it, the sober are at a disadvantage with him. by W. Somerset Maugham (1874 – 1965), The Razor’s Edge, 1943

Sermon for Today:
The Reason Why Many Cannot Find Peace by Charles H. Spurgeon
NO. 1408 DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 7, 1878, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON
““Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God,
and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep! Let your laughterbe turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.”(James 4:7-10)
We frequently meet with persons who tell us that they cannot find peace with God. They have been bidden to believe in the Lord Jesus, but they misunderstand the command and, while they think they are obeying it, they are really unbelievers and, therefore, they miss the way of peace. They attempt to pray, but their petitions are not answered and their supplications yield them no comfort whatever, for neither their faith nor their prayer is accepted of the Lord. Such persons are described by James in the 3rd verse of the chapter now open before us—“You ask, and receive not, because you ask amiss.” We cannot be content to see seekers in this wretchedness and, therefore, we endeavor to comfort them, instructing them, again and again, in the great Gospel precept, “Believe and live.” Yet as a rule they get no further, but linger in an unsatisfactory condition. They assure us that they believe in Jesus, but we see none of the fruits of faith in them, neither can they, themselves, say that they derive any spiritual benefit from the faith which they profess. Now I fear that comfort is misplaced in these cases. When we have endeavored to cheer such people, I fear we may have been filming over a wound which needs a sharp knife rather than a soft bandage—a keen lancet rather than a healing liniment. We shall try at this time to show certain uneasy souls why they do not obtain peace and what they must be brought to by the Holy Spirit before they can rightly claim that they are saved. Though our words may be somewhat caustic, they will be uttered in loving faithfulness and may the Lord our God make them effectual to the ending of the inner strife and the establishment of settled peace. I fear that many who profess to be Christians are in a very questionable conditionthey have no joy of their faith and no success in their prayers. Whether they are Christians or not is a moot point and the practical James does not waste time in discussing the doubtful question, but speaks to them from both sides of their apparent condition.
In his previous chapters he calls them, “my brethren,” and even, “my beloved brethren.” He draws no line of demarcation when he, afterwards, addresses them as, “sinners,” whose hands must be cleansed and, as, “double-minded” persons, whose hearts must be purified. They were both of these—they were professedly Brothers and Sisters, but they were at heart unchaste to Christ—they indulged in grievous sins of contention and malice—and their hearts were divided between the love of sin and the hope of salvation. We will not, therefore, raise personal questions, or try to discriminate where certainty is hard to reach, but we will speak to suspicious characters without determining whether they are truly Believers or not. If such persons claim to be called Brothers and Sisters, we will address them as such, but it will be in a sentence like this, “My Brothers and Sisters, such things ought not to be.” On the other hand, we will use no condemnatory title, but leave the question between God and each man’s own conscience. We will go to the root of the matter and set forth the reason for the lack of peace and salvation of which some complain. May the sacred Spirit help us to point out the fatal failure which keeps the soul from rest. If any man is not sure that he is in Christ, he ought not to be easy one moment more until he is so.
Dear Friend, without the fullest confidence as to your saved condition, you have no right to be at ease and I pray you may never be so! This is a matter too important to be left undecided. Instantly should every man of prudence make assurance doubly sure and bind all things fast that he may find them fast for eternity—for eternity I say—for thus says the Lord. Never risk your souls, for your souls are yourselves, your real selves and nothing can make up for their loss. If you lose your souls, it will be no recompense to have gained the whole world! Be careful, then! Leave nothing insecure. Carefully measure and weigh every important step. Consider and examine, lest being so near to the kingdom, any of you should seem to come short of it.
To help you to a settled peace, let me, first of all, urge upon you to obey the comprehensive command of our text—“Submit yourselves therefore to God.” And then, secondly, let me further press upon you to practice the other precepts which follow, such as, “Resist the devil.” “Draw near to God.” “Cleanse your hands.” “Purify your hearts.” “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep.” And, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord.”
I. First listen to THE COMPREHENSIVE COMMAND—“Submit yourselves therefore to God.” According to the connection, the lighting spirit within many men shows that they have not submitted themselves to God—lusting, envy, strife, contention, jealousy, anger—all these things declare that the heart is not submissive but remains violently self-willed and rebellious. Those who are still wrathful, proud, contentious and selfish are evidently unsubdued. There are some men to whom the very idea of submission is distasteful—they will be subjective to no one, but wish to be their own gods and a law unto themselves. “Submit” is a galling word to them. They say in their hearts, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice?”
They are willing, enough, to accept His favors, willing enough, after their fashion, to say, “Thank God,” but as to submission, they will have none of it—it suits not their high mightiness! They strive for the mastery. They push for the front place, aiming to advance their own interests and make the great I to be lord above all. The Apostle quietly indicates in the words of our text that many Christian professors need to submit, for at present their unhumbled nature leads them to lusting and striving—and effectually prevents their asking so as to receive at the Lord’s hands. A lack of submission is no new or rare fault in mankind. Ever since the Fall it has been the root of all sin. When the heart submits to God in sincerity, the work of Grace is begun. And when it submits perfectly, the work is complete. But for this, Divine Grace must display its power, for the heart is obstinate and rebellious.
From the moment when our mother Eve stretched out her hand to pluck the forbidden fruit and her husband joined her in setting up the human will against the Divine, the sons of men have universally been guilty of a lack of conformity to the will of God. They choose their own way and will not submit their wills. They think their own thoughts and will not submit their understanding. They love earthly things and will not submit their affections. Man wants to be his own law and his own master. This is abominable, since we are not our own makers, for, “it is He that has made us and not we ourselves.”
The Lord should have supremacy over us, for our existence depends on His will. I have heard much of the rights of man, but it were well also to consider the rights of God, which are the first, highest, surest and most solemn rights in the universe and lie at the base of all other rights! The Lord has an absolute right to the beings whom He has fashioned and it is shameful that the great mass of men seem never even to remember that He exists, much less to ask themselves what is due to Him. Alas, great God, how are You a stranger even in the world which You have, Yourself, made! Your creatures, who could not see if You had not given them eyes, look everywhere except to You. Creatures who could not think if You had not given them minds, think of all things except You! And beings who could not live if You did not keep them in being, forget You utterly, or, if they remember Your existence and see Your power, are foolhardy enough to become Your foes!
The hemlock of sin grows in the furrows of opposition to God. When the Lord is pleased to turn the hearts of opposers to the obedience of His Truth, it is an evident token of salvation. In fact, it is the dawn of salvation itself! To submit to God is to find rest! The rule of God is so beneficial that He ought readily to be obeyed. He never commands us to do that which, in the long run, can be injurious to us, nor does He forbid us anything which can be to our real advantage. Our God is so kind, so wise, so full of loving forethought, that it is always be to our best interest to follow His lead. Even if we could be left to choose our own way and were under no bonds of duty, it would be wise and prudent to choose the way of the Lord, for it is the path of pleasantness and safety.
Beloved, the Lord is far too great to have any need to deal unjustly, or unkindly with His creatures. Indeed, He is so great that He cannot desire any personal advantage from His government, but He condescends to govern us because without His rule and guidance we would be utterly undone. It is for our good that like a father in a family He commands us this or forbids us the other. It is wanton cruelty to ourselves when we break away from the liberty with which Jesus makes us free, to place ourselves under the tyranny of selfishness and the baser passions of the mind. It is madness to forsake the honorable service of the great King to become the slave of Satan. O that men would submit themselves unto God and be willing to be blessed!
All resistance against God is, from the necessity of the case, be futile. Common sense teaches that rebellion against Omnipotence is both insanity and blasphemy. The Lord’s purpose must stand and His pleasure must be done! His power will assuredly crush all opposition and it is idle to raise it. Why, then, should a man contend against his Master? Wisdom as well as righteousness call upon him to submit to God. And then let it always be known that submission to God is absolutely necessary to salvation. A man is not saved until he bows before the supreme majesty of God. He may say, “I believe in Jesus,” but if he goes on to follow out his own desires and to gratify his own passions, he is a mere pretender, a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Dead faith will save no man! It is not even as good as the faith of devils, for they “believe and tremble,” and these men believe in a fashion which makes them brazen in their iniquity. No, salvation means being saved from the domination of self and sin! Salvation means being made to long after likeness to God, being helped by Divine Grace to reach to that likeness and living after the mind and will of the Most High. Submission to God is the salvation which we preach, not a mere deliverance from eternal burning, but deliverance from present rebellion, deliverance from the sin which is the fuel of those unquenchable flames. There must be conformity to the eternal Laws of the universe and according to these God must be first and man must bow to Him—nothing can be right till this is done. Submit is a command which in every case must be obeyed—or no peace or salvation will be found. Now, it is generally, in this matter of submission, that the stumbling block lies in the way of souls when seeking peace with God. It keeps them unsaved and, as I have already said, necessarily so, because a man who is not submissive to God is not saved. He is not saved from rebellion. He is not saved from pride. He is still evidently an unsaved man, no matter what he may think of himself. Perhaps by a few personal remarks I may hit upon the reason why certain of my hearers cannot get the peace which the Gospel so freely sets before them. There is a lack of submission in some point or other. In the saved man there is and must be a full and unconditional submission to the Law of God. He must consent unto the Law that it is good.
If your mind has up to now quibbled against the Law, you must end the fight, for it is impossible that you should be right while you quarrel with the Law of Righteousness! If you set yourself up to be a judge of the Law, you judge the Lawgiver Himself, and what is this but the blackest presumption? Traced to its real meaning, the thought of judging the Law is treason and would dethrone God and reign in His place! How sad to see a sinful mortal criticizing the perfect Law of his Maker! Dare you do this? If you say in your heart, “He is too strict in marking sin and too severe in punishing it,” what is this but condemning your Judge? If you say, “He calls me to account for idle words and even for sins of ignorance and this is hard,” what is this but to call your Lord unjust?
Should the Law be amended to suit your desires? Should its requirements be accommodated to ease your indolence? If you ask for this you are not saved, for a saved person delights in the Law of God after the inward man. He says of it, “the Law is holy,” though he weeps as he adds, “but I am carnal, sold under sin.” He honors the Law as he bows before it and confesses his shortcomings. Yes, and before a man can have peace with God he must submit himself to the sentence of the Law. Though that Law in its severity searches the thoughts and tries the heart, arraigns us before the bar of God and pronounces sentence upon us, we must acknowledge it to be just!
Grace working in the heart brings the penitent to plead guilty to the sin and to admit that the penalty is deserved. In my own case I unreservedly acknowledge that when the Law in my conscience condemned me to Hell, I dared not lift a finger nor even think a thought by way of disputing the sentence. The conscience is not Divinely quickened, nor the soul renewed, nor the man saved, unless he cries, “I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against
You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight, that You might be justified when You speak and be clear when You judge.”
You must submit yourselves to the righteousness and severity of God or He will resist you as He does all the proud. There can be no pardon for a man unless he will honor the Law by hearty submission. If your plea is, “not guilty,” you will be committed for trial according to justice—and then you cannot be forgiven by mercy! You are in a hopeless position! God Himself cannot meet you upon that ground, for He cannot admit that the Law is unrighteous and its penalty too severe. The Lord cannot be at peace with you while you defy His Law! He declares that you are guilty and you dispute this declaration, therefore between you and Himself there is a quarrel which never can be ended till you admit your error and beg for pardon.
He can deal with you in mercy when you once stand where mercy can meet with you, namely, in the sinner’s place. But if you say “I am not guilty,” and begin to vindicate or excuse yourself, you are on a ground which the Lord cannot recognize. If you are professedly righteous, how can the Lord deal with you except in justice? And if He deals with you in justice He will readily enough summon His witnesses and prove you guilty and condemn you to Hell. Submit, then, unto God, and say, “Guilty, Lord. I throw down the weapons of my rebellion and acknowledge that I stand condemned before You. And if I am saved at all it must be by Your free forgiveness, by Your unmerited mercy, by Your boundless love.” A man must next submit himself to the plan of salvation by Grace alone. God meets the sinner on the footing of Grace. “I cannot exonerate you,” He seems to say, “but I can forgive you. I cannot tolerate your denial of guilt, but if you confess your sin, I am faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to save you from all unrighteousness.” Now, are you willing, my dear Hearer—are you sure that you are willing to be saved by Grace, alone, and to owe your deliverance from sin and its punishment entirely to the free favor of God? Will you yield to that? I trust you will.
But there are some who will not, for they go about to establish their own righteousness and do not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. They think that so much Chapel-going, Church-going, sermon-hearing, Prayer Meeting-attending, Bible reading and so on, will certainly work up something like a claim upon God! O, Sirs, have done with claims! If you come with anything like a claim, the Lord will not touch the case at all, for you have no claim and the pretense of one would be an insult to God! If you fancy you have demands upon God, go into the court of Justice and plead them, but the sentence is certain to be against you, for by the deeds of the Law no flesh can be justified.
Try the other way! Come to God with no claim and appeal to His pity, saying, “Lord, I cry for mercy. Gladly will I accept Your free Grace if You will but give it to me.” You will be accepted on that footing, for the Lord is gracious and casts out none who come to Him confessing their sins. You must also submit yourselves to God’s way of saving you through an atoning Sacrifice and by means of your personal faith in that Sacrifice. You must receive His Son as Divine and you must believe in that atoning blood which was shed for many for the remission of sins. Surely there should be no difficulty about surrendering the mind to this! Salvation by the great Mediator is such a delightful way of salvation, so just to God, so safe to man, that we ought to clap our hands for very joy to think that such a royal road to Heaven is opened for us!
What do you say, dear Hearers? Does the Holy Spirit incline you to trust in the blood of Jesus? And then there must be a full submission to God in the matter of giving up every sin. Numbers of persons pray for mercy, but they continue in their sins. Such men cannot be saved because salvation is salvation from sin—not in sin. How can we be saved from sin if we are its slaves? If you come to God and cry, “Lord, deliver me and have mercy upon me,” and yet you practice private drinking and tipple yourselves into semi-drunkenness, how can you be saved? If you keep on cheating in business, or telling lies, or indulge a malicious or angry temper in the family, or are proud and unkind, selfish and miserly, how can you be saved?
I warn you, Friends, that faith itself cannot save you while these things are so, for if your faith were a saving faith it would rescue you from these evils! This, indeed, is salvation, namely, deliverance from the power and habit of sin! Many prayers are semi-hypocritical—there is a kind of sincerity about them, but there is no whole-hearted desire after holiness and, therefore, they will never gain a comfortable answer from God. O Seeker, are you willing to give up every sin? Come, drunkard, you pray to be forgiven, but are you willing to leave the intoxicating cup once and for all? You, my Friend, ask to be pardoned—it is well, but are you, at the same time, desirous to cease from your transgressions? Yes or no? Are you anxious to search out every false way and abandon it as soon as it is discovered? Do you wish to have a holy, truthful, godly tongue? Do you long to be saved from every lust and secret vice? If so, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are already saved! Your sigh to be delivered from evil is the commencement of the work of sanctification! But if you say, “I would be saved from every wrong way except my one indulgence, my one secret iniquity,” then you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity! Your prayers will come back to your bosom unanswered and your pretended faith in Christ will condemn you! Your fancied faith cannot save you, seeing you love your sin.
A certain man has been accustomed to eat of a certain dish which is bad for his health and when he calls in a physician, their talk is after this fashion—“If you trust me,” says the doctor, “I can cure you.” “Yes,” replies the patient, “I do trust you heartily.” The doctor proceeds, “That dainty of yours must be given up, for it is the cause of your disease and so long as you eat it, you must suffer the consequence.” “Well, doctor,” he says, “I trust you, but I cannot give up my favorite food.” Is it not apparent to everybody that he does not trust the physician at all? Even so, when a man declares, “I trust in Christ to save me from sin,” and then continues in his wickedness, he mocks the Good Physician and is in danger of sudden destruction! Either you must cast sin out of your heart or it will keep you out of Heaven! This point must be insisted on—receiving Christ is impossible without, at the same time, renouncing sin! If we would be saved there must be submission to the Lord as to all His teachings. A very necessary point in this age, for a multitude of persons who appear to be religious, judge the Scriptures instead of allowing the Scriptures to judge them.
Hear, O you wise men, “Except you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” Submission to the Infallible authority of the Inspired Word is absolutely required of every disciple of Jesus, but this age delights in the opposite spirit!
Even some of those who call themselves ministers of the Gospel persistently indulge a spirit which is precisely the reverse of the childlike faith which saves the soul. They industriously endeavor to excite rebellion against the teachings of Christ and cry it up under the name of, “honest doubt.” They do not wish men to believe, but to think—and their Gospel, practically, is—“Doubt, and do not be baptized, and you shall be saved.” Shame on them! Our Gospel is, “He that believes and is baptized, shall be saved!” And we are content to teach what Jesus Christ, our Lord, told His disciples to preach to all nations!
If I will never yield my reason. If I will never believe what I cannot understand. If I will carry an open knife about with me to cut and hack at texts of Scripture. If I will not sit at Jesus’ feet with Mary, but want Him to sit at my feet that I may tell Him what His religion ought to be and what He ought to have said, how can I be saved? If, after all, we are personally infallible and are to spend all our days in selecting our opinions, how can we know Christ? If instead of yielding my judgment to the plain teachings of my Lord, I revise His doctrines, how can I be saved? If I have not submitted my intellect to God, what peace can there be? Mark this well, you wise young men who know so much more than your fathers and are too intellectual to reverence your fathers’ God!
And, now, I must ask another question of you who desire peace and cannot find it. Have you submitted yourselves to the Providential arrangements of God? I know persons who often sit in this House of Prayer who have a quarrel with God. He took away a beloved object and they not only thought Him unkind and cruel at the time, but they still think so!
Like a child in a fit of the sulks, they cast an evil eye upon the great Father! They are not at peace and never will be till they have acknowledged the Lord’s supremacy and ceased from their rebellious thoughts. If they were in a right state of heart they would thank the Lord for their sharp trials and consent to His will as being assuredly right. I fear that unsubmission on this point affects a great number of persons. They cannot succeed in business and, therefore, they are out of temper with God. He knows very well that they are not fit to be made rich and could not be trusted with a large business and, therefore, He does not grant their suicidal desires. Some men would never win the race of life if they had an ounce of gold to carry! The only hope for their running at all lies in keeping them unencumbered. We know, also, thoughtful young men who cannot pursue their studies because of failing health. They want to be famous, but they are not strong enough to continue their work for the examination and so they are vexed with the Lord. Or, it may be they have less talent than ambition and they rebel because their Maker has not given them intellects as capacious as that of Solomon. Let them be satisfied to use the talent they have and cease from contending with their Creator!
Many men have a sort of private resentment with Providence and sit down like Jonah under their withered gourd and mutter, “We do well to be angry even unto death.” Now, if such is the case with any before me, I would say to them—leave off quarrelling with your God! What can be the use of it? The very best and wisest thing for you is to make friends with Him and let His will be your will. After all, He deals well with you, if you would but see it. Depend upon it, there is something to be made out of the position you occupy—gain will come to you out of all those losses—profit will arise even from those sad bereavements if you will stand still and see the salvation of God. Acquaint yourselves with God and be at peace, for thereby good shall come unto you—for unless you do this you may say, “I believe,” but you have no faith in God!
How can a man believe in God when he charges God with treating him wrongly? Faith begets resignation and submission—where there is strife and enmity—unbelief is still supreme. Until you submit yourselves to God it cannot be well with your souls, for He resists the proud but gives Grace to the humble. This is the long and the short of it—you must, as a guilty sinner, cast yourself at God’s feet and say, “Have mercy upon me, O Lord, and have mercy upon me in Your own way. I dictate not to You, but I implore Your Grace! I humbly beg forgiveness. Be pleased to pity me. I yield up myself to You, asking You to make me holy. I do from my very heart give up the love of sin. I fear I shall sin, help me to loathe myself when I do so! Make me what You will have me to be and then deal as You will with me. I make no terms nor conditions. Mine is an unconditional surrender. Only for Your mercy’s sake renew me. Make me Your child and save me. As You bid me trust Your Son, I trust Him. Lord, I believe! Help you my unbelief.”
You will have peace when your heart is brought to this point. At present your wound does not heal because it needs washing, for the grit of pride has fallen into it and is causing a wretched irritation. When pride is gone and you are fully submissive, then shall the wound heal and your broken bones shall rejoice! I am not asking you to submit to a priest! I am not asking you to submit to a mere man! But I speak very earnestly when I say, “Submit yourselves to God”—it is natural, it is right—it is good in itself and filled with the highest good to you. Submission is essential to salvation, therefore bow before the Lord at once! May the Lord bend that stubborn will and conquer that wayward heart. Yield yourselves to God and pray to be delivered from future rebellion. If you have submitted, do so yet more completely, for so shall you be known to be Christians when you submit yourselves to God. If you will not submit, your faith is a lie, your hope is a delusion, your prayer is an insult, your peace is presumption and your end will be despair! Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. “But God shall wound the head of His enemies and the hairy scalp of such an one as goes on still in his trespasses.”
II. But now, secondly, having thus spoken upon the great duty of submission, let us consider the other and FOLLOWING PRECEPTS.
I think I am not suspicious without reason when I express a fear that the preaching which has latey been very common and, in some respects very useful, of, “only believe and you shall be saved,” has sometimes been altogether mistaken by those who have heard it. Cases occur in which young persons go on living light, frivolous, giddy, and even wicked lives—and yet they claim that they believe in Jesus Christ. When you come to examine them a little, you find that their belief in Christ means that they believe that He has saved them, although everybody who knows their character can clearly see that they are not saved at all!
Now, what is their faith but the belief of a lie? They are living just as they did live and, therefore, it is clear that they are not saved from their former foolish conversation, nor from their bad tempers, nor from their old sins. And yet they try to persuade themselves that they are saved! Now, true faith never believes lies! Presumption lives upon lies, but faith will only feed on the Truth of God! My faith does not teach me to believe I am saved when straight before my very eyes I have the evidence that I am not saved, since I am living in the very sin I pretend to be saved from! Though we would not, for a moment, cast a doubt upon the doctrine of Justification by Faith and Free Salvation, we must also preach more and more that parallel Truth of God—“You must be born again.”
We must bring to the front the grand old word which has been thrown into the background by some evangelists, namely, “Repent.” Repentance is as essential to salvation as faith. Indeed, there is no faith without repentance except the faith which needs to be repented of. A dry-eyed faith will never see the kingdom of God! A holy loathing for sin always attends upon a childlike faith in the Sin-Bearer. Where the root Grace of faith is found, other Graces will grow from it. Now notice how the Spirit of God, after having bidden us submit, goes on to show what else is to be done. He calls for a brave resistance of the devil. “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
The business of salvation is not all passive—the soul must be awakened to active warfare! I am to fall into the arms of Christ, that He may save me—I must trust Him completely. And when I depend upon Him I receive life—and the very first effort of that life is to strike with all its might the adversary of Christ and of my own soul. I am not only to contend with sin, but with the spirit which foments and suggests sin! I am to resist the secret spirit of evil as well as its outward “But oh,” says one, “I cannot give up an inveterate habit.” Sir, you must give it up! You must resist the devil or perish. “But I have been so long in it,” cries the man. Yes, but if you truly trust Christ, your first effort will be to fight against the evil habit. And if it is not merely a habit, nor an impulse, but if your danger lies in the existence of a cunning spirit who is armed at all points and both strong and subtle, yet you must not yield, but resolve to resist to the death, cheered by the gracious promise that he will flee from you! You shall, in the name of Jesus overcome temptation, master evil habits and escape from bondage! Only strike for freedom and disdain the chain of sin. If you are to have peace with God there must be war with Satan! You cannot rest in your spirit and know the peace which faith gives unless you wage war to the knife against every evil and against the patron and Prince of Evil, even Satan. Are you ready for this? You cannot have peace unless you are!
Next the Apostle writes, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” He who sincerely believes in Christ will be much in prayer. Yet there are some who say, “We want to be saved,” but they neglect prayer! They cannot make out how it is that they have no enjoyment of religion. But why need they be puzzled? Ask your neglected closet! Ask your own heart how you can be happy and prosperous and blessed in Divine things if you do not pray! Remember that the mere saying of prayers is not praying. The essence of prayer lies in the heart drawing near to God—and it can do that without words. Prayer is the feeling that God is present and the desire of the soul to come near to Him so as to know His influence, to know His love, to feel His power and to be conformed to His will.
This kind of praying can be continued by the power of God’s Holy Spirit all day long. We must know something of this. “Behold he prays” is one of the first marks of a saved soul and if you think that by some momentary act of faith which you suppose you exercised you are therefore saved—while your heart remains at a distance from God, prayerless and careless—you are fatally deceived! Such is not the teaching of Scripture and there is no guarantee for it in the promises of God. If prayer is utterly neglected, the soul is dead!
The next precept is, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” What? Does the Word of God tell sinners to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts? Yes, it does. Some Brother whispers, “Ah, that is Arminianism.” Who are you that reply against God’s Word? If such teaching is in this Inspired Book, how dare we question it? It comes with a, “thus says the Lord”—“Cleanse your hands, you sinners.” When a man comes to God and says, “I am willing and anxious to be saved and I trust Christ to save me,” and yet he keeps his dirty black hands exercised in filthy actions doing what he knows is wrong, does he expect God to hear him? Do I need spend even so many as a half-dozen words to show that this man does not believe and is not really honest before the Most High? “Cleanse your hands, you sinners.”
Can you ask God to be at peace with you while your hands grasp your sins with loving embrace and are full of bribes, or are foul with lusts, or are smiting with the fist of anger and wrath? If you do the devil’s work with your hands, do not expect the Lord to fill them with His blessings! It cannot be! You must break off your sins by righteousness and, as Paul shook off the viper from His hand into the fire, so must you. By the power of faith, if it is a real faith, you will be able to purge your outward life. Why, when men talk about being spiritual and are not even decently moral, it makes us sick to hear them! How dare they talk about being Christians when they do not live as well as Muslims or heathens? Oh you dogs, howling out your shame, what portion have you among the children so long as you bite and devour and love your filthiness? It is idle to talk about salvation while sin is hugged to the heart with both hands. Away with such hypocrisy!
Then it is added, “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Can they do this? Assuredly not by themselves, but still, in order to have peace with God there must be so much purification of the heart that it shall no longer be double-minded. He who would have salvation must seek it with all his heart—must so seek it that he is resolved to give up anything and to endure anything so that he may but be rescued from sin. “Purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Get rid of that leering eye of yours towards uncleanness and that cross eye which squints towards worldly gain—for till your whole heart cries after the Most High, He will not hear you!
When you can say with David, “My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God,” you shall find the Lord! When you cease trying to serve two masters and submit yourselves unto God, He will bless you, but not till then! I believe that this touches the center of the mischief in many of those hearts which fail to reach peace—they have not given up sin—they are not whole-hearted after salvation. Then the Lord bids us “be afflicted, and mourn, and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.”
I grieve to say that I have met with persons who say, “I cannot find peace, I cannot get salvation,” and talk very prettily in that way. But yet, outside the door they are giggling one with another, as if it were matter of amusement. The Sabbath is spent in vain, idle, frivolous conversation—seriousness they do not seem even to have felt. The whole matter appears to be a mere sport. Some converts seem to jump into religion as people do into a bath—they jump out, again, about as fast. They never weigh the matter. They have no thought, no sorrow for sin, no humiliation before God. Stop that laughter if you are an unsaved soul—for decency’s sake, stop that laughter!
For you to laugh while in danger of being lost sounds to me as ghastly and as grim as if the fiends of Hell were to set up a theater and perform a comedy in the Pit. What right have you with laughter while sin is unforgiven, while God is angry with you? No, go to Him in fitter form and fashion or He will refuse your prayers. Be serious! Begin to think of death, judgment, the wrath to come. These are not trifles, Friends, nor things to make sport about. Neither is true religion a thing that is to be attended to as easily as when one snaps his finger and says, “Heigh presto! Quick. It’s done!”
By no means! If you are saved, your mind is solemnly impressed by eternal realities and you are serious about matters of life and death. The very thought of sin pains you—and since you meet with it in your daily life, you have cause for daily humbling and are afflicted because of it. Many, I fear, fail to get peace because it is not a solemn matter at all for them. They trifle with it as if it were a game for boys and girls to play and not for the heart and spirit to enter upon with deep
concern.
Then the Lord sums up His precepts by saying, “Humble yourselves in the sight of God.” With that I close. There must be a deep and lowly prostration of the spirit before God. If you happen to have a boy who shows a high rebellious spirit against you and you have chastened him for it, but yet he continues in his rebellion, you tell him that there must be a humbling of himself before you can forgive him. If he is a wise child and wishes to escape your anger, he makes a dutiful confession, acknowledges that he was wrong and appeals to your love—and you freely pardon him. But in many who pretend to come to God there is no humbling. They do not admit that they ever did anything particularly wrong and they do not care if they did! Still, they hear there is such a thing as believing in Jesus and they profess to believe, not because there is any need for it, as they think, but for fashion’s sake.
Ah, Friends, Jesus Christ did not come to heal the whole, but the sick! Neither did He die to bind up those who are not broken, nor to make alive those who were never killed. There must be in you—and may God give it to you—a brokenness of spirit! A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise! If your heart has never been broken, how can He bind it up? If it were never wounded, how can He heal it? These are weighty matters and I speak them weightily lest anyone among you should be deceived. God help you to cry, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
This is the way of salvation—that you believe in Jesus Christ whom God has sent! But remember that He saves us FROM our sins, not IN our sins! Faith in Jesus Christ saves and will save all who have it—but it is by purging out sin. It assures us that we are pardoned and thus it makes us love the Christ by whom we are forgiven. This love leads us to abhor ourselves for our sins and we endeavor to purify ourselves from them by His Spirit. Faith without works is dead, being alone, and though a man is justified by faith and not by works—and by faith alone—not even in part by his works!
Yet the faith which saves is a faith which produces good works and leads into the way of holiness. He who does not seek after righteousness and true holiness, let him pretend what he may, he is dead while he lives! The Lord have mercy upon you, for Christ’s sake. Amen.

Hymn for Today:
“In the Cross of Christ I Glory” John Bowring, 1792-1872
1. In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.
2. When the woes of life o’ertake me,
hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
never shall the cross forsake me.
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.
3. When the sun of bliss is beaming
light and love upon my way,
from the cross the radiance streaming
adds more luster to the day.
4. Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
by the cross are sanctified;
peace is there that knows no measure,
joys that through all time abide.
5. In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o’er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.

Through the Bible in One Year:
Judges 1 to 10
1 Now after Joshua’s death, the Israelites consulted Yahweh, asking, ‘Which of us is to march on the Canaanites first, to make war on them?’
2 And Yahweh replied, ‘Judah is to march on them first; I am delivering the country into his hands.’
3 Judah then said to his brother Simeon, ‘March with me into the territory allotted to me; we shall make war on the Canaanites, and then I in my turn shall march into your territory with you.’ And Simeon marched with him.
4 So Judah marched on them, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated them at Bezek-ten thousand of them!
5 At Bezek they came upon Adoni-Bezek; they joined battle with him and defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.
6 Adoni-Bezek took to flight, but they chased and captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
7 Adoni-Bezek said, ‘Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up the crumbs under my table. As I did, God does to me.’ He was taken to Jerusalem, and there he died.
8 (The sons of Judah attacked Jerusalem and took it: they put its people to the sword and set fire to the city.)
9 After this the sons of Judah went down to make war on the Canaanites who were living in the highlands, the Negeb and the lowlands.
10 Judah next marched on the Canaanites living in Hebron — the name of Hebron in olden days was Kiriath-Arba — and beat Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.
11 From there, he marched on the inhabitants of Debir — the name of Debir in olden days was Kiriath-Sepher.
12 Caleb said, ‘To the man who conquers and captures Kiriath-Sepher, I shall give my daughter Achsah as wife.’
13 The man who captured it was Othniel son of Kenaz, younger brother of Caleb, who gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.
14 When she arrived, he urged her to ask her father for arable land, but when she alighted from the donkey and Caleb asked her, ‘What is the matter?’
15 she said to him, ‘Grant me a blessing! As the land you have given me is the Negeb, give me springs of water, too!’ So Caleb gave her what she wanted: the upper springs and the lower springs.
16 The sons of Hobab the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, marched up with the sons of Judah from the City of Palm Trees into the desert of Judah lying in the Negeb of Arad, where they went and settled among the people.
17 Judah then set out with his brother Simeon. They beat the Canaanites who lived in Zephath and delivered it over to the curse of destruction; hence the town was given the name of Hormah.
18 Judah then captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, Ekron and its territory.And Yahweh was with Judah, who made himself master of the highlands;
19 he could not, however, dispossess the inhabitants of the plain, since they had iron chariots.
20 As Moses had directed, Hebron was given to Caleb, and he drove the three sons of Anak out of it.
21 As regards the Jebusites living in Jerusalem, the sons of Benjamin did not dispossess them, and the Jebusites have been living in Jerusalem with the sons of Benjamin ever since.
22 Similarly, the House of Joseph marched on Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.
23 The House of Joseph made a reconnaissance of Bethel. (In olden days, the name of the town was Luz.)
24 The scouts saw a man coming out of the town and said to him, ‘Show us how to get into the town and we shall show you faithful love.’
25 And when he had shown them a way into the town, they put the town to the sword but let the man and his whole clan go.
26 The man went off to the country of the Hittites and built a town which he called Luz; and that has been its name ever since.
27 Manasseh did not dispossess Beth-Shean and its dependencies, nor Taanach and its dependencies, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its dependencies, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its dependencies, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its dependencies; in those parts the Canaanites held their ground.
28 But when the Israelites became stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labour, although they did not dispossess them.
29 Nor did Ephraim dispossess the Canaanites living in Gezer; thus, the Canaanites went on living in Gezer with him.
30 Zebulun did not dispossess the inhabitants of Kitron or of Nahalol. The Canaanites lived on with Zebulun but were subjected to forced labour.
31 Asher did not dispossess the inhabitants of Acco, nor those of Sidon, of Mahalab, of Achzib, of Helbah, of Aphek or of Rehob.
32 So the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the country, not having dispossessed them.
33 Naphtali did not dispossess the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh or of Beth-Anath; they settled among the Canaanite inhabitants of the country, but the inhabitants of Beth-Shemesh and of Beth-Anath were subjected to forced labour for them.
34 The Amorites drove the Danites back into the highlands and would not let them come down into the plain.
35 The Amorites held their ground at Har — Heres and Shaalbim, but when the hand of the House of Joseph grew heavier, they were subjected to forced labour. (
36 The territory of the Edomites begins at the Ascent of Scorpions, runs to the Rock and continues on upwards.)
1 The Angel of Yahweh went up from Gilgal to Bethel and said, ‘I have brought you out of Egypt and led you into this country, which I promised on oath to your ancestors. I said, “I shall never break my covenant with you.
2 You for your part must make no covenant with the inhabitants of this country; you will destroy their altars.” But you have not listened to my voice. What is the reason for this?
3 Very well, I now say this, “I am not going to drive these nations out before you. They will become your oppressors, and their gods will be a snare for you.”
4 When the angel of Yahweh had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people began to wail at the top of their voices.
5 And they called the place Bochim, and offered sacrifices to Yahweh there.
6 Joshua having dismissed the people, the Israelites then went away, each one to his own heritage, to occupy the country.
7 The people served Yahweh throughout the lifetime of Joshua and throughout the lifetime of those elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the great deeds which Yahweh had done for the sake of Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, servant of Yahweh, was a hundred and ten years old when he died.
9 He was buried on the estate which he had received as his heritage at Timnath-Heres in the highlands of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
10 And when that whole generation had been gathered to its ancestors, another generation followed it which knew neither Yahweh nor the deeds which he had done for the sake of Israel.
11 The Israelites then did what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes and served the Baals.
12 They deserted Yahweh, God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt, and they followed other gods, from those of the surrounding peoples. They bowed down to these; they provoked Yahweh;
13 they deserted Yahweh to serve Baal and Astartes.
14 Then Yahweh’s anger grew hot against Israel. He handed them over to pillagers who plundered them; he delivered them to the enemies surrounding them, and they were no longer able to resist their enemies.
15 Whenever they mounted an expedition, Yahweh’s hand was there to foil them, as Yahweh had told them and as Yahweh had sworn to them, so that they were in dire distress.
16 Yahweh then appointed them judges, who rescued them from the hands of their plunderers.
17 But even to their judges they refused to listen. They prostituted themselves to other gods and bowed down before these. Very quickly they left the path which their ancestors had trodden in obedience to the orders of Yahweh; they did not follow their example.
18 When Yahweh appointed judges for them, Yahweh was with the judge and rescued them from the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived, since Yahweh relented at their groans under their persecutors and oppressors.
19 But once the judge was dead, they relapsed into even worse corruption than their ancestors. They followed other gods; they served them and bowed before them and would not give up the practices and stubborn ways of their ancestors at all.
20 Yahweh’s anger then blazed out against Israel, and he said, ‘Since this people has broken the covenant which I laid down for their ancestors, since they have not listened to my voice,
21 in future I shall not drive before them any one of those nations which Joshua left when he died,
22 in order, by means of them, to put Israel to the test, to see whether or not they would tread the paths of Yahweh as once their ancestors had trodden them.’
23 Hence, Yahweh allowed these nations to remain; he did not hurry to drive them out, and did not deliver them into the hands of Joshua.
1 These are the nations which Yahweh allowed to remain, by their means to put all those Israelites to the test who had not experienced any of the Canaanite wars
2 (this was only to instruct the Israelites’ descendants, to teach them the art of war, those at least who had not experienced it previously):
3 the five chiefs of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hittites who lived in the range of the Lebanon, from the uplands of Baal-Hermon to the Pass of Hamath.
4 They were used to put Israel to the test and see if they would keep the orders which Yahweh had given their ancestors through Moses.
5 The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites and Amorites, the Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites;
6 they married their daughters, they gave their own sons to their daughters and they served their gods.
7 The Israelites did what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes. They forgot Yahweh their God and served Baals and Asherahs.
8 Then Yahweh’s anger blazed out against Israel: he handed them over to Cushan-Rishathaim king of Edom, and the Israelites were enslaved to Cushan-Rishathaim for eight years.
9 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh and Yahweh raised for the Israelites a deliverer who rescued them, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
10 The spirit of Yahweh was on him; he became judge in Israel and set out for war. Yahweh delivered Cushan-Rishathaim king of Edom into his hands, and he triumphed over Cushan- Rishathaim.
11 The country then had peace for forty years. Othniel son of Kenaz then died.
12 Again the Israelites began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes, and Yahweh strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel, since they were doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes.
13 Eglon in conjunction with the sons of Ammon and Amalek marched on Israel, beat them and captured the City of Palm Trees.
14 The Israelites were enslaved to Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.
15 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh, and Yahweh raised a deliverer for them, Ehud son of Gera, a Benjaminite; he was left-handed. The Israelites appointed him to take their tribute to Eglon king of Moab.
16 Ehud made himself a dagger — it was double-edged and a foot long — and strapped it under his clothes on his right thigh.
17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. This Eglon was a very fat man.
18 Having presented the tribute, Ehud sent away the men who had been carrying it;
19 but he himself, on reaching the Idols which are near Gilgal, went back and said, ‘I have a secret message for you, O king.’ The king commanded silence, and all his attendants withdrew.
20 Ehud went up to him; he was sitting in his private room upstairs, where it was cool. Ehud said to him, ‘I have a message from God for you, O king.’ The latter immediately rose from his seat.
21 Then Ehud, reaching with his left hand, drew the dagger he was carrying on his right thigh and thrust it into the king’s belly.
22 The hilt too went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, since Ehud did not pull the dagger out of his belly again.
23 Ehud went out through the privies, having shut and bolted the doors of the upstairs room behind him.
24 When he had gone, the servants came back and looked; the doors of the upstairs room were bolted. They thought, ‘He is probably covering his feet in the inner part of the cool room.’
25 They waited until they became embarrassed, but still he did not open the doors of the upstairs room. Eventually, they took the key and opened the door; and there lay their master, dead, on the ground.
26 Meanwhile, Ehud had got away, passed the Idols and made good his escape to safety in Seirah.
27 Once there, he sounded the horn in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites came down from the hills with him at their head.
28 And he said to them, ‘Follow me, because Yahweh has delivered your enemy Moab into your hands.’ So they followed him, seized the fords of the Jordan against Moab and allowed no one to cross.
29 On that occasion they beat the Moabites, some ten thousand men, all tough and seasoned fighters, and not one escaped.
30 That day Moab was humbled under the hand of Israel, and the country had peace for eighty years.
31 After him came Shamgar son of Anath. He routed six hundred of the Philistines with an ox-goad; he too was a deliverer of Israel.
1 Once Ehud was dead, the Israelites again began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes,
2 and Yahweh handed them over to Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned at Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Haroshet-ha-Goiim.
3 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh; for Jabin had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.
4 Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at the time.
5 She used to sit under Deborah’s Palm between Ramah and Bethel in the highlands of Ephraim, and the Israelites would come to her for justice.
6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘Has not Yahweh, God of Israel, commanded, “Go! March to Mount Tabor and with you take ten thousand of the sons of Naphtali and the sons of Zebulun.
7 I shall entice Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, to encounter you at the Torrent of Kishon with his chariots and troops; and I shall put him into your power”? ‘
8 Barak replied, ‘If you come with me, I shall go; if you will not come, I shall not go, for I do not know how to choose the day when the angel of Yahweh will grant me success.’
9 ‘I shall go with you then,’ she said, ‘but, the way you are going about it, the glory will not be yours; for Yahweh will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.’ Deborah then stood up and went with Barak to Kedesh.
10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men marched behind him, and Deborah went with him.
11 Heber the Kenite had parted company with the tribe of Kain and with the sons of Hobab, father-in-law of Moses; he had pitched his tent near the Oak of Zaanannim, not far from Kedesh.
12 Sisera was informed that Barak son of Abinoam had encamped on Mount Tabor.
13 Sisera summoned all his chariots — nine hundred iron chariots — and all the troops he had, from Harosheth-ha-Goiim to the Torrent of Kishon.
14 Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For today is the day when Yahweh has put Sisera into your power. Is not Yahweh marching at your head?’ And Barak charged down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him.
15 At Barak’s advance, Yahweh struck terror into Sisera, all his chariots and his entire army. Sisera leapt down from his chariot and fled on foot.
16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-ha-Goiim. Sisera’s whole army fell by the edge of the sword; not one man was spared.
17 Sisera meanwhile fled on foot towards the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. For there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, ‘Stay here, my lord, with me; do not be afraid!’ He stayed with her in her tent, and she covered him with a rug.
19 He said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ She opened the skin of milk, gave him some to drink and covered him up again.
20 Then he said to her, ‘Stand at the tent door, and if anyone comes and questions you — if he asks, “Is there a man here?” say, “No.” ‘
21 But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent-peg and picked up a mallet; she crept up softly to him and drove the peg into his temple right through to the ground. He was lying fast asleep, worn out; and so he died.
22 And now Barak came up in pursuit of Sisera. Jael went out to meet him and said, ‘Come in, and I will show you the man you are looking for.’ He went into her tent; and there was Sisera dead, with the tent-peg through his temple.
23 Thus God that day humbled Jabin king of Canaan before the Israelites.
24 And the Israelites bore down more and more heavily on that king of Canaan, Jabin, until he was utterly destroyed.
1 They sang a song that day, Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam, and the words were:
2 That the warriors in Israel unbound their hair, that the people came forward with a will, bless Yahweh!
3 Listen, you kings! Give ear, you princes! From me, from me comes a song for Yahweh. I shall glorify Yahweh, God of Israel.
4 Yahweh, when you set out from Seir, when you marched from the field of Edom, the earth shook, the heavens pelted, the clouds pelted down water.
5 The mountains melted before Yahweh of Sinai, before Yahweh, God of Israel.
6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, there were no more caravans; those who went forth on their travels took their way along by-paths.
7 The villages in Israel were no more, they were no more until you arose, O Deborah, until you arose, mother of Israel!
8 They were choosing new gods when war was at the gates. Was there one shield, one spear to be found among the forty thousand men in Israel?
9 My heart is with the leaders of Israel, with the people who came forward with a will! Bless Yahweh!
10 You who ride white donkeys and sit on saddle-blankets as you ride, and you who go on foot,
11 sing — to the sound of the shepherds at the watering places! There they extol Yahweh’s blessings, his saving acts for his villages in Israel! (Then Yahweh’s people marched down to the gates.)
12 Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, declaim a song! Take heart, to your feet, Barak, capture your captors, son of Abinoam!
13 Then Israel marched down to the gates; like champions, Yahweh’s people marched down to fight for him!
14 The princes of Ephraim are in the valley. Behind you, Benjamin is in your ranks. Captains have come down from Machir, those who wield the commander’s staff, from Zebulun.
15 The princes of Issachar are with Deborah; Naphtali, with Barak, in the valley follows in hot pursuit. In the clans of Reuben there was much searching of heart.
16 Why did you stay among the sheepfolds, listening for the whistle, with the flocks? (In the clans of Reuben, there was much searching of heart.)
17 Gilead stayed on the other side of the Jordan, and why should Dan have stayed aboard ship? Asher remained beside the sea, peacefully living within his ports.
18 Zebulun is a people who have braved death, Naphtali too, on the high ground of the country.
19 The kings came and they fought, how they fought, those kings of Canaan, at Taanach, near the Waters of Megiddo, but no booty of silver did they take!
20 The stars fought from heaven, from their orbits they fought against Sisera.
21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away, the torrent of old, the torrent of Kishon. -March on, be strong my soul!
22 The horses’ hooves then hammer the ground: galloping, galloping go his steeds.
23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the Angel of Yahweh, ‘curse, curse the people living there for not having come to Yahweh’s help, to Yahweh’s help as warriors!’
24 Most blessed of women be Jael (the wife of Heber the Kenite); of tent-dwelling women, may she be most blessed!
25 He asked for water; she gave him milk; she offered him curds in a lordly dish.
26 She reached her hand out to seize the peg, her right hand to seize the workman’s mallet. She hammered Sisera, she crushed his head, she pierced his temple and shattered it.
27 Between her feet, he crumpled, he fell, he lay; at her feet, he crumpled, he fell. Where he crumpled, there he fell, destroyed.
28 At the window, she leans and watches, Sisera’s mother, through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long coming? Why so delayed the hoof-beats from his chariot?’
29 The wisest of her ladies answers, and she to herself repeats,
30 ‘Are they not collecting and sharing out the spoil: a girl, two girls for each warrior; a booty of coloured and embroidered stuff for Sisera, one scarf, two embroidered scarves for me!’
31 So perish all your enemies, Yahweh! And let those who love you be like the sun when he emerges in all his strength! And the country had peace for forty years.
1 The Israelites did what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes, and for seven years Yahweh handed them over to Midian;
2 and Midian bore down heavily on Israel. To escape from the Midianites the Israelites used the mountain clefts and the caves and shelters.
3 Whenever Israel sowed seed the Midianites would march up with Amalek and the sons of the East. They would march on Israel.
4 They would pitch camp on their territory and destroy the produce of the country as far as Gaza. They left Israel nothing to live on, not a sheep or an ox or a donkey,
5 for they came up as thick as locusts with their cattle and their tents; they and their camels were innumerable, they invaded the country to pillage it.
6 Thus, Midian brought Israel to great distress, and the Israelites cried to Yahweh.
7 When the Israelites cried to Yahweh because of Midian,
8 Yahweh sent a prophet to the Israelites. He said to them, ‘This is what Yahweh, God of Israel, says, “It was I who brought you out of Egypt, and led you out of the place of slave-labour.
9 I rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and from the power of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave their country to you.
10 And I said to you: I am Yahweh your God. You are not to fear the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now living. But you have not listened to my voice.” ‘
11 The Angel of Yahweh came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash of Abiezer. Gideon his son was threshing wheat inside the wine-press, to keep it hidden from Midian,
12 and the Angel of Yahweh appeared to him and said, ‘Yahweh is with you, valiant warrior!’
13 Gideon replied, ‘Excuse me, my lord, but if Yahweh is with us, why is all this happening to us? And where are all his miracles which our ancestors used to tell us about when they said, “Did not Yahweh bring us out of Egypt?” But now Yahweh has deserted us; he has abandoned us to Midian,’
14 At this, Yahweh turned to him and said, ‘Go in this strength of yours, and you will rescue Israel from the power of Midian. Am I not sending you myself?’
15 Gideon replied, ‘Forgive me, my lord, but how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh and I am the least important of my father’s family.’
16 Yahweh replied, ‘I shall be with you and you will crush Midian as though it were one man.’
17 Gideon said, ‘If I have found favour in your sight, give me a sign that you are speaking to me.
18 Please do not go away from here until I come back to you, bringing you my offering and laying it before you.’ And he replied, ‘I shall stay until you come back.’
19 Gideon went away, he prepared a young goat and from an ephah of flour he made unleavened cakes. He put the meat into a basket and the broth into a pot, then brought it all to him under the terebinth. As he approached,
20 the Angel of Yahweh said to him, ‘Take the meat and unleavened cakes, put them on this rock and pour the broth over them.’ Gideon did so.
21 The Angel of Yahweh then stretched out the tip of the staff which he was carrying, and touched the meat and unleavened cakes. Fire sprang from the rock and consumed the meat and unleavened cakes, and the Angel of Yahweh vanished before his eyes.
22 Gideon then knew that this was the Angel of Yahweh, and he said, ‘Alas, my Lord Yahweh! Now I have seen the Angel of Yahweh face to face!’
23 Yahweh answered, ‘Peace be with you; have no fear; you will not die.’
24 Gideon built an altar there to Yahweh and called it Yahweh-Peace. This altar stands in our own day at Ophrah of Abiezer.
25 Now that night, Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘Take your father’s bull, the seven-year-old bull, and pull down the altar to Baal belonging to your father and cut down the sacred pole beside it.
26 Then, on top of this strong-point, build a proper altar to Yahweh your God. Then take the bull and burn it as a burnt offering on the wood of the sacred pole which you have cut down.’
27 Gideon then took ten of his servants and did as Yahweh had ordered him. But, being too frightened of his family and of the townspeople to do it in daylight, he did it at night.
28 Next morning, when the townspeople got up, they found that the altar to Baal had been destroyed, the sacred pole standing beside it had been cut down and the bull had been sacrificed as a burnt offering on the newly built altar.
29 ‘Who has done this?’ they asked one another. They searched, made enquiries and declared, ‘Gideon son of Joash has done it.’
30 The townspeople then said to Joash, ‘Bring out your son; he must die for having destroyed Baal’s altar and cut down the sacred pole which stood beside it.’
31 To the people all crowding round him, Joash replied, ‘Is it your job to plead for Baal? Is it your job to champion his cause? (Anyone who pleads for Baal must be put to death before dawn.) If he is a god, let him plead for himself, now that Gideon has destroyed his altar.’
32 That day, Gideon was given the name Jerubbaal, because, they said, ‘Baal must plead against him, because he has destroyed his altar!’
33 All Midian and Amalek and the sons of the East joined forces and, having crossed the Jordan, pitched camp in the plain of Jezreel.
34 And the spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon around; he sounded the horn and Abiezer rallied behind him.
35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and Manasseh too rallied behind him; he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali, and they marched out to meet him.
36 Gideon said to God, ‘If it is really you delivering Israel by means of me, as you have said,
37 look, I am going to put a woollen fleece on the threshing-floor; if there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground stays dry, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by means of me, as you have said.’
38 And so it happened. Early next morning, Gideon got up, squeezed the fleece and wrung enough dew out of the fleece to fill a cup.
39 Gideon then said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me if I speak just once more. Allow me to make the fleece-test just once more: let the fleece alone be dry and there be dew all over the ground!’
40 And God did so that night. The fleece alone stayed dry, and there was dew all over the ground.
1 Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) got up very early, as did all the people who were with him; he pitched camp at En-Harod; the camp of Midian was north of his, under the Hill of Moreh in the valley.
2 Yahweh then said to Gideon, ‘There are too many people with you for me to put Midian into their power; Israel might claim the credit for themselves at my expense: they might say, “My own hand has rescued me.”
3 So now make this proclamation to the people, “Anyone trembling with fear is to go back and watch from Mount Gilboa.” ‘ Twenty-two thousand of the people went back, and ten thousand remained.
4 Yahweh said to Gideon, ‘There are still too many people. Take them down to the waterside and I shall sort them out for you there. If I say of someone, “He is to go with you,” that man is to go with you. And if I say of anyone, “He is not to go with you,”
5 So Gideon took the people down to the waterside, and Yahweh said to him, ‘All those who lap the water with their tongues, as a dog laps, put these on one side. And all those who kneel down to drink, put these on the other side.’
6 The number of those who lapped with their hands to their mouth was three hundred; all the rest of the people had knelt to drink.
7 Yahweh then said to Gideon, ‘With the three hundred who lapped the water, I shall rescue you and put Midian into your power. Let the people as a whole disperse to their homes.’
8 So they took the people’s provisions and their horns, and then Gideon sent all the Israelites back to their tents, keeping only the three hundred. The camp of Midian was below his in the valley.
9 Now it happened, that same night, that Yahweh said to him, ‘Get up and go down to the camp. I am putting it into your power.
10 If, however, you are nervous about going down, go down to the camp with your servant Purah;
11 listen to what they are saying, and that will encourage you to go down to the camp.’ So, with his servant Purah, he went down to the edge of the outposts of the camp.
12 Midian, Amalek and all the sons of the East were deployed in the valley as thick as locusts; their camels were as innumerable as the sand on the seashore.
13 Gideon got there just as a man was telling his comrade a dream; he was saying, ‘This was the dream I had: a cake made of barley bread came rolling into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent, struck against it and turned it upside down.’
14 His comrade replied, ‘This can only be the sword of Gideon son of Joash the Israelite. God has put Midian and the whole camp into his power.’
15 When Gideon heard the dream thus told and interpreted, he bowed in reverence; he then went back to the camp of Israel and said, ‘On your feet, for Yahweh has put the camp of Midian into your power!’
16 Gideon then divided his three hundred men into three groups. To each he gave a horn and an empty pitcher, with a torch inside each pitcher.
17 He said to them, ‘Watch me, and do as I do. When I reach the edge of the camp, whatever I do, you must do also.
18 I shall blow my horn, and so will all those who are with me; you too will then blow your horns all round the camp and shout, “For Yahweh and for Gideon!”
19 Gideon and his hundred companions reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when the new sentries had just been posted; they blew their horns and smashed the pitchers in their hands.
20 The three groups blew their horns and smashed their pitchers; with their left hands they grasped the torches, with their right hands the horns for blowing them; and they shouted, ‘The sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!’
21 And they stood still, spaced out round the camp. The whole camp was thrown into confusion and the Midianites fled, shouting.
22 While the three hundred blew their horns, Yahweh made each man turn his sword against his comrade throughout the entire camp. They all fled as far as Beth-ha-Shittah in the direction of Zarethan, as far as the bank of Abel-Meholah opposite Tabbath.
23 The men of Israel mustered from Naphtali, Asher and all Manasseh, and pursued Midian.
24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the highlands of Ephraim to say, ‘Come down to meet Midian, seize the water-points ahead of them as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.’ All the men of Ephraim mustered and seized the water-points as far as Beth-Barah and the Jordan.
25 They captured the two Midianite chieftains, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at Oreb’s Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb’s Winepress. They pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon on the other side of the Jordan.
1 Now the men of Ephraim said to Gideon, ‘What do you mean by treating us like this, not summoning us when you went to fight Midian?’ And they reproached him bitterly.
2 He replied, ‘What have I achieved, compared with you? Is not the gleaning of Ephraim’s grapes better than the vintage of Abiezer?
3 God delivered Oreb and Zeeb, the chieftains of Midian, into your power. What was I able to do, in comparison with what you have done?’ At these words, their anger with him died down.
4 Gideon reached the Jordan and crossed it, but he and his three hundred companions were exhausted with the pursuit.
5 So he said to the men of Succoth, ‘Please give my followers some loaves of bread, since they are exhausted, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna the kings of Midian.’
6 The headmen of Succoth replied, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your grasp, that we should give bread to your army?’
7 ‘Very well,’ retorted Gideon, ‘when Yahweh has put Zebah and Zalmunna into my power, I shall tear your flesh off with desert-thorn and thistles.’
8 From there he went up to Penuel and asked the men of Penuel the same thing; they replied as those of Succoth had done.
9 And to those of Penuel he made a similar retort, ‘When I return victorious, I shall destroy this tower.’
10 Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all that was left of the entire army of the sons of the East. Of men bearing arms, a hundred and twenty thousand had fallen.
11 Gideon approached them by the tent-dwellers’ route, east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and attacked the army when it thought itself in safety.
12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled. He pursued them; he took the two kings of Midian prisoner — Zebah and Zalmunna — and the whole army he routed in panic.
13 After the battle Gideon came back by the Ascent of Heres.
14 He caught a young man, one of the people of Succoth, and questioned him, and the latter wrote down the names of the headmen and elders of Succoth for him — seventy-seven men.
15 Gideon son of Joash then went to the people of Succoth and said, ‘Here you see Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me and said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your grasp, that we should give bread to your exhausted troops?” ‘
16 He then seized the elders of the town and, taking desert-thorn and thistles, tore the men of Succoth to pieces.
17 He destroyed the tower of Penuel and slaughtered the townsmen.
18 He then said to Zebah and Zalmunna, ‘The men you killed at Tabor — what were they like?’ They replied, ‘They looked like you. Every one of them carried himself like the son of a king.’
19 Gideon replied, ‘They were my brothers, the sons of my own mother; as Yahweh lives, if you had spared their lives I would not kill you.’
20 To Jether his eldest son he said, ‘Stand up and kill them!’ But the boy did not draw his sword; he dared not; he was still only a lad.
21 Zebah and Zalmunna then said, ‘Stand up yourself, and strike us down; for as a man is, so is his strength.’ Then Gideon stood up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna; and he took the crescents from round their camels’ necks.
22 The men of Israel said to Gideon, ‘Rule over us, you, your son and your grandson, since you have rescued us from the power of Midian.’
23 But Gideon replied, ‘I will not rule you, neither will my son. Yahweh shall rule you.’
24 Gideon went on, however, ‘Let me make you one request. Each of you give me one ring out of his booty’ — for the vanquished had had gold rings, being Ishmaelites.
25 ‘We shall give them gladly,’ they replied. So he spread out his cloak, and on it each of them threw a ring from his booty.
26 The weight of the gold rings which he had asked for amounted to seventeen hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents and the earrings and purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and besides the collars round their camels’ necks.
27 From this Gideon made an ephod and set it up in his town, in Ophrah. All Israel, following his example, prostituted themselves to it, and it was a snare for Gideon and his family.
28 Thus Midian was humbled before the Israelites. He did not raise his head again, and the country had peace for forty years, as long as Gideon lived.
29 So Jerubbaal son of Joash went to live at home.
30 Gideon had seventy sons begotten by him, for he had many wives.
31 His concubine, who lived in Shechem, also bore him a son, to whom he gave the name Abimelech.
32 Gideon son of Joash died after a happy old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father, at Ophrah of Abiezer.
33 After Gideon’s death, the people of Israel again began to prostitute themselves to the Baals, taking Baal-Berith for their god.
34 The Israelites no longer remembered Yahweh their God, who had rescued them from all the enemies round them.
35 And to the family of Jerubbaal — Gideon — they showed no faithful gratitude for all the good which it had done for Israel.
1 Abimelech son of Jerubbaal confronted his mother’s brothers at Shechem and, to them and to the whole clan of his maternal grandfather’s family, he said,
2 ‘Please put this question to the leading men of Shechem: Which is better for you: to be ruled by seventy people — all Jerubbaal’s sons — or to be ruled by one? Remember too that I am your own flesh and bone.’
3 His mother’s brothers said all this on his behalf to all the leading men of Shechem, and their feelings swayed them to follow Abimelech, since they argued, ‘He is our brother.’
4 So they gave him seventy shekels of silver from the temple of Baal-Berith, and with this Abimelech paid violent adventurers to follow him.
5 He then went to his father’s house at Ophrah and put his brothers, Jerubbaal’s seventy sons, to death on one and the same stone. Jotham, however, Jerubbaal’s youngest son, escaped by going into hiding.
6 All the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-Millo then met and proclaimed Abimelech king at the oak of the cultic stone at Shechem.
7 News of this was brought to Jotham. He went and stood on the top of Mount Gerizim and shouted at the top of his voice: Hear me, leaders of Shechem, so that God may also hear you!
8 One day the trees went out to anoint a king to rule them. They said to the olive tree, ‘Be our king!’
9 The olive tree replied, ‘Must I forgo my oil which gives honour to gods and men, to stand and sway over the trees?’
10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and be our king!’
11 The fig tree replied, ‘Must I forgo my sweetness, forgo my excellent fruit, to go and sway over the trees?’
12 Then the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and be our king!’
13 The vine replied, ‘Must I forgo my wine which cheers gods and men, to go and sway over the trees?’
14 Then the trees all said to the thorn bush, ‘You come and be our king!’
15 And the thorn bush replied to the trees, ‘If you are anointing me in good faith to be your king, come and shelter in my shade. But, if not, fire will come out of the thorn bush and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’
16 ‘Now then, if you have acted in sincerity and good faith in making Abimelech king, if you have dealt honourably with Jerubbaal and his family, and have treated him as his actions deserved,
17 my father having fought for you, risked his life and rescued you from the power of Midian,
18 and you today having risen up against my father’s family, murdered his sons — seventy of them on one and the same stone — and appointed Abimelech, his slave-girl’s son, to rule the leading men of Shechem, because he is your brother!-
19 if, I say, you have acted in sincerity and good faith towards Jerubbaal and his family, then may Abimelech be your joy and may you be his!
20 If not, may fire come out of Abimelech and devour the leading men of Shechem and Beth-Millo, and fire come out of the leading men of Shechem and Beth-Millo to devour Abimelech!’
21 Jotham then took to his heels; he fled and made his way to Beer; and there he stayed, to be out of his brother Abimelech’s reach.
22 Abimelech ruled Israel for three years.
23 God then sent a spirit of discord between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem betrayed Abimelech.
24 And this was so that the crime committed against Jerubbaal’s seventy sons should be avenged, and their blood recoil on their brother Abimelech who had murdered them, and on those leaders of Shechem who had helped him to murder his brothers.
25 The leaders of Shechem put men to ambush him on the mountain tops, and these robbed anyone travelling their way. Abimelech was told of this.
26 Gaal son of Obed, with his brothers, happened to pass through Shechem and win the confidence of the leaders of Shechem.
27 These went out into the countryside to harvest their vineyards; they trod the grapes and made merry and went into the temple of their god. They ate and drank there and cursed Abimelech.
28 Gaal son of Obed said, ‘Who is Abimelech, and what is Shechem, for us to be his slaves? Should not Jerubbaal’s son and his lieutenant, Zebul, be serving the men of Hamor, father of Shechem? Why should we be his slaves?
29 Who will put this people under my command, so that I can expel Abimelech? I should say to him, “Reinforce your army and come out!” ‘
30 Zebul the governor of the town was told what Gaal son of Obed had said, and he was furious.
31 He sent messengers secretly to Abimelech to say, ‘Look! Gaal son of Obed has come to Shechem with his brothers, and they are stirring up the town against you.
32 So, move under cover of dark, you and the men you have with you, and take up concealed positions in the countryside;
33 then in the morning at sunrise, break cover and rush on the town. When Gaal and his supporters come out to meet you, treat them as occasion offers.’
34 So Abimelech set off under cover of dark with all his own supporters and took up concealed positions over against Shechem, in four groups.
35 As Gaal son of Obed was coming out and pausing at the entrance of the town gate, Abimelech and his supporters rose from their ambush.
36 Gaal saw these men and said to Zebul, ‘Look, there are men coming down from the tops of the mountains!’ Zebul answered, ‘You mistake the shadow of the mountains for men.’
37 But Gaal insisted, ‘Look, there are men coming down from the Navel of the Earth and another group is coming from the direction of the Diviners’ Oak.’
38 Zebul then said, ‘Where are your mouthings now about “Who is Abimelech, for us to be his slaves?” Are not these the men you made light of? Sally out, then, and fight him.’
39 Gaal sallied out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and engaged Abimelech.
40 Abimelech drove Gaal off, who turned tail, many of his men falling dead before they could reach the gate.
41 Abimelech then stayed at Aruma, and Zebul expelled Gaal and his brothers and prevented them from living in Shechem.
42 Next day, when the people went out into the countryside, Abimelech was told of this.
43 He took his men, divided them into three groups and lay in wait in the fields. When he saw the people leaving the town, he bore down on them and slaughtered them.
44 While Abimelech and his group rushed forward and took position at the entrance to the town gate, the two other groups fell on everyone in the fields and slaughtered them.
45 All that day Abimelech attacked the town. He stormed it and slaughtered the people inside, razed the town and sowed it with salt.
46 On hearing this, all the leading men inside Migdal-Shechem took refuge in the crypt of the temple of El-Berith.
47 As soon as Abimelech heard that the leading men inside Migdal-Shechem had all gathered there,
48 he went up Mount Zalmon with all his men. Then taking an axe in his hands, he cut off the branch of a tree, picked it up and put it on his shoulder, and said to the men with him, ‘Hurry and do what you have seen me do.’
49 Each of his men similarly cut off a branch; then, following Abimelech, they piled the branches over the crypt and set it on fire over those who were inside; so that all the people in Migdal-Shechem died too, about a thousand men and women.
50 Abimelech then marched on Thebez, besieged it and captured it.
51 In the middle of the town there was a fortified tower in which all the men and women and all the leading men of the town took refuge. They locked the door behind them and climbed up to the roof of the tower.
52 Abimelech reached the tower and attacked it. As he was approaching the door of the tower to set it on fire,
53 a woman threw down a millstone on his head and cracked his skull.
54 He instantly called his young armour-bearer and said, ‘Draw your sword and kill me, so that it will not be said of me that “A woman killed him”.’ His armour-bearer ran him through, and he died.
55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they dispersed to their homes.
56 Thus God made to recoil on Abimelech the evil he had done his father by murdering his seventy brothers,
57 and all the evil that the men of Shechem had done God made recoil on their heads too. And so the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came true for them.
1 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, rose to deliver Israel. He belonged to Issachar and lived at Shamir in the mountain country of Ephraim.
2 He was judge in Israel for twenty-three years; he then died and was buried at Shamir.
3 After him rose Jair of Gilead, who judged Israel for twenty-two years.
4 He had thirty sons who rode on thirty young donkeys and who owned thirty towns, still known today as the Encampments of Jair, in the territory of Gilead.
5 Jair then died and was buried at Kamon.
6 The Israelites again began doing what is evil in Yahweh’s eyes. They served Baal and Astarte, and the gods of Aram and Sidon, the gods of Moab and those of the Ammonites and Philistines. They deserted Yahweh and served him no more.
7 Yahweh’s anger then grew hot against Israel and he gave them over into the power of the Philistines and the power of the Ammonites,
8 who from that year onwards crushed and oppressed the Israelites for eighteen years — all those Israelites living on the other side of the Jordan in Amorite territory, in Gilead.
9 Furthermore, the Ammonites would cross the Jordan and also make war on Judah, Benjamin and the House of Ephraim, so that Israel was in distress.
10 The Israelites then cried to Yahweh and said, ‘We have sinned against you, because we have turned from Yahweh our God to serve Baals.’
11 And Yahweh said to the Israelites, ‘When Egyptians and Amorites, Ammonites and Philistines,
12 when the Sidonians, Amalek and Midian oppressed you and you cried to me, did I not rescue you from their power?
13 But it is you who have forsaken me and served other gods; and so I shall rescue you no more.
14 Go and cry to the gods whom you have chosen. Let them rescue you in your time of trouble.’
15 The Israelites replied to Yahweh, ‘We have sinned. Treat us as you see fit, but please rescue us today.’
16 They got rid of their foreign gods and served Yahweh, who could bear Israel’s suffering no longer.
17 The Ammonites gathered and pitched camp in Gilead. The Israelites rallied and pitched camp at Mizpah.
18 The people, the chieftains of Gilead, then said to one another, ‘Who will volunteer to attack the Ammonites? He shall be chief of all who live in Gilead!’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Tuesday, January 24, 2012:
Psalm 45
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'Lilies . . .' Of the sons of Korah Poem Love song] My heart is stirred by a noble theme, I address my poem to the king, my tongue the pen of an expert scribe.
2 Of all men you are the most handsome, gracefulness is a dew upon your lips, for God has blessed you for ever.
3 Warrior, strap your sword at your side, in your majesty and splendour advance,
4 ride on in the cause of truth, gentleness and uprightness. Stretch the bowstring tight, lending terror to your right hand.
5 Your arrows are sharp, nations lie at your mercy, the king’s enemies lose heart.
6 Your throne is from God, for ever and ever, the sceptre of your kingship a sceptre of justice,
7 you love uprightness and detest evil. This is why God, your God, has anointed you with oil of gladness, as none of your rivals,
8 your robes all myrrh and aloes. From palaces of ivory, harps bring you joy,
9 in your retinue are daughters of kings, the consort at your right hand in gold of Ophir.
10 Listen, my daughter, attend to my words and hear; forget your own nation and your ancestral home,
11 then the king will fall in love with your beauty; he is your lord, bow down before him.
12 The daughter of Tyre will court your favour with gifts, and the richest of peoples
13 with jewels set in gold. Clothed
14 in brocade, the king’s daughter is led within to the king with the maidens of her retinue; her companions are brought to her,
15 they enter the king’s palace with joy and rejoicing.
16 Instead of your ancestors you will have sons; you will make them rulers over the whole world.
17 I will make your name endure from generation to generation, so nations will sing your praise for ever and ever.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 47
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Psalm] Clap your hands, all peoples, acclaim God with shouts of joy.
2 For Yahweh, the Most High, is glorious, the great king over all the earth.
3 He brings peoples under our yoke and nations under our feet.
4 He chooses for us our birthright, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.Pause
5 God goes up to shouts of acclaim, Yahweh to a fanfare on the ram’s horn.
6 Let the music sound for our God, let it sound, let the music sound for our king, let it sound.
7 For he is king of the whole world; learn the music, let it sound for God!
8 God reigns over the nations, seated on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of the nations rally to the people of the God of Abraham. The shields of the earth belong to God, who is exalted on high.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 48
1 [Song Psalm Of the sons of Korah] Great is Yahweh and most worthy of praise in the city of our God, the holy mountain,
2 towering in beauty, the joy of the whole world: Mount Zion in the heart of the north, the settlement of the great king;
3 God himself among its palaces has proved himself its bulwark.
4 For look, kings made alliance, together they advanced;
5 without a second glance, when they saw, they panicked and fled away.
6 Trembling seized them on the spot, pains like those of a woman in labour;
7 it was the east wind, that wrecker of ships from Tarshish.
8 What we had heard we saw for ourselves in the city of our God, in the city of Yahweh Sabaoth, which God has established for ever.Pause
9 We reflect on your faithful love, God, in your temple!
10 Both your name and your praise, God, are over the whole wide world. Your right hand is full of saving justice,
11 Mount Zion rejoices, the daughters of Judah delight because of your saving justice.
12 Go round Zion, walk right through her, count her bastions,
13 admire her walls, examine her palaces, to tell future generations
14 that such is God; our God for ever and ever, he is our guide!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 15:1-11,17-21
1 Some time later, the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision: Do not be afraid, Abram! I am your shield and shall give you a very great reward.
2 ‘Lord Yahweh,’ Abram replied, ‘what use are your gifts, as I am going on my way childless? . . .
3 Since you have given me no offspring,’ Abram continued, ‘a member of my household will be my heir.’
4 Then Yahweh’s word came to him in reply, ‘Such a one will not be your heir; no, your heir will be the issue of your own body.’
5 Then taking him outside, he said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars if you can. Just so will your descendants be,’ he told him.
6 Abram put his faith in Yahweh and this was reckoned to him as uprightness.
7 He then said to him, ‘I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to give you this country as your possession.’
8 ‘Lord Yahweh,’ Abram replied, ‘how can I know that I shall possess it?’
9 He said to him, ‘Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.’
10 He brought him all these, split the animals down the middle and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not divide.
11 And whenever birds of prey swooped down on the carcases, Abram drove them off.
17 When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passing between the animals’ pieces.
18 That day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram in these terms: ‘To your descendants I give this country, from the River of Egypt to the Great River, the River Euphrates,
19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,
20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,
21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 9:1-14
1 The first covenant also had its laws governing worship and its sanctuary, a sanctuary on this earth.
2 There was a tent which comprised two compartments: the first, in which the lamp-stand, the table and the loaves of permanent offering were kept, was called the Holy Place;
3 then beyond the second veil, a second compartment which was called the Holy of Holies
4 to which belonged the gold altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant, plated all over with gold. In this were kept the gold jar containing the manna, Aaron’s branch that grew the buds, and the tables of the covenant.
5 On top of it were the glorious winged creatures, overshadowing the throne of mercy. This is not the time to go into detail about this.
6 Under these provisions, priests go regularly into the outer tent to carry out their acts of worship,
7 but the second tent is entered only once a year, and then only by the high priest who takes in the blood to make an offering for his own and the people’s faults of inadvertence.
8 By this, the Holy Spirit means us to see that as long as the old tent stands, the way into the holy place is not opened up;
9 it is a symbol for this present time. None of the gifts and sacrifices offered under these regulations can possibly bring any worshipper to perfection in his conscience;
10 they are rules about outward life, connected with food and drink and washing at various times, which are in force only until the time comes to set things right.
11 But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, not made by human hands, that is, not of this created order;
12 and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption.
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement, may restore their bodily purity.
14 How much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself, blameless as he was, to God through the eternal Spirit, purify our conscience from dead actions so that we can worship the living God.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 5:1-18
1 After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 Now in Jerusalem next to the Sheep Pool there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, which has five porticos;
3 and under these were crowds of sick people, blind, lame, paralysed.
4 for at intervals the angel of the Lord came down into the pool, and the water was disturbed, and the first person to enter the water after this disturbance was cured of any ailment he suffered from.
5 One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years,
6 and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in that condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’
7 ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man, ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets down there before me.’
8 Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.’
9 The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and started to walk around. Now that day happened to be the Sabbath,
10 so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’
11 He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around.” ‘
12 They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your sleeping-mat and walk around”? ‘
13 The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared, as the place was crowded.
14 After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, do not sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’
15 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.
16 It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to harass Jesus.
17 His answer to them was, ‘My Father still goes on working, and I am at work, too.’
18 But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he spoke of God as his own Father and so made himself God’s equal.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Ordination of Florence Li Tim-Oi
Psalm 116:1-2
1 Alleluia! I am filled with love when Yahweh listens to the sound of my prayer,
2 when he bends down to hear me, as I call.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Jeremiah 17:14-18a
14 Heal me, Yahweh, and I shall be healed, save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.
15 Look, they keep saying to me, ‘Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it come true then!’
16 Yet I have never urged you to send disaster, I never desired the fatal day, this you know; what came from my lips was not concealed from you.
17 Do not be a terror to me, you, my refuge in time of disaster.
18 Let my persecutors be confounded, not me, let them, not me, be terrified. On them bring the day of disaster, destroy them, destroy them twice over!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Galatians 3:23-28
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the Law, locked up to wait for the faith which would eventually be revealed to us.
24 So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.
25 But now that faith has come we are no longer under a slave looking after us;
26 for all of you are the children of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus,
27 since every one of you that has been baptised has been clothed in Christ.
28 There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither slave nor freeman, there can be neither male nor female — for you are all one in Christ Jesus.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Luke 10:1-9
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself would be visiting.
2 And he said to them, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to do his harvesting.
3 Start off now, but look, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Take no purse with you, no haversack, no sandals. Salute no one on the road.
5 Whatever house you enter, let your first words be, “Peace to this house!”
6 And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you.
7 Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourer deserves his wages; do not move from house to house.
8 Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is put before you.
9 Cure those in it who are sick, and say, “The kingdom of God is very near to you.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 6:12b-19
12 King David was informed that Yahweh had blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything belonging to him on account of the ark of God. David accordingly went and, amid great rejoicing, brought the ark of God up from Obed-Edom’s house to the City of David.
13 When the bearers of the ark of Yahweh had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fat sheep.
14 And David danced whirling round before Yahweh with all his might, wearing a linen loincloth.
15 Thus with war cries and blasts on the horn, David and the entire House of Israel brought up the ark of Yahweh.
16 Now as the ark of Yahweh entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul was watching from the window and when she saw King David leaping and whirling round before Yahweh, the sight of him filled her with contempt.
17 They brought the ark of Yahweh in and put it in position, inside the tent which David had erected for it; and David presented burnt offerings and communion sacrifices in Yahweh’s presence.
18 And when David had finished presenting burnt offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Yahweh Sabaoth.
19 To all the people, to the whole multitude of Israelites, men and women, he then distributed to each a loaf of bread, a portion of dates and a raisin cake. Then the people all went back to their homes.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 24:7-10
7 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
8 Who is he, this king of glory? It is Yahweh, strong and valiant, Yahweh valiant in battle.
9 Gates, lift high your heads, raise high the ancient gateways, and the king of glory shall enter!
10 Who is he, this king of glory? Yahweh Sabaoth, he is the king of glory.Pause(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 3:31-35
31 Now his mother and his brothers arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him.
32 A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Look, your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.’
33 He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’
34 And looking at those sitting in a circle round him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers.
35 Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Tuesday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Francis of Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (+ 1622) – Memorial
Commentary of the day:
Saint Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo (North Africa) and Doctor of the Church
On holy virginity, ch. 5
“Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother”
Those who dedicate themselves completely to the Lord should not worry that, by keeping their virginity like Mary, they will be unable to become mothers in the flesh… He who is the fruit of one holy Virgin alone is the glory and honor of all other holy virgins since, like Mary, they are mothers of Christ so long as they do the will of his Father. Mary’s glory and happiness at being the mother of Christ burst forth above all in the words of the Lord: «Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, my sister and my mother.» In this way he points to the spiritual parenthood joining him to the people he has redeemed. His brothers and sisters are the holy men and women who are inheritors together with him of his heavenly inheritance (Rm 8,17).
His mother is the whole Church since it is she who, by God’s grace, gives birth to Christ’s members, that is to say those who are faithful to him. Again, his mother is every holy soul who does the Father’s will and whose fruitful charity is made known in those to whom she gives birth for him, «until he has been formed in them» (cf Gal 4,19)…
From among all women Mary is the only one who is at the same time both virgin and mother, not only in spirit but also in her body. According to the spirit she is mother… of the members of Christ, namely ourselves, because by her charity she cooperated in bringing forth into the Church the faithful who are members of this divine leader, our head (Eph 4,15-16) whose mother according to the flesh she truly is. For it was necessary that our leader be born according to the flesh of a virgin to teach us that his members are to be born according to the spirit of another virgin, the Church. Therefore Mary is the only woman to be mother and virgin at the same time in both spirit and body. But the whole Church is spiritually also mother of Christ and virgin of Christ in the saints who are to inherit the Kingdom of God.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Tuesday 24th January 2012
THE OVERMASTERING DIRECTION by Oswald Chambers
I have appeared unto thee for this purpose.(Acts 26:16)
The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was no passing emotion, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him, and he says, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul – Your whole life is to be overmastered by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine. “I have chosen him.”
When we are born again we all have visions, if we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained. It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is immensely commanding – “to make thee a minister and a witness.” There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s, he saw nothing else, he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

Reflecting God-Longing To Be Pure
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 51:10-19
10 God, create in me a clean heart, renew within me a resolute spirit,
11 do not thrust me away from your presence, do not take away from me your spirit of holiness.
12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.
13 I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.
16 Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, burnt offering you do not desire.
17 Sacrifice to God is a broken spirit, a broken, contrite heart you never scorn.
18 In your graciousness do good to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,-burnt offerings and whole oblations — and young bulls will be offered on your altar.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Longing To Be Pure by Gerald Crispin
When you hear the word “pure,” what comes to mind? What does it Mean to you? The dictionary defines “pure” as “genuine,” “untainted,” “free from anything contaminating,”"free from blemishes” and so on.
In Psalm 51 David asks God to create in him a pure heart. He asks to not be cast away from the Lord’s presence. Why does David feel the need to take such a request? Because he knows that God is pure, genuine, and unblemished. David’s sinful impurity cause him to fear God’s rejection. He is definitely tainted and blemished. David knows he is not pure, but he wants to be, he longs to be pure. David recognizes that purity is not within his own power; God alone can make him pure. David also asks for restored joy and to be given a willing spirit.
If we have sinned we need to join David and ask forgiveness. If we have been forgiven, we need to encourage and teach others how to do the same. We need to know what God desires most from us: a broken and contrite heart that longs to be pure.
Hymn for Today:
1. “Give Me Thy Heart” by Eliza E. Hewitt
“Give Me thy heart,” says the Father above—
No gift so precious to Him as our love;
Softly He whispers wherever thou art,
“Gratefully trust Me and give Me thy heart.”
Refrain:
“Give Me thy heart, give me thy heart”—
Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art;
From this dark world He would draw thee apart,
Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.”
2. “Give Me thy heart,” says the Savior of men,
Calling in mercy again and again;
“Trust in Me only, I’ll never depart—
Have I not died for thee? Give Me thy heart.”
Refrain:
“Give Me thy heart, give me thy heart”—
Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art;
From this dark world He would draw thee apart,
Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.”
3. “Give Me thy heart,” says the Spirit divine;
“All that thou hast to My keeping resign;
Grace more abounding is Mine to impart—
Make full surrender and give Me thy heart.”
Refrain:
“Give Me thy heart, give me thy heart”—
Hear the soft whisper, wherever thou art;
From this dark world He would draw thee apart,
Speaking so tenderly, “Give Me thy heart.”
2nd Thought for Today:
“Those who confess their sin, accepting the gift of salvation have this promise: Messiah will come to baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire”(Gay Leonard and Debbie Goodwin).
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in Switzerland.

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Keeping God in Sight
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one, the only Yahweh.
5 You must love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.
6 Let the words I enjoin on you today stay in your heart.
7 You shall tell them to your children, and keep on telling them, when you are sitting at home, when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are standing up;
8 you must fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a headband;
9 you must write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Today’s Scripture:
God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”(Hebrews 13:5 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
The Bible verse on my daily calendar that morning was Matthew 28:20, in which Jesus says, “surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” His words could have been a powerful word of hope to me because I have bipolar disorder and was going through a particularly difficult time. But I was so anxious that morning that I didn’t pay any attention to those words of scripture. Then as I started to put in my contact lenses, I lost one. It took me a while to locate it, but where I finally found it encouraged me to look at the day’s verse again: The lens had stuck to the calendar. My anxiety didn’t vanish that instant, but the Lord used my lost contact lens to remind me to focus on Christ’s promise to always be with me, especially in the midst of my anxious moments. And the Lord kept that promise.
It took a long time for me to learn healthy ways of dealing with my illness and my anxiety, but the Lord never left me. Over and over again, reminders from a variety of sources directed me back to the Bible. I learned to pay more attention to the words of scripture and to surround myself with them as a sign of God’s constant presence.
I still take medication to manage my illness, but my extreme anxiety is gone. As I learned to turn to scripture to help manage my fears, God has delivered me from them. These days, the Bible does more than help me find hope in hard times; it helps me to see and celebrate the life I have in Christ at all times. by Barbara Gail Bliss (Colorado, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: The words of scripture are more than just words.
Prayer: O Lord, open our eyes to your word, and help us to see you more clearly in every circumstance. Amen.
Prayer Focus: People with mental illness
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — Feast of St. Francis de Sales — January 24, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Feast of St. Francis de Sales,
patron of Christian writers and journalists
“You can catch more flies with a spoonful of honey than a barrel of vinegar,” says Francis de Sales.
Enlightenment cannot be manufactured, manipulated, or delivered on demand. It is always passed on from another. Jesus both claims to be the Light of the World and then says the same for us too! (See John 8:12 and Matthew 5:14-16.) It is surprising that most do not connect these two scriptures. Wisdom is not a do-it-yourself project. It is a mystery of transmission, contagion, and the passing on of life, as Francis de Sales did so well through his many loving messages in very hostile 17th-century Geneva.
I always tell people who ask if they can quote me that if it is true wisdom then I have no copyright to it. I learned it from someone else. If it is true wisdom it is always “common domain.”
Enlightenment is not about knowing as much as it is about unknowing; it is not so much learning as unlearning. It is more about entering a vast mystery than arriving at a mental certitude. Enlightenment knows that grace is everywhere, and the only reasonable response is a grateful heart and the acknowledgment that there is more depth and meaning to everything. A too quick and easy answer is invariably a wrong one. Adapted from On the Threshold of Transformation:
Daily Meditations for Men, p. 38
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Tuesday January 24, 2012
Forgiveness, the Cement of Community Life
Community is not possible without the willingness to forgive one another “seventy-seven times” (see Matthew 18:22). Forgiveness is the cement of community life. Forgiveness holds us together through good and bad times, and it allows us to grow in mutual love.
But what is there to forgive or to ask forgiveness for? As people who have hearts that long for perfect love, we have to forgive one another for not being able to give or receive that perfect love in our everyday lives. Our many needs constantly interfere with our desire to be there for the other unconditionally. Our love is always limited by spoken or unspoken conditions. What needs to be forgiven? We need to forgive one another for not being God! by Father Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.24.12 – Counsel on marriage and sex from The Church of the REsurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:1 “Now for the questions about which you wrote. Yes, it is a good thing for a man not to touch a woman;
2 yet to avoid immorality every man should have his own wife and every woman her own husband.
3 The husband must give to his wife what she has a right to expect, and so too the wife to her husband.
4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and in the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
5 You must not deprive each other, except by mutual consent for a limited time, to leave yourselves free for prayer, and to come together again afterwards; otherwise Satan may take advantage of any lack of self-control to put you to the test.
6 I am telling you this as a concession, not an order.
7 I should still like everyone to be as I am myself; but everyone has his own gift from God, one this kind and the next something different.
8 To the unmarried and to widows I say: it is good for them to stay as they are, like me.
9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, let them marry, since it is better to be married than to be burnt up.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
Paul was single, celibate—and contented. But he knew sexuality and marriage were subjects of major and legitimate interest for many people. He saw value in some limits on sexual expression that the Greek and Roman cultures largely ignored. But he plainly favored sexual intimacy and joy as a means of expressing and strengthening commitment and trust.
In Corinth, up to 1,000 “sacred” prostitutes came down to the streets each night from the Temple of Aphrodite. In what ways did that culture and environment resemble today’s? How did this setting give special force to Paul’s words about each person having sexual relations exclusively with their own mate?
Paul is often seen as hating women. Note, however, his emphasis on mutuality, and the way he saw “authority” only to be exercised in a reciprocal, relational way. What bad experiences or fears make it difficult for you to build mutuality in a relationship? How can trust and shared authority create a stronger bond between people?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week, teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Tuesday 1.24.12 Insight from Rev. Anne Williams
Rev. Anne Williams is the Congregational Care pastor for members of the Resurrection family who have last names beginning with S-Z.
When I think of mutuality in marriage, I think first about household chores. Eric and I have gotten pretty good at the sacred act of chore-bartering. It usually goes a little something like this -
“I’ll do the toilets if you do the sinks and mirrors … toilets are worth double.”
“I already did the laundry.”
“Don’t know if you can say you did the laundry if you never got around to folding it.”
“I’ll do anything to get out of dusting. How about vacuuming, sweeping and mopping for dusting?”
I know some couples who swear by the rule where the one who cooks never has to do the dishes. But what Eric and I have found in our three short years of marriage is that you do what works. There have been times I’m swamped with 18 hours of seminary courses and two part time jobs and he’s stepped up to pull a little more weight. There have been other times when he’s in crunch-time at work and battling a head cold that I take a couple little tasks off his to-do list at home and bless him with his favorite meal for dinner. Until an official volume of rules and regulations is printed where some objective third party decides if toilet duty does really count for double points, keeping things perfectly even and equal will be a challenge anyway.
But mutuality is about much more than chores. In the Williams family we strive to honor God with mutuality as we make sure both partners’ experiences are honored, both voices are heard, both needs are met, and both give and receive, both compromise, and both feel honored and cherished for their unique contributions to the marriage. Now that’s a chore that takes some elbow grease!
Post Script: To see an interesting attempt to put numerical value on all it takes to keep a household moving day-in and day-out, see this article “How Much is a Homemaker Worth?”
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

5th Thought for Today:
Tuesday 24 January 2012
Culture as a place of Belonging
There is something very profound about culture as a place of belonging, a place of security, a place of celebration, a place where we can be poor and weak and strong together because the group protects the weaker ones, protects the more fragile ones. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not
alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation
will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines
and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth
pains.” (Matthew 24:6–8)
Shalom,
For Israel and perhaps for the entire world, Iran will probably dominate the
news and shape 2012, whether we want it to or not.
Iran became a hot topic in the news last year when the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Tehran in November of being involved in
a secret nuclear weapons program.
Fordo which is a new Iranian nuclear site capable of producing 20-percent
enriched uranium, has begun operations in a heavily defended bunker site
inside a mountain southwest of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
United States and European Union sanctions imposed on Iran in a bid to halt
its nuclear program have led to increased tension between Iran and the West.
In a recent response to these sanctions, Tehran has threatened to close the
Straits of Hormuz, which would compromise oil shipments to the West.
The assassination of an Iraqi nuclear scientist two weeks ago has resulted in
Iran accusing Israel, the United States and Britain for the assassination, and
led to threats to avenge it.
One or more of the following three scenarios might play out this year:
The world will unify to take decisive action to stop Iran from
acquiring nuclear warheads;
The world will not take decisive action, and Iran will acquire nuclear
weapons; and/ or
Israel will have no choice but to take preemptive action with a first
strike against Iran.
The United States is coordinating with Israel on the issue of Iran’s nuclear
capabilities with regard to a possible Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff,
arrived in Israel on Thursday for talks with Defense Minister Ehud Barak,
Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, and other senior defense and
intelligence officials.
Yeshua: Wars and Rumors of Wars
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore
we will not fear. … The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our
fortress.” (Psalm 46:1, 7)
Yeshua (Jesus) warned that in the last days, there will be wars and rumors
of wars. And yet Yeshua also encouraged his disciples not to lose heart!
(Matthew 24:6)
In the Jewish prayer book, called the Siddur, we read David’s Psalm 91 in
its entirety every day.
“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of
the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my
God, in whom I trust.’” (Psalm 91: 1–2)
What is Praying for the Peace of Jerusalem?
“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May those who love you be secure.”
(Psalm 122:6)
As Bible believing people, we are commanded to pray for the peace of
Jerusalem.
Many of us interpret this as a passive involvement with Jerusalem from the
safe distance of prayer.
In Hebrew, the Scriptures actually read Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim.
This carries the connotation of asking about the welfare of Jerusalem. In
other words, we are commanded to do more than pray; we are to be
concerned for her, aware of what is happening, and involved with her well being.
As God’s people are not to be merely passive observers of world events,
but active participants.
End-Time Prophecy
By becoming aware of end-time prophecies regarding Israel and the Middle
East, we can be more effective in prayer and action.
The Bible gives us insight into certain future events, as yet unseen, not to
frighten us, but to forewarn and prepare us.
“The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and
pay the penalty.” (Proverbs 27:12)
We might look at current events from a political or an economic viewpoint,
but only when we bring in the Word of God do we have a three
dimensional perspective.
Judgment on Elam
“This is the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning
Elam [Iran].” (Jeremiah 49:34)
The Prophet Jeremiah gave a warning about a coming judgment on Elam,
which is an ancient name for the modern nation of Iran.
As a prophet, Jeremiah’s track record is impeccable. He foresaw the New
Covenant as well as the destruction of Judah by Babylon.
For this word, the prophet was arrested and thrown into a dungeon. Back
then, like today, people preferred false prophets who declared peace and
prosperity, but Jeremiah spoke the truth even though it was unpopular.
Just like Jeremiah, our calling is to tell the truth, not to make people feel
happy by saying all will be well.
This prophecy is for the ‘end times’. The fact that Israel was re-born in
1948 is proof that we are living in the last days. According to Jeremiah,
God will break the military and political power of Iran and scatter its people
to all nations.
“See, I will break the bow of Elam, the mainstay of their might. I will bring
against Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven; I will scatter
them to the four winds, and there will not be a nation where Elam’s exiles
do not go.” (Jeremiah 49:35–36)
God’s judgment against Elam (Iran) is specifically directed towards its
government leaders, as Jeremiah also says that God will establish His
sovereign rule in the midst of Iran and in the end will restore them.
God’s purpose in judgment is never vindictive but always redemptive
in purpose–in order that all people of every race, tongue and tribe will
come to know that He is the Lord Adonai.
“‘I will shatter Elam before their foes, before those who want to kill them; I
will bring disaster on them, even my fierce anger,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will
pursue them with the sword until I have made an end of them. I will set my
throne in Elam and destroy her king and officials,’ declares the Lord. ‘Yet
I will restore the fortunes of Elam in days to come,’ declares the Lord.”
(Jeremiah 49:37-39)
Tyranny and the Iranian Exile
“I will bring against Elam [Iran] the four winds from the four quarters of
heaven; I will scatter them to the four winds….” (Jeremiah 49:35–36)
Some consider that this Iranian exile prophesied in Jeremiah has already begun.
In 1979, many Iranians fearing the radical regime of the Islamic Revolution
fled the country.
Approximately five million Iranians now live in exile, scattered across the
world, with one million of them now residing in the United States.
Radical Islam has brought a horrible evil to the people of Iran. The country
is now characterized by political executions, arrests, imprisonments and
torture. Drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed. Freedom of speech is
suppressed.
The country has been devastated by poverty as the leadership hoards the
wealth for their own selves and spends huge sums on building their military
forces and developing nuclear weaponry.
This has triggered economic sanctions that make it even harder for the
common people of Iran to survive.
Anti-Israel Stance Brings Judgment
Today, Iranians live under an evil tyranny.
That tyranny has a spiritual aspect, since the people are trapped in a system
that is taking them away from God. Iran is one of the most fiercely ‘anti-
Israel’ and ‘anti-Yeshua/Jesus’ nations on the planet.
Christianity is outlawed in Iran, and the Christians there are persecuted.
Daily, the leadership of Iran publicly broadcasts vile threats and curses
against Israel and the Jewish people. By doing so, they are opposing God
and bringing their nation under a curse.
God has promised, “I will bless those that bless you (Israel) and will curse
those that curse you.” (Genesis 12:3)
Move of God: Iranians Come to Faith in Yeshua
We must pray that God will save our enemies, not just judge them. Indeed,
God is moving among Iranians.
Presently, over one million Shiite Muslim Iranians have come to faith in
Messiah Yeshua (Jesus).
One Iranian Muslim convert, Hormoz Shariat, called the ‘Billy Graham’ of
the Muslim world, is a research scientist with a PhD in computer engineering.
He used to be a radical Muslim who shouted on the streets of Iran, “Death
to Israel! Death to America!”
In 1979, he and his wife (an “American Christian” who had converted to
Islam and moved to Iran) came to the United States to pursue a higher
education in graduate school. Shariat, however, felt empty spiritually and
trapped in a loveless marriage.
Distraught, and on the verge of divorce, he began to study the Koran.
When he found few answers there, he began to study the Bible as well.
The Lord was also at work in his wife, and she became a born-again
Believer first, through people who shared the Gospel with her, including
the janitor in her building, who spoke very poor English.
Shariat was astonished by the change he witnessed in his wife.
Hormoz Shariat
Even though coming to faith in Yeshua was a difficult road for him because
he tried to find all the answers intellectually, he too eventually became a
born-again follower of Yeshua.
With a passion to reach their own people, they founded a television ministry
in which over 250 million Iranians have given their lives to God through
Yeshua since December 2001.
God is doing something great even in our worst enemy! He is calling to the
individual hearts of Iranians.
God loves Israel, but He also loves the people of Iran. Nevertheless, Iran
as a nation seems bent on war with Israel, and God will deal with them
as a nation.
Israel is surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors threatening her extinction.
Iran has the oldest Jewish Diaspora in the world with perhaps 25,000 Jews,
the second largest Jewish population in the Middle East after Israel. Had it
not been for persecution and forced conversion, there would be more Jews
in Iran. Thirteen Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic Revolution.
Jews have lived in this area of the world since the 6th century BCE (First Temple).
To reach Iranians everywhere, the Messianic Prophecy Bible will translated into Farsi.
The Looming War with Iran
“The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and
the heavens will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a
stronghold for the people of Israel.” (Joel 3:16)
Please join us in praying for the protection of Israel in the coming war with Iran.
At the same time that we pray for peace, we must also prepare
for war.
These two are not mutually exclusive or contradictory—we need to do both:
Pray for peace and prepare for war.
Each of us, especially in Israel, needs to seek God for specifics as to what
we can do to prepare for coming events.
If it’s a biological war, our gas masks will do little and if it’s a nuclear war,
nothing can protect us, except angels diverting the nuclear warheads.
Pray that Israelis would turn to God and to Messiah, Yeshua, in the
time of Jacob’s Trouble.
“He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:4)

Reflections with GOD for Monday, January 23, 2012

Quotes for Today:
I know how men in exile feed on dreams of hope. by Aeschylus (525 BC – 456 BC), Agamemnon
To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act. by Anatole France (1844 – 1924)
Hope is a waking dream. by Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC), from Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers
Dreams that do come true can be as unsettling as those that don’t. by Brett Butler, ‘Knee Deep in Paradise’
To want to be what one can be is purpose in life. by Cynthia Ozick, O Magazine, September 2002
He felt that his whole life was some kind of dream and he sometimes wondered whose it was and whether they were enjoying it. by Douglas Adams (1952 – 2001), “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. by Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849), “Eleonora”
The wisest men follow their own direction. by Euripides (484 BC – 406 BC)
Keep true to the dreams of thy youth. by Friedrich von Schiller (1759 – 1805)
You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, “Why not?” by George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950), “Back to Methuselah” (1921), part 1, act 1
Human beings have an inalienable right to invent themselves. by Germaine Greer, O Magazine, September 2002
They say dreams are the windows of the soul–take a peek and you can see the inner workings, the nuts and bolts. by Henry Bromel, Northern Exposure, The Big Kiss, 1991
Dreams surely are difficult, confusing, and not everything in them is brought to pass for mankind. For fleeting dreams have two gates: one is fashioned of horn and one of ivory. Those which pass through the one of sawn ivory are deceptive, bringing tidings which come to nought, but those which issue from the one of polished horn bring true results when a mortal sees them. by Homer (800 BC – 700 BC), The Odyssey
We need men who can dream of things that never were. by John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963), speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them. by John Updike (1932 – )
I do not want to die… until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown. by Kathe Kollwitz, O Magazine, September 2002
My bounce-around life had taught me that dreams were dangerous things – they look solid in your mind, but you just try to reach for them. It’s like gathering clouds. by Kirby Larson, Hattie Big Sky, 2006
There should be fireworks, at least, when a dream dies. by Kirby Larson, Hattie Big Sky, 2006
I think it is often easier to make progress on mega-ambitious dreams. Since no one else is crazy enough to do it, you have little competition. In fact, there are so few people this crazy that I feel like I know them all by first name. by Larry Page, University of Michigan Commencement Address, 2009
You know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know that if you don’t have a pencil and pad by the bed, it will be completely gone by the next morning. Sometimes it’s important to wake up and stop dreaming. When a really great dream shows up, grab it. by Larry Page, University of Michigan Commencement Address, 2009
You never lose a dream. It just incubates as a hobby. by Larry Page, University of Michigan Commencement Address, 2009
It has never been my object to record my dreams, just to realize them. by Man Ray, O Magazine, September 2002
One must desire something to be alive. by Margaret Deland, O Magazine, September 2002
Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: – ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ by Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 – 1968), Speech at Civil Rights March on Washington, August 28, 1963
I’ve come to believe that each of us has a personal calling that’s as unique as a fingerprint – and that the best way to succeed is to discover what you love and then find a way to offer it to others in the form of service, working hard, and also allowing the energy of the universe to lead you. by Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ), O Magazine, September 2002
The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but significance – and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning. by Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ), O Magazine, September 2002
The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly – that is what each of us is here for. by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900)
If you stop dreaming, you’re just sleeping. by Ralph Green and Gregory Garcia, Raising Hope, Dream Hoarders, October 5, 2010
It hurts to find out that what you wanted doesn’t match what you dreamed it would be. by Randy K. Milholland, Something Positive Comic, 09-07-04

Sermon for Today:
The Beauty of a Life of Service by Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, if ye continue in My word,
then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in
bondage to any man; how sayest Thou, ye shall be made free? Jesus answered
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son,
therefore, shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”(John 8:31-36)
I want to speak to you today about the freedom which Christ gives to His disciples. This is the freedom into which man enters when he fulfils his life. The purpose and result of freedom is service. It sounds to us at first like a contradiction, like a paradox. Great truths very often present themselves to us in the first place as paradoxes, and it is only when we come to combine the two different terms of which they are composed and see how it is only by their meeting that the truth does reveal itself to us, that the truth does become known. It is by this same truth that God frees our souls, not from service, not from duty, but into service and into duty, and he who makes mistakes the purpose of his freedom mistakes the character of his freedom. He who thinks that he is being released from the work, and not set free in order that he may accomplish that work, mistakes the Christ from whom the freedom comes, mistakes the condition into which his soul is invited to enter. For…the freedom of a man simply consists in the larger opportunity to be and to do all that God makes him in His creation capable of being and doing, then certainly if man has been capable of service it is only by the entrance into service, by the acceptance of that life of service, that he enters into the fulness of his freedom and becomes the liberated child of God.
You remember…the way in which the bit of iron, taken out of its uselessness, its helplessness, and set in the midst of the great machine, thereby recognizes the purpose of its existence, and does the work for which it was appointed, for it immediately becomes the servant of the machine into which it was placed. Every part of its impulse flows through all of its substance, and it does the thing which it was made to do. When the ice has melted upon the plain it is only when it finds its way into the river and flows forth freely to do the work which the live water has to do that it really attains to its freedom. Only then is it really liberated from the bondage in which it was held while it was fastened in the chains of winter. The same freed ice waits until it so finds its freedom, and when man is set free simply into the enjoyment of his own life, simply into the realization of his own existence, he has not attained the purposes of his freedom, he has not come to the purposes of his life.
It should not surprise us when we think of freedom as a condition in which a man is called upon to do, and is enabled to do, the duty that God has laid upon him. Duty has become to us such a hard word, service has become to us a word so full of the spirit of bondage, that it surprises us at the first moment when we are called upon to realize that it is in itself a word of freedom. And yet we constantly are lowering the whole thought of our being, we are bringing down the greatness and richness of that with which we have to deal, until we recognize that God does not call us to our fullest life simply for ourselves. The spirit of selfishness is continually creeping in. I think it may almost be said that there has been no selfishness in the history of man like that which has exhibited itself in man’s religious life, showing itself in the way in which man has seized upon spiritual privileges and rejoiced in the good things that are to come to him in the hereafter, because he had made himself the servant of God.
The whole subject of selfishness, and the way in which it loses itself and finds itself again, is a very interesting one, and I wish that we had time to dwell upon it. It comes into a sort of general law which we are recognizing everywhere–the way in which a man very often, in his pursuit of the higher form of a condition in which he has been living, seems to lose that condition for a little while and only to reach it a little farther on. He seems to be abandoned by that power only that he may meet it by and by and enter more deeply into its heart and come more completely into its service. So it is, I think, with the self-devotion, consecration, and self- forget- fulness in which men realize their life. Very often in the lower stages of man’s life he forgets himself, with a slightly emphasized individual existence, not thinking very much of the purpose of his life, till he easily forgets himself among the things that are around him and forgets himself simply because there is so little of himself for him to forget; but do not you know perfectly well how very often when a man’s life becomes intensified and earnest, when he becomes completely possessed with some great passion and desire, it seems for the time to intensify his selfishness? It does intensify his selfishness. He is thinking so much in regard to himself that the thought of other persons and their interests is shut out of his life.
And so very often when a man has set before him the great passion of the divine life, when he is called by God to live the life of God, and to enter into the rewards of God, very often there seems to close around his life a certain bondage of selfishness, and he who gave himself freely to his fellow-men before now seems, by the very intensity, eagerness, and earnestness with which his mind is set upon the prize of the new life which is presented to him–it seems as if everything became concentrated upon himself, the saving of his soul, the winning of his salvation. That seat in heaven seems to burn so before his eyes that he cannot be satisfied for a moment with any thought that draws him away from it, and he presses forward that he may be saved. But by and by, as he enters more deeply into that life, the self-forgetfulness comes to him again and as a thing more divine. By and by, as the man walks up the mountain, he seems to pass out of the cloud which hangs about the lower slopes of the mountain, until at last he stands upon the pinnacle at the top, and there is in the perfect light. Is it not exactly like the mountain at whose foot there seems to be the open sunshine where men see everything, and on whose summit there is the sunshine, but on whose sides, and half way up, there seems to linger a long cloud, in which man has to struggle until he comes to the full result of his life? So it is with self-consecration, with service. You easily do it in some small ways in the lower life. Life becomes intensified and earnest with a serious purpose, and it seems as if it gathered itself together into selfishness. Only then it opens by and by into the largest and noblest works of men, in which they most manifest the richness of their human nature and appropriate the strength of God. Those are great and unselfish acts. We know it at once if we turn to Him who represents the fulness of the nature of our humanity.
When I turn to Jesus and think of Him as the manifestation of His own Christianity–and if men would only look at the life of Jesus to see what Christianity is, and not at the life of the poor representatives of Jesus whom they see around them, there would be so much more clearness, they would be rid of so many difficulties and doubts. When I look at the life of Jesus I see that the purpose of consecration, of emancipation, is service of His fellow-men. I cannot think for a moment of Jesus as doing that which so many religious people think they are doing when they serve Christ, when they give their lives to Him. I cannot think of Him as simply saving His own soul, living His own life, and completing His own nature in the sight of God. It is a life of service from beginning to end. He gives himself to man because He is absolutely the Child of God, and He sets up service, and nothing but service, to be the ultimate purpose, the one great desire, on which the souls of His followers should be set, as His own soul is set, upon it continually.
What is it that Christ has left to be His symbol in the world, that we put upon our churches, what we wear upon our hearts, that stands forth so perpetually us the symbol of Christ’s life? Is it a throne from which a ruler utters his decrees? Is it a mountain top upon which some rapt seer sits, communing with himself and with the voices around him, and gathering great truth into his soul and delighting in it? No, not the throne and not the mountain top. It is the cross. Oh, my brethren, that the cross should be the great symbol of our highest measure, that that which stands for consecration, that that which stands for the divine statement that a man does not live for himself and that a man loses himself when he does live for himself–that that should be the symbol of our religion and the great sign and token of our faith?
What sort of Christians are we that go about asking for the things of this life first, thinking that it shall make us prosperous to be Christians, and then a little higher asking for the things that pertain to the eternal prosperity, when the Great Master, who leaves us the great law, in whom our Christian life is spiritually set forth, has as His great symbol the cross, the cross, the sign of consecration and obedience? It is not simply suffering too. Christ does not stand primarily for suffering. Suffering is an accident. It does not matter whether you and I suffer. “Not enjoyment and not sorrow” is our life, not sorrow any more than enjoyment, but obedience and duty. If duty brings sorrow, let it bring sorrow. It did bring sorrow to the Christ, because it was impossible for a man to serve the absolute righteousness in this world and not to sorrow. If it had brought joy, and glory, and triumph, if it had been greeted at its entrance and applauded on the way, He would have been as truly the consecrated soul that He was in the days when, over a road that was marked with the blood of His footprints, He found His way up at last to the torturing cross. It is not suffering; it is obedience. It is not pain; it is consecration of life. It is the joy of service that makes the life of Christ, and for us to serve Him, serving fellow-man and God–as he served fellow-man and God–whether it bring pain or joy, if we can only get out of our souls the thought that it matters not if we are happy or sorrowful, if only we are dutiful and faithful, and brave and strong, then we should be in the atmosphere, we should be in the great company of the Christ.
It surprises me very often when I hear good Christian people talk about Christ’s entrance into this world, Christ’s coming to save this world. They say it was so marvellous that Jesus should be willing to come down from His throne in heaven and undertake all the strange sorrow and distress that belonged to Him when He came to save the world from its sins. Wonderful? There was no wonder in it; no wonder if we enter up into the region where Jesus lives and think of life as He must have thought of life. It is the same wonder that people feel about the miracles of Jesus. Is it a wonder that when a divine life is among men, nature should have a response to make to Him, and He should do things that you and I, in our little humanity, find it impossible to do? No, indeed, there is no wonder that God loved the world. There is no wonder that Christ, the Son of God, at any sacrifice undertook to save the world. The wonder would have been if God, sitting in His heaven, the wonder would have been if Jesus, ready to come here to the earth and seeing how it was possible to save man from sin by suffering, had not suffered. Do you wonder at the mother, when she gives her life without a hesitation or a cry, when she gives her life with joy, with thankfulness, for her child, counting it her privilege? Do you wonder at the patriot, the hero, when he rushes into the battle to do the good deed which it is possible for him to do? No; read your own nature deeper and you will understand your Christ. It is no wonder that He should have died upon the cross; the wonder would have been if, with the inestimable privilege of saving man, He had shrunk from that cross and turned away. It sets before us that it is not the glories of suffering, it is not the necessity of suffering, it is simply the beauty of obedience and the fulfilment of a man’s life in doing his duty and rendering the service which it is possible for him to render to his fellow-man.
I said that a man when he did that left behind him all the thought of the life which he was willing to live within himself, even all the highest thought. It is not your business and mine to study whether we shall get to heaven, even to study whether we shall be good men; it is our business to study how we shall come into the midst of the purposes of God and have the unspeakable privilege in these few years of doing something of His work. And yet so is our life all one, so is the kingdom of God which surrounds us and infolds us one bright and blessed unity, that when a man has devoted himself to the service of God and his fellow-man, immediately he is thrown back upon his own nature, and he sees now–it is the right place for him to see–that he must be the brave, strong, faithful man, because it is impossible for him to do his duty and to render his service, except it is rendered out of a heart that is full of faithfulness, that is brave and true.
There is one word of Jesus that always comes back to me as about the noblest thing that human lips have ever said upon our earth, and the most comprehensive thing, that seems to sweep into itself all the commonplace experience of mankind. Do you remember when He was sitting with His disciples, at the last supper, how He lifted up His voice and prayed, and in the midst of His prayer there came these wondrous words: “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified”? The whole of human life is there. Shall a man cultivate himself? No, not primarily. Shall a man serve the world, strive to increase the kingdom of God in the world? Yes, indeed, he shall. How shall he do it? By cultivating himself, and instantly he is thrown back upon his own life. “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.” I am my best, not simply for myself, but for the world. My brethren, is there anything in all the teachings that man has had from his fellow-man, all that has come down to him from the lips of God, that is nobler, that is more far-reaching than that–to be my best not simply for my own sake, but for the sake of the world into which, setting my best, I shall make that world more complete, I shall do my little part to renew and to recreate it in the image of God?
That is the law of my existence. And the man that makes that the law of his existence neither neglects himself nor his fellow-men, neither becomes the self-absorbed student and cultivator of his own life upon the one hand, nor does he become, abandoning himself, simply the wasting benefactor of his brethren upon the other. You can help your fellow-men: you must help your fellow-men; but the only way you can help them is by being the noblest and the best man that it is possible for you to be. I watch the workman build upon the building which by and by is to soar into the skies, to toss its pinnacles up to the heaven, and I see him looking up and wondering where those pinnacles are to be, thinking how high they are to be, measuring the feet, wondering how they are to be built, and all the time he is cramming a rotten stone into the building just where he has set to work. Let him forget the pinnacles, if he will, or hold only the floating image of them in his imagination for his inspiration; but the thing that he must do is to put a brave, strong soul, an honest and substantial life into the building just where he is now at work.
It seems to me that that comes home to us all. Men are questioning now as they never have questioned before whether Christianity is indeed the true religion which is to be the salvation of the world. They are feeling how the world needs salvation, how it needs regeneration, how it is wrong and bad all through and through, mixed with the good that is in it everywhere. Everywhere there is the good and the bad, and the great question that is on men’s minds to-day, as I believe it has never been upon men’s minds before, is this: Is this Christian religion, with its high pretensions, this Christian life that claims so much for itself, is it competent for the task that it has undertaken to do? Can it meet all these human problems, and relieve all these human miseries, and fulfil all these human hopes? It is the old story over again, when John the Baptist, puzzled in his prison, said to Jesus, “Art thou He that should come? or look we for another?” It seems to me that the Christian Church is hearing that cry in its ears to-day: “Art thou He that should come?” Can you do this which the world unmistakably needs to be done?
Christian men, it is for us to give our bit of answer to that question. It is for us, in whom the Christian Church is at this moment partially embodied, to declare that Christianity, that the Christian faith, the Christian manhood, can do that for the world which the world needs. You say, “What can I do?” You can furnish one Christian life. You can furnish a life so faithful to every duty, so ready for every service, so determined not to commit every sin, that the great Christian Church shall be the stronger for your living in it, and the problem of the world be answered, and a certain great peace come into this poor, perplexed phase of our humanity as it sees that new revelation of what Christianity is. Yes, Christ can give the world the thing it needs in unknown ways and methods that we have not yet begun to suspect. Christianity has not yet been tried. My friends, no man dares to condemn the Christian faith to-day, because the Christian faith has not been tried. Not until men get rid of the thought that it is a poor machine, an expedient for saving them from suffering and pain, not until they get the grand idea of it as the great power of God present in and through the lives of men, not until then does Christianity enter upon its true trial and become ready to show what it can do. Therefore we struggle against our sin in order that men may be saved around us, and not simply that our own souls may be saved.
Tell me you have a sin that you mean to commit this evening that is going to make this night black. What can keep you from committing that sin? Suppose you look into its consequences. Suppose the wise man tells you what will be the physical consequences of that sin. You shudder and you shrink, and, perhaps, you are partially deterred. Suppose you see the glory that might come to you, physical, temporal, spiritual, if you do not commit that sin. The opposite of it shows itself to you–the blessing and the richness in your life. Again there comes a great power that shall control your lust and wickedness. Suppose there comes to you something even deeper than that, no consequence on consequence at all, but simply an abhorrence for the thing, so that your whole nature shrinks from it as the nature of God shrinks from a sin that is polluting and filthy and corrupt and evil. They are all great powers. Let us thank God for them all. He knows that we are weak enough to need every power that can possibly be brought to bear upon our feeble lives; but if, along with all of them, there could come this other power, if along with them there could come the certainty that if you refrain from that sin to-night you make the sum of sin that is in the world, and so the sum of all temptation that is in the world, and so the sum of future evil that is to spring out of temptation in the world, less, shall there not be a nobler impulse rise up in your heart, and shall you not say: “I will not do it; I will be honest, I will be sober, I will be pure, at least, to-night”? I dare to think that there are men here to whom that appeal can come, men who, perhaps, will be all dull and deaf if one speaks to them about their personal salvation; who, if one dares to picture to them, appealing to their better nature, trusting to their nobler soul, that there is in them the power to save other men from sin, and to help the work of God by the control of their own passions and the fulfilment of their own duty, will be stirred to the higher life. Men–very often we do not trust them enough–will answer to the higher appeal that seems to be beyond them when the poor, lower appeal that comes within the region of their selfishness is cast aside, and they will have nothing to do with it.
Oh, this marvellous, this awful power that we have over other people’s lives! Oh! the power of the sin that you have done years and years ago! It is awful to think of it. I think there is hardly anything more terrible to the human thought than this–the picture of a man who, having sinned years and years ago in a way that involved other souls in his sin, and then, having repented of his sin and undertaken another life, knows certainly that the power, the consequence of that sin is going on outside of his reach, beyond even his ken and knowledge. He cannot touch it. You wronged a soul ten years ago. You taught a boy how to tell his first mercantile lie; you degraded the early standards of his youth. What has become of that boy to-day? You may have repented. He has passed put of your sight. He has gone years and years ago. Somewhere in this great, multitudinous mass of humanity he is sinning and sinning and reduplicating and extending the sin that you did. You touched the faith of some believing soul years ago with some miserable sneer of yours, with some cynical and sceptical disparagement of God and of the man who is the utterance of God upon the earth. You taught the soul that was enthusiastic to be full of scepticisms and doubts. You wronged a woman years ago, and her life has gone out from your life, you cannot begin to tell where. You have repented of your sin. You have bowed yourself, it may be, in dust and ashes. You have entered upon a new life. You are pure to-day. But where is the sceptical soul? Where is the ruined woman whom you sent forth into the world out of the shadow of your sin years ago? You cannot touch that life. You cannot reach it. You do not know where it is. No steps of yours, quickened with all your earnestness, can pursue it. No contrition of yours can drawback its consequences. Remorse cannot force the bullet back again into the gun from which it once has gone forth. It makes life awful to the man who has ever sinned, who has ever wronged and hurt another life because of this sin, because no sin ever was done that did not hurt another life. I know the mercy of our God, that while He has put us into each other’s power to a fearful extent, He never will let any soul absolutely go to everlasting ruin for another’s sin; and so I dare to see the love of God pursuing that lost soul where you cannot pursue it. But that does not for one moment lift the shadow from your heart, or cease to make you tremble when you think of how your sin has outgrown itself and is running far, far away where you can never follow it.
Thank God the other thing is true as well. Thank God that when a man does a bit of service, however little it may be, of that too he can never trace the consequences. Thank God that that which in some better moment, in some nobler inspiration, you did ten years ago to make your brother’s faith a little more strong, to let your shop boy confirm and not doubt the confidence in man which he had brought into his business, to establish the purity of a soul instead of staining it and shaking it, thank God, in this quick, electric atmosphere in which we live, that, too, runs forth. Do not say in your terror, “I will do nothing.” You must do something. Only let Christ tell you–let Christ tell you that there is nothing that a man rests upon in the moment, that he thinks of, as he looks back upon it when it has sunk into the past, with any satisfaction, except some service to his fellow-man, some strengthening and helping of a human soul.
Two men are walking down the street together and talking away. See what different conditions those two men are in. One of them has his soul absolutely full of the desire to help his fellow-man. He peers into those faces as he goes, and sees the divine possibility that is in them, and he sees the divine nature everywhere. They are talking about the idlest trifles, about the last bit of local Boston politics. But in their souls one of those men has consecrated himself, with the new morning, to the glorious service of God, and the other of them is asking how he may be a little richer in his miserable wealth when the day sinks. Oh, we look into the other world and read the great words and hear it said, Between me and thee, this and that, there is a great gulf fixed; and we think of something that is to come in the eternal life. Is there any gulf in eternity, is there any gulf between heaven and hell that is wider, and deeper, and blacker, that is more impassable than that gulf which lies between these two men going upon their daily way?
Oh, friends, it is not that God is going to judge us some day. That is not the awful thing. It is that God knows us now. If I stop an instant and know that God knows me through all these misconceptions and blunders of my brethren, that God knows me–that is the awful thing. The future judgment shall but tell it. It is here, here upon my conscience, now. It is awful to think how the commonplace things that men can do, the commonplace thoughts that men can think, the commonplace lives that men can live, are but in the bosom of the future. The thing that impresses me more and more is this–that we only need to have extended to the multitude that which is at this moment present in the few, and the world really would be saved. There is but the need of the extension into a multitude of souls of that which a few souls have already attained in their consecration of themselves to human good, and to the service of God, and I will not say the millennium would have come, I don’t know much about the millennium, but heaven would have come, the new Jerusalem would be here. There are men enough in this church this morning, there are men enough sitting here within the sound of my voice to-day, if they were inspired by the spirit of God and counted it the great privilege of their life, to do the work of God–there are men enough here to save this city, and to make this a glowing city of our Lord, to relieve its poverty, to lighten its darkness, to lift up the cloud that is upon hearts, to turn it into a great, I will not say psalm-singing city, but God-serving, God-abiding city, to touch all the difficult problems of how society and government ought to be organized then with a power with which they should yield their difficulty and open gradually. The light to measure would be clear enough, if only the spirit is there. Give me five hundred men, nay, give me one hundred men of the spirit that I know to-day in three men that I well understand, and I will answer for it that the city shall be saved. And you, my friend, are one of the five hundred–you are one of the one hundred.
“Oh, but,” you say, “is not this slavery over again? You have talked about freedom, and here I am once more a slave. I had about got free from the bondage of my fellow-men, and here I am right in the midst of it again. What has become of my personality, of my independence, if I am to live thus?” Ay, you have got to learn what every noblest man has always learned, that no man becomes independent of his fellow-men excepting in serving his fellow-men. You have got to learn that Christianity comes to us not simply as a luxury but as a force, and no man who values Christianity simply as a luxury which he possesses really gets the Christianity which he tries to value. Only when Christianity is a force, only when I seek independence of men in serving men, do I cease to be a slave to their whims. I must dress as they think I ought to dress; I must walk in the streets as they think I ought to walk; I must do business just after their fashion; I must accept their standards; but when Christ has taken possession of me and I am a total man, I am more or less independent of these men. Shall I care about their little whims and oddities? Shall I care about how they criticise the outside of my life? Shall I peer into their faces as I meet them in the street, to see whether they approve of me or not? And yet am I not their servant? There is nothing now I will not do to serve them, there is nothing now I will not do to save them. If the cross comes, I welcome the cross, and look upon it with joy, if, by my death upon the cross in any way, I may echo the salvation of my Lord and save them. Independent of them? Surely. And yet their servant? Perfectly. Was ever man so independent in Jerusalem as Jesus was? What cared He for the sneer of the Pharisee, for the learned scorn of the Sadducee, for the taunt of the people and the little boys that had been taught to jeer at Him as He went down the street, and yet the very servant of all their life? He says there are two kinds of men–they who sit upon a throne and eat, and they who serve. “I am among you as he that serveth.” Oh, seek independence.
Insist upon independence. Insist that you will not be the slave of the poor, petty standards of your fellow-men. But insist upon it only in the way in which it can be insisted upon, by becoming absolutely the servant of their needs. So only shall you be independent of their whims. There is one great figure, and it has taken in all Christian consciousness, that again and again this work with Christ has been asserted to be the true service in the army of a great master, of a great captain, who goes before us to his victory, that it is asserted that in that captain, in the entrance into his army, every power is set free. Do you remember the words that a good many of us read or heard yesterday in our churches, where Jesus was doing one of His miracles, and it is said that a devil was cast out, the dumb spake? Every power becomes the man’s possession, and he uses it in his freedom, and he fights with it with all his force, just as soon as the devil is cast out of him.
I have tried to tell you the noblest motive in which you should be a pure, an upright, a faithful, and a strong man. It is not for the salvation of your life, it is not for the salvation of yourself. It is not for the satisfaction of your tastes. It is that you may take your place in the great army of God and go forward having something to do with the work that He is doing in the world. You remember the days of the war, and how ashamed of himself a man felt who never touched with his finger the great struggle in which the nation was engaged. Oh, to go through this life and never touch with my finger the vast work that Christ is doing, and when the cry of triumph arises at the end to stand there, not having done one little, unknown, unnoticed thing to bring about that which is the true life of the man and of the world, that is awful. And I dare to believe that there are young men in this church this morning who, failing to be touched by every promise of their own salvation and every threatening of their own damnation, will still lift themselves up and take upon them the duty of men, and be soldiers of Jesus Christ, and have a part in the battle, and have a part somewhere in the victory that is sure to come. Don’t be selfish anywhere. Don’t be selfish, most of all, in your religion. Let yourselves free into your religion, and be utterly unselfish. Claim your freedom in service.

Hymn for Today:
“In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina G. Rossetti, 1830-1894
1. In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.
2. Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
3. Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
4. What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

Through the Bible in One Year:
Joshua 21 to 24
1 The heads of families of the Levites then came to the priest, Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of families of the tribes of Israel-
2 they were then at Shiloh in Canaan. They said to them, ‘Through Moses, Yahweh ordered us to be given towns to live in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.’
3 In compliance with Yahweh’s order, the Israelites consequently and from their own heritage gave the Levites the following towns with their pasture lands:
4 Lots were cast for the clans of the Kohathites: to those Levites who were sons of Aaron the priest, fell thirteen towns from the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin;
5 to the other sons of Kohath, by clans,
6 fell ten towns from the tribes of Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. To the sons of Gershon, by clans, fell thirteen towns from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, Naphtali and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 To the sons of Merari, by clans, fell twelve towns from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and Zebulun.
8 The Israelites assigned these towns and their pasture lands to the Levites by lot, as Yahweh had ordered through Moses.
9 From the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Simeon, they gave the towns named below.
10 The first portion was for the sons of Aaron, belonging to the clans of the Kohathites, to the sons of Levi, since the first lot was theirs.
11 They gave them Kiriath-Arba, Anak’s father’s town — now Hebron — in the highlands of Judah, with its surrounding pasture lands.
12 The fields and villages of this town, however, they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his property.
13 To the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, a city of refuge for those who had killed, with its pasture lands, as well as Libnah with its pasture lands,
14 Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands,
15 Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands,
16 Ashan with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth-Shemesh with its pasture lands: nine towns taken from these two tribes;
17 and, from the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands,
18 Anathoth with its pasture lands and Almon with its pasture lands: four towns.
19 Total number of towns for the priests, the sons of Aaron: thirteen towns with their pasture lands.
20 As regards the clans of the sons of Kohath, those Levites still left of the sons of Kohath, the towns of their lot were taken from the tribe of Ephraim.
21 They were given Shechem, a city of refuge for those who had killed, with its pasture lands, in the highlands of Ephraim, as well as Gezer with its pasture lands,
22 Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth-Horon with its pasture lands: four towns;
23 from the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands,
24 Aijalon with its pasture lands and Gath-Rimmon with its pasture lands: four towns;
25 and, from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasture lands and Jibleam with its pasture lands: two towns.
26 In all: ten towns with their pasture lands for the remaining clans of the sons of Kohath.
27 To the sons of Gershon, of the levitical clans, were given: from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for those who had killed, with its pasture lands, and Ashtaroth with its pasture lands — two towns;
28 from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasture lands, Dobrath with its pasture lands,
29 Jarmuth with its pasture lands and En-Gannim with its pasture lands — four towns;
30 from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands,
31 Helkath with its pasture lands and Rehob with its pasture lands — four towns;
32 and, from the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee, a city of refuge for those who had killed, with its pasture lands, Hammoth-Dor with its pasture lands and Kartan with its pasture lands — three towns.
33 Total number of towns of the Gershonites, by clans: thirteen towns with their pasture lands.
34 To the clans of the sons of Merari, the remainder of the Levites, fell: from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands,
35 Rimmon with its pasture lands and Nahalal with its pasture lands — four towns;
36 on the other side of the Jordan opposite Jericho, from the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the desert, on the tableland, a city of refuge for those who had killed, with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands,
37 Kedemoth with its pasture lands and Mephaath with its pasture lands — four towns;
38 and, from the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for those who had killed, with its pasture lands, Mahanaim with its pasture lands,
39 Heshbon with its pasture lands and Jazer with its pasture lands — four towns.
40 Total number of towns forming the lot of the sons of Merari by clans, of the remaining levitical clans: twelve towns.
41 The total number of towns for the Levites in Israelite territory was forty-eight towns with their pasture lands.
42 These towns consisted in each case of the town itself and the pasture land round it. This was the case with all the towns.
43 This was how Yahweh gave the Israelites the entire country which he had sworn to give to their ancestors. They took possession of it and settled in it.
44 Yahweh granted them tranquillity on all their frontiers just as he had sworn to their ancestors and, of all their enemies, not one succeeded in resisting them. Yahweh put all their enemies at their mercy.
45 Of all the promises that Yahweh had made to the House of Israel, not one failed; all were fulfilled.
1 Joshua then summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh
2 and said to them, ‘You have observed everything that Moses, servant of Yahweh, ordered you, and whenever I have given you an order you have listened to me.
3 You have not deserted your brothers, from long ago until today, keeping the observance of the commandment of Yahweh your God.
4 Now that Yahweh your God has granted your brothers the rest that he promised them, go back to your tents, to the country belonging to you which Moses, servant of Yahweh, gave you on the other side of the Jordan.
5 But take great care to practise the commandments and the Law which Moses, servant of Yahweh, has given you: to love Yahweh your God, always to follow his paths, to keep his commandments, to be loyal to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
6 Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went home to their tents.
7 To one half of the tribe of Manasseh, Moses had given a territory in Bashan; to the other half, Joshua gave another among their brothers on the west bank of the Jordan. As Joshua sent them home to their tents, he blessed them
8 and said to them, ‘You are going back to your tents with great wealth, with a great deal of livestock, with silver and gold, bronze and iron and great quantities of clothing; share the spoils of your enemies with your brothers.’
9 The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, leaving the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan, and made for Gilead, the territory which belonged to them as a result of Yahweh’s order given through Moses.
10 When they came to the stone circle by the Jordan, in Canaanite territory, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there beside the Jordan, a large, imposing altar.
11 This came to the ears of the Israelites. ‘Look,’ the word went round, ‘the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built this altar on the Canaanite side, near the stone circle by the Jordan, on the Israelites’ bank.’
12 At this news, the whole community of the Israelites mustered at Shiloh, to march against them and make war on them.
13 The Israelites sent the priest Phinehas son of Eleazar to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in Gilead,
14 and with him ten leading men, one man from a leading family from each of the tribes of Israel, each of them being head of his family in the clans of Israel.
15 Having reached the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, they said this:
16 ‘The whole community of Israel says as follows, “What do you mean by this infidelity, which you have committed against the God of Israel by now repudiating your allegiance to Yahweh, and by building yourselves an altar with the intention now of rebelling against Yahweh?
17 “Was the crime which we committed at Peor so slight — although we have not managed to purify ourselves from that even now, in spite of the plague which has ravaged the community of Yahweh-
18 that you must now repudiate your allegiance to Yahweh? For since you are in rebellion against him today, tomorrow his anger will be aroused against the whole community of Israel.
19 “Is the country in which you have settled unclean? Then cross over into the country where Yahweh has settled, there where Yahweh’s Dwelling now stands, and settle among us. But do not rebel against Yahweh or involve us in your rebellion by building a rival altar to the altar of Yahweh our God.
20 When Achan son of Zerah was unfaithful to the curse of destruction, did not the retribution come down on the whole community of Israel, although he was only one man? Did he not have to die for his crime?” ‘
21 The Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh spoke in their turn and answered the heads of the clans of Israel:
22 ‘The God of gods, Yahweh, the God of gods, Yahweh well knows, and let Israel know it too: if there has been rebellion or infidelity to Yahweh on our part, may he refuse to save us today!
23 And if we have built ourselves an altar with the intention of repudiating our allegiance to Yahweh and of presenting burnt offering and oblation or of offering communion sacrifices on it, may Yahweh himself call us to account for it!
24 The truth is, we have done this as a precaution: in the future, your descendants might say to ours, “What connection do you have with Yahweh, God of Israel?
25 Has not Yahweh set the frontier of the Jordan between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites? You have no share in Yahweh.” Thus, your descendants would be the cause of stopping ours from fearing Yahweh.
26 ‘So we said to each other, “Let us build this altar, not for burnt offerings or other sacrifices
27 but as a witness between us and you and between our descendants after us, attesting that we too have the right to worship Yahweh, in his presence, with our burnt offerings, our victims and our communion sacrifices. And so, in the future your descendants will not be able to say to ours: You have no share in Yahweh.”
28 And we furthermore said, “If ever it were to happen that they did say this either to us or to our descendants in the future, we should reply: Look at this structure, Yahweh’s altar, made by our ancestors not for burnt offerings or other sacrifices but as a witness between us and you.”
29 Far be it from us to rebel against Yahweh or now to repudiate our allegiance to Yahweh by building an altar for burnt offerings or oblations or sacrifices, in rivalry with the altar of Yahweh our God that stands before his Dwelling!’
30 When the priest Phinehas, the leaders of the community and the heads of the clans of Israel who were with him, heard the words spoken by the Gadites, the Reubenites and the Manassehites, they approved of them.
31 The priest Phinehas son of Eleazar then said to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the Manassehites, ‘Today, we can see that Yahweh is among us, since you have not been unfaithful to Yahweh in this matter; this means that you have spared the Israelites from Yahweh’s avenging hand.’
32 The priest Phinehas son of Eleazar and the leaders left the Reubenites and the Gadites and went back from Gilead to Canaan and the Israelites, to whom they reported the answer.
33 The Israelites were pleased to hear this; the Israelites gave thanks to God and spoke no more of marching against them to make war on them and to ravage the country inhabited by the Reubenites and the Gadites.
34 The Reubenites and the Gadites called the altar . . . , ‘Because’, they said, ‘it will be a witness between us that Yahweh is God.’
1 Now long after Yahweh had given Israel rest from all the enemies surrounding them — Joshua was old now, far advanced in years-
2 Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, leaders, judges and officials, and said to them, ‘I myself am old, far advanced in years;
3 you for your part have witnessed all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations for your sake; Yahweh your God himself has fought for you.
4 Look, these nations still remaining, and all the nations which I have exterminated from the Jordan all the way to the Great Sea in the west, I have allotted to you as the heritage for your tribes.
5 Yahweh your God will himself drive them out before you; he will dispossess them before you and you will take possession of their country, as Yahweh your God has promised you.
6 ‘So be very firm about keeping and doing everything written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not swerving from that either to right or to left.
7 Never mix with the peoples who are still left beside you. Do not utter the names of their gods, do not swear by them, do not serve them and do not bow down to them.
8 On the contrary, you must be loyal to Yahweh your God as you have been till now.
9 Yahweh has dispossessed great and powerful nations before you, and no one so far has been able to resist you.
10 One man of you was able to rout a thousand of them, since Yahweh your God was himself fighting for you, as he had promised you.
11 Be very careful, as you value your life, to love Yahweh your God.
12 ‘But should you in any way relapse, if you make friends with the remnant of these nations still living beside you, if you intermarry with them, if you mix with them and they with you,
13 then know for certain that Yahweh your God will stop dispossessing these nations before you, and for you they will be a snare, a pitfall, thorns in your sides and thistles in your eyes, until you vanish from this fine country given you by Yahweh your God.
14 ‘Today, you see, I am going the way of all the earth. Acknowledge with all your heart and soul that of all the promises made to you by Yahweh your God, not one has failed: all have been fulfilled — not one has failed.
15 ‘As every promise made to you by Yahweh your God has been fulfilled for you, by the same token Yahweh will fulfil all his threats against you, even to exterminating you from this fine country given you by Yahweh your God.
16 ‘For if you violate the covenant which Yahweh your God has imposed on you, if you go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then Yahweh’s anger will be roused against you and you will quickly vanish from the fine country which he has given you.’
1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel together at Shechem; he then summoned all the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges and officials, and they presented themselves in God’s presence.
2 Joshua then said to all the people: ‘Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this, “From time immemorial, your ancestors, Terah, father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River, and served other gods.
3 I then brought your ancestor Abraham from beyond the River and led him through the length and breadth of Canaan. I increased his descendants and I gave him Isaac.
4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave possession of the mountainous country of Seir. Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt.
5 I then sent Moses and Aaron, and plagued Egypt with the wonders that I worked there; finally I brought you out.
6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the Sea; the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen, to the Sea of Reeds.
7 They then called to Yahweh, and he spread a thick fog between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea go back on them and cover them. You saw with your own eyes what I did in Egypt. Then, for a long while, you lived in the desert.
8 I then brought you into the country of the Amorites, who used to live on the further side of the Jordan; they made war on you and I put them at your mercy; after which, you took possession of their country, since I destroyed them before you.
9 Next, Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose to make war on Israel, and sent for Balaam son of Beor to come and curse you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam; instead, he had to bless you, and I saved you from his power.
11 “You then crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho, but the inhabitants of Jericho made war on you: Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I put them all at your mercy.
12 I sent hornets ahead of you, which drove out the two Amorite kings before you; this was not the work of your sword or of your bow.
13 And now I have given you a country for which you have not toiled, towns you have not built, although you live in them, vineyards and olive groves you have not planted, although you eat their fruit.”
14 ‘So now, fear Yahweh and serve him truly and sincerely; banish the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.
15 But if serving Yahweh seems a bad thing to you, today you must make up your minds whom you do mean to serve, whether the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now living. As regards my family and me, we shall serve Yahweh.’
16 The people replied, ‘Far be it from us to desert Yahweh and to serve other gods!
17 Yahweh our God was the one who brought us and our ancestors here from Egypt, from the place of slave-labour, who worked those great wonders before our eyes and who kept us safe all along the way we travelled and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
18 And Yahweh has driven all the nations out for us, including the Amorites who used to live in the country. We too shall serve Yahweh, for he is our God.’
19 Joshua then said to the people, ‘You will not be able to serve Yahweh, since he is a holy God, he is a jealous God who will not tolerate either your misdeeds or your sins.
20 If you desert Yahweh and serve the foreigners’ gods, he will turn and maltreat you anew and, in spite of having been good to you in the past, will destroy you.’
21 The people replied to Joshua, ‘No! Yahweh is the one we mean to serve.’
22 Joshua then said to the people, ‘You are witnesses to yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh, to serve him.’ They replied, ‘Witnesses we are!’
23 ‘Then banish the foreign gods which you have with you and give your allegiance to Yahweh, God of Israel!’
24 The people replied to Joshua, ‘Yahweh our God is the one whom we shall serve; his voice we shall obey!’
25 That day Joshua made a covenant for the people; he laid down a statute and ordinance for them at Shechem.
26 Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. He then took a large stone and set it up there, under the oak tree in Yahweh’s sanctuary.
27 Joshua then said to all the people, ‘Look, this stone will be a witness to us, since it has heard all the words that Yahweh has spoken to us: it will be a witness against you, in case you should deny your God.’
28 Joshua then dismissed the people, every one to his own heritage.
29 After this, Joshua son of Nun, servant of Yahweh, died; he was a hundred and ten years old.
30 He was buried on the estate which he had received as his heritage, at Timnath-Serah which lies in the highlands of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
31 Israel served Yahweh throughout the lifetime of Joshua and throughout the lifetime of those elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the deeds which Yahweh had done for the sake of Israel.
32 As regards the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought from Egypt, these were buried at Shechem in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought for a hundred pieces of silver from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem, and which had become the heritage of the sons of Joseph.
33 Eleazar son of Aaron then died and was buried at Gibeah, the town of his son Phinehas, which had been given to him in the highlands of Ephraim.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Monday, January 23, 2012:
Psalm 41
1 [For the choirmaster Psalm Of David] Blessed is anyone who cares for the poor and the weak; in time of trouble Yahweh rescues him.
2 Yahweh protects him, gives him life and happiness on earth. Do not abandon him to his enemies’ pleasure!
3 Yahweh sustains him on his bed of sickness; you transform altogether the bed where he lies sick.
4 For my part I said, ‘Yahweh, take pity on me! Cure me for I have sinned against you.’
5 My enemies speak to me only of disaster, ‘When will he die and his name disappear?’
6 When people come to see me their talk is hollow, when they get out they spread the news with spite in their hearts.
7 All who hate me whisper together about me and reckon I deserve the misery I suffer.
8 ‘A fatal sickness has a grip on him; now that he is down, he will never get up again.’
9 Even my trusted friend on whom I relied, who shared my table, takes advantage of me.
10 But you, Yahweh, take pity on me! Put me on my feet and I will give them their due.
11 This will convince me that you delight in me, if my enemy no longer exults over me.
12 Then you will keep me unscathed, and set me in your presence for ever.
13 Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from eternity to eternity. Amen, Amen.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 52
1 [For the choirmaster Poem Of David When Doeg the Edomite went and warned Saul, 'David has gone to Abimelech's house'] Why take pride in being wicked, you champion in villainy, all day long
2 plotting crime? Your tongue is razor-sharp, you artist in perfidy.
3 You prefer evil to good, lying to uprightness. Pause
4 You revel in destructive talk, treacherous tongue!
5 That is why God will crush you, destroy you once and for all, snatch you from your tent, uproot you from the land of the living.Pause
6 The upright will be awestruck as they see it, they will mock him,
7 ‘So much for someone who would not place his reliance in God, but relied on his own great wealth, and made himself strong by crime.’
8 But I, like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God, put my trust in God’s faithful love, for ever and ever.
9 I shall praise you for ever for what you have done, and shall trust in your name, so full of goodness, in the presence of your faithful.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 44
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Poem] God, we have heard for ourselves, our ancestors have told us, of the deeds you did in their days, in days of old,
2 by your hand. To establish them in the land you drove out nations, to make room for them you harried peoples.
3 It was not their own sword that won the land, nor their own arms which made them victorious, but your hand it was and your arm, and the light of your presence, for you loved them.
4 You are my king, my God, who decreed Jacob’s victories;
5 through you we conquered our opponents, in your name we trampled down those who rose up against us.
6 For my trust was not in my bow, my victory was not won by my sword;
7 it was you who saved us from our opponents, you who put to shame those who hate us.
8 Our boast was always of God, we praised your name without ceasing.Pause
9 Yet now you have abandoned and humiliated us, you no longer take the field with our armies,
10 you leave us to fall back before the enemy, those who hate us plunder us at will.
11 You hand us over like sheep for slaughter, you scatter us among the nations,
12 you sell your people for a trifle and make no profit on the sale.
13 You make us the butt of our neighbours, the mockery and scorn of those around us,
14 you make us a by-word among nations, other peoples shake their heads over us.
15 All day long I brood on my disgrace, the shame written clear on my face,
16 from the sound of insult and abuse, from the sight of hatred and vengefulness.
17 All this has befallen us though we had not forgotten you, nor been disloyal to your covenant,
18 our hearts never turning away, our feet never straying from your path.
19 Yet you have crushed us in the place where jackals live, and immersed us in shadow dark as death.
20 Had we forgotten the name of our God and stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have found this out, for he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 For your sake we are being massacred all day long, treated as sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake, Lord! Why are you asleep? Awake! Do not abandon us for good.
24 Why do you turn your face away, forgetting that we are poor and harrassed?
25 For we are bowed down to the dust, and lie prone on the ground.
26 Arise! Come to our help! Ransom us, as your faithful love demands.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 14:1-24
1 When Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of the Goiim,
2 made war on Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar),
3 all the latter joined forces in the Valley of Siddim (now the Salt Sea).
4 For twelve years they had been under the yoke of Chedor-Laomer, but in the thirteenth year they revolted.
5 In the fourteenth year Chedor-Laomer arrived and the kings who had allied themselves with him. They defeated the Rephaim at Ashteroth-Carnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim in the Plain of Kiriathaim,
6 the Horites in the mountainous district of Seir near El-Paran, which is on the edge of the desert.
7 Wheeling round, they came to the Spring of Judgement (that is, Kadesh); they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-Tamar.
8 Then the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and engaged them in the Valley of Siddim:
9 Chedor-Laomer king of Elam, Tidal king of the Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar: four kings against five.
10 Now there were many bitumen wells in the Valley of Siddim, and in their flight the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fell into them, while the rest fled into the hills.
11 The conquerors seized all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and made off.
12 They also took Lot (the nephew of Abram) and his possessions and made off; he had been living at Sodom.
13 A survivor came to tell Abram, and Aner the Hebrew, who was living at the Oak of the Amorite Mamre, the brother of Eshcol; these were allies of Abram.
14 When Abram heard that his kinsman had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers born in his own household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and gave chase as far as Dan.
15 He and his retainers deployed against them under cover of dark, defeated them and pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
16 He recaptured all the goods as well as his kinsman Lot and his possessions, together with the women and people.
17 When Abram returned from defeating Chedor-Laomer and the kings who had been on his side, the king of Sodom came to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the Valley of the King).
18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High.
19 He pronounced this blessing: Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High for putting your enemies into your clutches.
20 And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.’
22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, ‘I swear by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth:
23 not one thread, not one sandal strap, will I take of what is yours, for you to be able to say, “I made Abram rich.”
24 For myself, nothing — except what the troops have used up, and the share due to the men who came with me, Eshcol, Aner and Mamre; let them take their share.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 8:1-13
1 The principal point of all that we have said is that we have a high priest of exactly this kind. He has taken his seat at the right of the throne of divine Majesty in the heavens,
2 and he is the minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tent which the Lord, and not any man, set up.
3 Every high priest is constituted to offer gifts and sacrifices, and so this one too must have something to offer.
4 In fact, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are others who make the offerings laid down by the Law,
5 though these maintain the service only of a model or a reflection of the heavenly realities; just as Moses, when he had the Tent to build, was warned by God who said: See that you work to the design that was shown you on the mountain.
6 As it is, he has been given a ministry as far superior as is the covenant of which he is the mediator, which is founded on better promises.
7 If that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no room for a second one to replace it.
8 And in fact God does find fault with them; he says: Look, the days are coming, the Lord declares, when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah,
9 but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors, the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, which covenant of mine they broke, and I too abandoned them, the Lord declares.
10 No, this is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel, when those days have come, the Lord declares: In their minds I shall plant my laws writing them on their hearts. Then I shall be their God, and they shall be my people.
11 There will be no further need for each to teach his neighbour, and each his brother, saying ‘Learn to know the Lord!’ No, they will all know me, from the least to the greatest,
12 since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sins to mind.
13 By speaking of a new covenant, he implies that the first one is old. And anything old and ageing is ready to disappear.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 4:43-54
43 When the two days were over Jesus left for Galilee.
44 He himself had declared that a prophet is not honoured in his own home town.
45 On his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.
46 He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. And there was a royal official whose son was ill at Capernaum;
47 hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son, as he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and portents you will not believe!’
49 ‘Sir,’ answered the official, ‘come down before my child dies.’
50 ‘Go home,’ said Jesus, ‘your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said and went on his way home;
51 and while he was still on the way his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.
52 He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. They replied, ‘The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.’
53 The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household believed.
54 This new sign, the second, Jesus performed on his return from Judaea to Galilee.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Phillips Brooks:
Psalm 33:1-5,20-21
1 Shout for joy, you upright; praise comes well from the honest.
2 Give thanks to Yahweh on the lyre, play for him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song, make sweet music for your cry of victory.
4 The word of Yahweh is straightforward, all he does springs from his constancy.
5 He loves uprightness and justice; the faithful love of Yahweh fills the earth.
20 We are waiting for Yahweh; he is our help and our shield,
21 for in him our heart rejoices, in his holy name we trust.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Jonah 3:1-10
1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to Jonah a second time.
2 ‘Up!’ he said, ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to it as I shall tell you.’
3 Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare; to cross it took three days.
4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city and then proclaimed, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.’
5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.
6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes.
7 He then had it proclaimed throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his nobles, as follows: ‘No person or animal, herd or flock, may eat anything; they may not graze, they may not drink any water.
8 All must put on sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone renounce his evil ways and violent behaviour.
9 Who knows? Perhaps God will change his mind and relent and renounce his burning wrath, so that we shall not perish.’
10 God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring it.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Ephesians 3:14-21
14 This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father,
15 from whom every fatherhood, in heaven or on earth, takes its name.
16 In the abundance of his glory may he, through his Spirit, enable you to grow firm in power with regard to your inner self,
17 so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love,
18 with all God’s holy people you will have the strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth;
19 so that, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond knowledge, you may be filled with the utter fullness of God.
20 Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine;
21 glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Matthew 24:24-27
24 for false Christs and false prophets will arise and provide great signs and portents, enough to deceive even the elect, if that were possible.
25 Look! I have given you warning.
26 ‘If, then, they say to you, “Look, he is in the desert,” do not go there; “Look, he is in some hiding place,” do not believe it;
27 because the coming of the Son of man will be like lightning striking in the east and flashing far into the west.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 5:1-7,10
1 All the tribes of Israel then came to David at Hebron and said, ‘Look, we are your own flesh and bone.
2 In days past when Saul was our king, it was you who led Israel on its campaigns, and to you it was that Yahweh promised, “You are to shepherd my people Israel and be leader of Israel.” ‘
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a pact with them in Yahweh’s presence at Hebron, and they anointed David as king of Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years.
5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months; then he reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
6 The king and his men then marched on Jerusalem, on the Jebusites living in the territory. These said to David, ‘You will not get in here. The blind and the lame will hold you off.’ (That is to say: David will never get in here.)
7 But David captured the citadel of Zion, that is, the City of Davi
10 David grew stronger and stronger, and Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, was with him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 89:19-28
19 Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful you said: ‘I have given strength to a warrior, I have raised up a man chosen from my people.
20 ‘I have found David my servant, and anointed him with my holy oil.
21 My hand will always be with him, my arm will make him strong.
22 ‘No enemy will be able to outwit him, no wicked man overcome him;
23 I shall crush his enemies before him, strike his opponents dead.
24 ‘My constancy and faithful love will be with him, in my name his strength will be triumphant.
25 I shall establish his power over the sea, his dominion over the rivers.
26 ‘He will cry to me, “You are my father, my God, the rock of my salvation!”
27 So I shall make him my first-born, the highest of earthly kings.
28 ‘I shall maintain my faithful love for him always, my covenant with him will stay firm.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 3:19b-30
19 and Judas Iscariot, the man who was to betray him.
20 He went home again, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal.
21 When his relations heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’
22 The scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, ‘Beelzebul is in him,’ and, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he drives devils out.’
23 So he called them to him and spoke to them in parables,
24 ‘How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot last.
25 And if a household is divided against itself, that household can never last.
26 Now if Satan has rebelled against himself and is divided, he cannot last either — it is the end of him.
27 But no one can make his way into a strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he has first tied up the strong man. Only then can he plunder his house.
28 ‘In truth I tell you, all human sins will be forgiven, and all the blasphemies ever uttered;
29 but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, but is guilty of an eternal sin.’
30 This was because they were saying, ‘There is an unclean spirit in him.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Monday, 23 January 2012
Monday of the Third week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St John the Almoner, Patriarch of Alexandria (+ c. 620)
Commentary of the day:
Isaac of Stella (?-c.1171), Cistercian monk
Sermon 39, 2-6; SC 207
«Envy: a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit»
«It is by Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils»… It is the characteristic of evildoers, stirred by envy, to shut their eyes as much as they can to other people’s merits and when, overcome by the evidence, they cannot do so any longer, to depreciate or undervalue it. Thus, when the crowd rejoiced in devotion and marvelled at the sight of Christ’s works, the scribes and Pharisees either closed their eyes to what they knew to be true, or brought down what is great, or undervalued what is good. Once, for example, feigning ignorance, they said to him who had worked so many wonderful signs: «What sign can you do that we may believe in you?» (Jn 6,30). In this case, unable to blatantly deny the facts, they wickedly depreciate them…, and they devalue them by saying: «It is by Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils».
Now this, dear brethren, is the blasphemy against the Spirit that binds all those he has seized with the bonds of an eternal sin. This is not to say that it would be impossible for the repentant to gain forgiveness for it all if he «produces fruit as evidence of his repentance» (Lk 3,8). The only thing is that, crushed beneath such a weight of malice, he lacks the strength to reach out to that honorable repentance that isworthy of forgiveness… He who, perceiving the proofs of grace and the Holy Spirit’s working in his brother…, is not afraid to undermine and calumniate and brashly ascribe to the evil spirit what he clearly knows to be of the Holy Spirit: such a one has been so forsaken by this Spirit of grace that he no longer desires the repentance that would obtain his pardon. He is completely in the dark, blinded by his own malice. Indeed, what could be more serious than to dare, out of envy for the brother one had been commanded to love as oneself (Mt 19,19), to blaspheme God’s goodness… and insult his majesty by wanting to discredit a man?

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His HIghest
Reading for Monday 23rd January 2012
TRANSFORMED BY INSIGHT by Oswald Chambers
We all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image.(2 Corinthians 3:18)
The outstanding characteristic of a Christian is this unveiled frankness before God so that the life becomes a mirror for other lives. By being filled with the Spirit we are transformed, and by beholding we become mirrors. You always know when a man has been beholding the glory of the Lord, you feel in your inner spirit that he is the mirror of the Lord’s own character. Beware of anything which would sully that mirror in you; it is nearly always a good thing, the good that is not the best.
The golden rule for your life and mine is this concentrated keeping of the life open towards God. Let everything else – work, clothes, food, everything on earth – go by the board, saving that one thing. The rush of other things always tends to obscure this concentration on God. We have to maintain ourselves in the place of beholding, keeping the life absolutely spiritual all through. Let other things come and go as they may, let other people criticize as they will, but never allow anything to obscure the life that is hid with Christ in God. Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in Him. It is the one thing that is apt to fluctuate but it ought not to. The severest discipline of a Christian’s life is to learn how to keep “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.”

Reflecting God-Cleaner Than Clean
Monday, January 23, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 51:1-9
1 [For the choirmaster Of David When the prophet Nathan had come to him because he had gone to Bathsheba] Have mercy on me, O God, in your faithful love, in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;
2 wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from my sin.
3 For I am well aware of my offences, my sin is constantly in mind.
4 Against you, you alone, I have sinned, I have done what you see to be wrong, that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence, and your victory may appear when you give judgement,
5 remember, I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.
6 But you delight in sincerity of heart, and in secret you teach me wisdom.
7 Purify me with hyssop till I am clean, wash me till I am whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness, and the bones you have crushed will dance.
9 Turn away your face from my sins, and wipe away all my guilt.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Cleaner Than Clean by Gerald Crispin
Have you ever seen something cleaned so thoroughly that it shines like fresh snow in the sun? That was what David desired after being confronted by the Prophet Nathan, the light of God’s truth had revealed the ugly stain of his sin. He felt dirty. Not only had he committed adultery with Bathsheba, but as king he had put her husband in a position to be killed.
In Psalm 51, David calls out to God after being confronted and corrected. David has a deep desire to be cleansed of his sins; he knows all the baths in the entire world won’t wash his sin away. He begins the psalm by asking God for mercy and then acknowledges what he has done. He expresses in vivid detail just how much he wants to be cleansed; by asking to be made whiter than anything else he has seen on earth–snow. I’ve lived in Colorado and I can affirm that there is nothing whiter!
When we mess up (and we will mess up), let us take a lesson from David. Let’s fall on God’s mercy, ask to be forgiven, and seek to be cleansed and made cleaner than clean! Whiter than snow!
Hymn for Today:
“Cleanse Me” by J. Edgar Orr
1. Search me, O God, and know my heart today;
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray:
See if there be some wicked way in me:
Cleanse me from ev’ry sin, and set me free.
2. I Praise Thee Lord. for cleansing me from sin:
Fulfill Thy Word, and make me pure within;
Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame:
Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.
3. Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine:
Fill my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
I now surrender: Lord in me abide.
4. O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee:
Send a revival start the work in me:
Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need:
For blessing now, O Lord, I humbly plead.
2nd Thought for Today:
“Only repentance clears the way for Messiah’s entrance into our lives. There is no other way to prepare to meet God”(Gay Leonard and Debbie Goodwin)
Prayer Needs:
Many people in Switzerland will come to know Christ and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

Alban Weekly for Monday, January 23, 2012
Gone Fishing by Beverly A. Thompson , George B. Thompson, Jr.
Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.(John 21:4–6)
We should not be surprised.
In the midst of grief and anxiety, not to mention a life-changing transition, the disciples headed back to a place that felt normal, natural, familiar, and safe. Little did they know what was in store for them. When all else failed, these guys knew how to fish. They had fished for a living for years. Then one day, this Jesus had called them to follow him, and they dropped their nets and left behind the life they had known.
For hours, these dejected former members of a religious movement gone bad—and then strangely good again—cast their nets to no avail. There were no fish to be caught, just more frustration—until, unexpectedly, a familiar voice urged them to fish from the boat’s other side. They listened to that voice and did just what was asked of them. Then, before they knew it, they had caught loads of fish. Their nets filled to the brim, they joined the One whose voice they had trusted, Jesus. Gathered around that small fire on the beach, they shared a meal with him—a meal they would never forget. Once again, nothing was as they thought: It was deeper, richer, and life-changing.
All too often, congregations that find themselves in the in-between time of a transition do exactly what the disciples did: They go back to whatever they were doing before the crisis presented itself. This strategy worked out well for the disciples in this story—but only because Jesus was there waiting for them, offering them one more chance to understand who he was and the new thing he was calling them to do.
Just like the people in our congregations today, the disciples were part of a faith community that existed within a larger culture. As experienced fishermen, they knew how to function in the fishing-based culture that existed around the Sea of Galilee. They knew what to do, how to do it, and what kinds of techniques might catch different fish. But after leaving their nets behind to follow Jesus, they had become part of the unique community of disciples that arose around their Savior. Being with him had affected their particular culture, but now they found themselves living in between.
This thing we call “culture” is the thread, the deep stream, that connects persons within any group, organization, or community. For this purpose, we will focus on the culture created within communities of faith. Every congregation has its own unique culture. It consists of your congregation’s own particular set of behaviors, values, and norms, and it emerges as a group of people work together toward a common purpose over a period of time.
Especially in times of transition, looking at your church through a cultural lens will help you get a grasp on what is really going on within you. You will gain a greater understanding of your congregation as the complex, culture-creating, and culture-bearing groups that it is. From there, you can begin to figure out what decisions and actions will serve your purposes more effectively.
Look around the lake, pond, river, or seaside where you like to fish. What do you see there? Now consider what you see on the “shoreline” of your church as you arrive on any given Sunday. Try to imagine how you would view it as a first-time visitor. What do you see as you wade into the waters of your church? In short, what makes your church different from or the same as other churches around you?
All the little details, along with everything else that could be seen or observed, make up the first level of your church’s culture. It is the level called “artifacts.” This level contains the most obvious and observable details of a culture. However, just because this level of culture is easy to see doesn’t mean it’s always clearly understood. Appearances can be misleading. Artifacts might look the same from one church to the next, but you will soon discover they do not always mean what you might think.
Peering a little more deeply into the water, you will begin to notice some other things beneath the surface. This second level of culture is called “espoused values,” because it is here where we find statements that express the church’s ideals. These statements, which can be spoken or written, offer the church’s explanation for the artifacts we see on the church’s cultural shore. Espoused values are formal positive expressions of a congregation’s beliefs about who they are and what is important.
Espoused values simply tell us what sounds positive—which, in itself, is not bad. Espoused values are like the reflection we can see in the water itself. The image we glimpse there can be helpful in understanding a congregation. But be careful! What you see and hear in a church’s espoused values never provides a complete or fully accurate picture of that congregation or its culture. To get the full picture, we need to look even more closely.
Congregations typically do not pay attention to the whole story of who they are. However, as you learn to take notice of the culture of your church, you will be more prepared for (and less surprised and confounded by) the things that float up on your shore.
You can begin your fishing expedition by asking a few church members a couple of questions about why they prefer this church to other churches. The answers you hear will be espoused values. The words are true to some extent. But the responses to such direct questions tend to represent what the folks you ask want to believe about themselves and their church. Usually, the answers you get are more about sounding good than helping you understand more deeply what is going on. It is not that folks don’t want to tell you the truth; it is much more that what you can discover in the deepest level is not directly on the church’s radar.
Pastors often don’t realize that churches can run into trouble when they pay attention only to espoused values and artifacts. More often than not, what you see is not what you get. Churches say they want pastors to do a certain thing, to take on some pet church project. All too often, the pastor discovers that when she or he does just that, the church’s apple-cart is toppled and chaos begins to take over.
You can learn to anticipate this kind of potential pitfall. Once you begin the process of discovering more about your culture, you learn to appreciate its richness. There is more to what you see on the shore, or even hear spoken aloud, than meets the eye.
As your fishing line begins to drop deeper into the waters, you may sometimes seem to get caught on something. Those things that seem to anchor the pond, lake, or ocean are the “submerged beliefs.” This is the third level of church culture, the place where your congregation’s energy rests. Even though its particular elements have been “down there” for a while, this third level is rarely noticed or acknowledged, so its various elements are seldom, if ever, spoken aloud. Yet, in order for the fish to thrive in this body of water, their life must be supported and nourished by what is deep below the surface.
It is still not common for most people to think about the lives of our faith communities in terms of culture—especially as we dig below the level of things that are observable (artifacts) and desirable (espoused values). Yet benign ignorance will not help your church during its in-between times! There is more energy within your congregation than you realize. Learning how to understand the complex character of this energy is one crucial way to help your church in the long run.
The story of Jesus helping his old friends catch fish offers a charming yet telling image of congregations in transition. When things get difficult, we may be tempted, just as the disciples were, to revert back to what we used to do. It is all too easy to be misled by what appears to be floating on the surface. Artifacts and espoused values never tell the whole story. Your church needs to find a way to “cast its net” to another side of the boat.
If you want to understand your church’s particular culture, you will learn to engage this process of cultural “fishing.” You will want to gather a small, dedicated group of members who are committed to this honest discovery. This group should include longtime members who are “key culture bearers,”as well as some newer, active members too. This fishing expedition takes commitment, hope, and “a sense of urgency.”
The question with which you will want to live is simple: “What will happen to our church if we keep on doing what we have done over and over again?” The time you spend together in this discovery process will affect the road taken during your journey of transition.
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Adapted from Grace for the Journey: Practices and Possibilities for In-Between Times by Beverly A. Thompson and George B. Thompson, Jr., copyright © 2011 by the Alban Institute. All rights reserved.
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The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Monday, January 23, 2012
The Painful Truth
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read James 1:18-25
18 By his own choice he gave birth to us by the message of the truth so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all his creation.
19 Remember this, my dear brothers: everyone should be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to human anger;
20 God’s saving justice is never served by human anger;
21 so do away with all impurities and remnants of evil. Humbly welcome the Word which has been planted in you and can save your souls.
22 But you must do what the Word tells you and not just listen to it and deceive yourselves.
23 Anyone who listens to the Word and takes no action is like someone who looks at his own features in a mirror and,
24 once he has seen what he looks like, goes off and immediately forgets it.
25 But anyone who looks steadily at the perfect law of freedom and keeps to it — not listening and forgetting, but putting it into practice — will be blessed in every undertaking.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Today’s Scripture:
If any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror . . . and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.(James 1:23-24 (NRSV))
Today’s Devotional
When my dad was a young man, someone said to him, “You know, you never give a compliment or say anything good about others.” These words devastated him, but their truth also changed him. He became an affirming, caring, and expressive man because he was able to listen and willing to change.
Generally, we do not like people who tell us the hard truth about ourselves. Today Abraham Lincoln may be revered as one of our greatest U.S. presidents, but during his lifetime his speaking painful truths got him vilified and hated by many. Martin Luther King, Jr. told the hard truth about racism and segregation, and some people hated him for it. Nelson Mandela was thrown into prison for his prophetic stance on apartheid. If Isaiah or Jeremiah or Amos were living today and said what he did back then, we probably wouldn’t admire him as we do now. This is the nature of painful truth; it looks better in retrospect.
After centuries or even decades, it’s easier to fool ourselves into thinking that a message wasn’t intended for us than to act on it. But if we listen to God’s words today and apply them to ourselves, God will help us to change. by Dan G. Johnson (Florida, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: Join — or start — a Christian accountability group. See www.upperroom.org.
Prayer: Dear God, help us to listen closely to your words in the Bible — and to change. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Friends who tell me the truth
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — January 23, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
“Wisdom is a spirit, a friend to all.”(Wisdom 1:6)
It is usually over time and with patience that we come to see the wonderful patterns of grace, which is why it takes most of us a long time to be converted. Our focus slowly moves from an initial preoccupation with perfect actions (“first half of life” issues), to naked presence itself. The code word for that is simply “prayer,” but it became cheapened by misuse.
Jesus will often call prayer “vigilance,” “seeing,” or “being awake.” When you are aware and awakened, you will know for yourself all that you need to know. In fact, “Stay awake” is the last thing Jesus says to the apostles—three or perhaps four times—before he is taken away to be killed (Matthew 26:38-45). Finally, continuing to find them asleep, he kindly but sadly says, “Sleep now and take your rest,” which might have been his resigned forgiving statement to the church itself.
It is not that we do not want to be awake; but very few teachers have actually told us how to do that in a very practical way. We call it the teaching of “contemplation.” Adapted from Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 16
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Monday January 23, 2012
Community, a Quality of the Heart
The word community has many connotations, some positive, some negative. Community can make us think of a safe togetherness, shared meals, common goals, and joyful celebrations. It also can call forth images of sectarian exclusivity, in-group language, self-satisfied isolation, and romantic naiveté. However, community is first of all a quality of the heart. It grows from the spiritual knowledge that we are alive not for ourselves but for one another. Community is the fruit of our capacity to make the interests of others more important than our own (see Philippians 2:4). The question, therefore, is not “How can we make community?” but “How can we develop and nurture giving hearts?” by Henri J. M. Nouwen

5th Thought for Today:
Monday 23 January 2012
Entering a New Age
We are entering in a totally new age where either we’re going to move into universalism and a quest for greater love–love that needs to discover one’s culture, to discover one’s language, to be proud of culture, to love one’s culture but to be open to other people’s culture, and this has to do with welcoming difference. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

1.23.12 – “…but they weren’t embarrassed” from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: Genesis 2:18 “Yahweh God said, ‘It is not right that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper.’
19 So from the soil Yahweh God fashioned all the wild animals and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it.
20 The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild animals. But no helper suitable for the man was found for him.
21 Then, Yahweh God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And, while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed the flesh up again forthwith.
22 Yahweh God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man.
23 And the man said: This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh! She is to be called Woman, because she was taken from Man.
24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and becomes attached to his wife, and they become one flesh.
25 Now, both of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame before each other.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Questions:
“The two of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they weren’t embarrassed,” Genesis said of human innocence. In Genesis 3, that changed at once when Adam and Eve abandoned God’s way. Distrustful and alienated, they covered themselves, and hid from God (Gen. 3:7-10). God’s original intent for our sexuality, said Genesis, was the delight and bonding of chapter 2.
In 1706, Matthew Henry wrote that Eve was “Not made out of his [Adam's] head to top him, not out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” What does this archetypal story tell you about the intended quality of romantic relationships?
In Genesis 1, we read that all that God made was “very good.” Then, startlingly, we find that “It’s NOT GOOD that the human is alone.” What timeless principles do you see in this story that apply to married or single, male or female? How did the man’s joy as he met his partner speak to what God wanted sexual attraction to do for relationships?
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week, teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Monday 1.23.12 Insight from Rev. Andrew Conard
Rev. Andrew Conard is a Christian, husband, father, son, brother, friend, United Methodist and also Associate Pastor at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection West.
The story of the creation of the man and his wife is beautiful. I appreciated the quote from the GPS today that made the connection between the story of creation and some of the key qualities of romantic relationships – equality, protection and love. These are important qualities of committed relationships and are an inherent part of who we were created to be as humans. We are created to be in relationship with one another and God. This is one of the timeless principles that I see in this passage. Despite being originally created for healthy relationship, there are times when we mess up and break these connections. The good news is that whether it is with God or with one another we have the opportunity to recognize that we have done wrong and to be forgiven. I am grateful for this truth.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

Reflections with GOD for Sunday, January 22, 2012

Quotes for Today:
Doubt ’til thou canst doubt no more…doubt is thought and thought is life. Systems which end doubt are devices for drugging thought. by Albert Guerard
There are two ways to slide easily through life; to believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking. by Alfred Korzybski (1879 – 1950)
A mind troubled by doubt cannot focus on the course to victory. by Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt. I shouldn’t wish people dogmatically to believe any philosophy, not even mine. by Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts. by Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970)
Doubt whom you will, but never yourself. by Christine Bovee
Just think of the tragedy of teaching children not to doubt. by Clarence Darrow (1857 – 1938)
To have doubted one’s own first principles is the mark of a civilized man. by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841 – 1935)
Beliefs are what divide people. Doubt unites them. by Peter Ustinov (1921 – 2004)
If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things. by Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650)
I show you doubt, to prove that faith exists. by Robert Browning (1812 – 1889)
To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting. by Stanislaw Leszczynski (1677 – 1766)
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd. by Voltaire (1694 – 1778)
Our doubts are traitors,
And make us lose the good we oft might win
By fearing to attempt. by William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), “Measure for Measure”, Act 1 scene 4
I respect faith, but doubt is what gets you an education. by Wilson Mizner (1876 – 1933)

Sermon for Today:
The Power of an Uncertain Future by Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
“Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the
hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”(Matthew 25:13)
Jesus spoke these words at the close of the Parable of the Ten Virgins. The people were still under the impression that the parable had made upon them. It is the air of expectancy that pervades it which gives the parable its character. It all looks forward. It is busied with the future, not the past. The waiting virgins, the sleepless eyes, the well-filled lamps, and then the hurried stir, the rustling garments, the passing voices, and the opening and closing doors, as all the movement is expectant, and is full of one idea : Be ready, for a future is coming. With new issues -new destinies and new duties. Forget the past ! Look forward !
That is the tone of the parable, and it is the tone of the Gospel always. Stretching out into an infinite distance, it shows the endless future of human life. It lays its hand upon every soul that is asleep and says, “Wake, for your work is not done yet.” New developments of truth, new perfections of character, and infinite plans of God in which we are to take part, and these are the burden of the Gospel, and of the spirit of these the Parable of the Ten Virgins is full. It is all alive with expectancy. It is a parable of the Future. ” Behold the Bridegroom cometh! “
There are times, I think, when this character of the Gospel seems hard and almost cruel to us. There are times when the thought of expectancy is oppressive. Sometimes the soul is simply weary, and wants to lie down and go no farther. It seems to have done enough, to have lived enough. There is much in the past which is precious to it, but the thought of going on and making new history for itself is dreadful to it. Life seems behind it. To turn and see that life is yet before it seems very hard. But always the Gospel keeps its character. It will allow no resting in the past or in the present. It is always holding up its future and insisting that its disciples should live in ” the power of an endless life.”
But this verse of warning which comes at the end of the parable has one special point. It brings out one kind of power in the anticipations of the future which is very striking. Watch, Jesus says, not merely because there is to be a future, but because you cannot know what the future is. Watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” Here is a sort of life enjoined of watchfulness. I hope we shall see clearly enough before we are done that watchfulness is not a single act, nor a special habit, but a whole new character of a man’s life. And this character of a whole life is represented as coming out of the fact that the future of the life is uncertain. There is one sort of life that a man will live who anticipates no future at all, who lives wholly in the present. There is another sort of life for the man whose future is all clear before him, all ticketed and dated. There is yet another life for the man who knows that larger and stranger things are coming than he comprehends, who expects surprises. I want to speak of this last kind of life. Our subject is “The Power of an Uncertain Future.” Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
We have one illustration of our subject always before us in the life of childhood. I suppose that it would not be possible to get a better idea of what Jesus meant by the watchfulness that would become the character of one who was always looking for His undated coming, than we should have if we could understand perfectly the strong and subtle influence which the uncertainty and apparent infiniteness of the life before him has upon a child. The alertness, the receptivity, the modesty, the eagerness and easy enlargement or readiness for great things, which belong to the best childhood, seem to me to be the very qualities which the Gospel is always trying to make in Christians, and all these qualities belong essentially to the uncertainty with which a child’s future hovers before his eyes. If you could take a very high average of human attainment, something considerably beyond what the majority of men have reached, and fix that as the uniform level of men’s accomplishment, if you could decree absolutely that every life should go just as far as that and no life should go any farther, you certainly would have taken the spring out of the ambition of very many young aspiring souls. You would have taken away the uncertainty, and so you would have destroyed the romance and attractiveness. Probably not half of them will reach that line, but probably those who do reach it will go beyond it if you do not set them a limit there, but leave them all infinity to aspire into. One will certainly shoot his arrows higher if he shoots them out-of-doors, with all the sky to shoot them into, than if he sends them up against the ceiling of a room that seems just as high as he can reach.
And so it is the child’s uncertainty about his life that gives it all those characteristics that I spoke of. He does not know which way it will go. It is full of wonderment. Every door tempts him to open it, to see what lies beyond. Every corner tempts him to turn it. And so, just as you or I, going to Paris or London, will walk more in a day than any Londoner or Parisian in three, because our curiosity is always kept alive by the uncertain- ties of the unfamiliar streets, and so the child will make more character in a week than we grown people will in months, because life, not having yet hardened itself into routines and certainties, is always vividly interesting to him and is always enticing him a little farther on.
There must be grown men, old men, here today who look back to nothing with such wistful longing as to the interest that life had for them when they were children. Can it be, indeed, that this dull and faded thing is the same that once flashed and sparkled with such bewitching colors? Living has disenchanted them with life. And if they look into it they will see that what has gone out of life is simply its uncertainty. They have solved all the problems. They have opened all the closets. Once, when they got up in the morning, they wondered what they would do that day; they thought of a thousand things that might happen before the sun went down. Now, they know just what will happen and just what they will do at every hour of the day. Once each New Year’s day was a pinnacle on which they stood and looked out into an enticing splendor of vague possibilities. Now, on New Year’s day they balance their books, and, presuming that they will make and spend about the same amount of money in the next year as in the last, settle down to the dull content of a certain competence. So the interest of life, you see, depends upon its uncertain futures. It will not do to solve the problems of life, unless in solving them you open new ones. If you can do that, then you can keep the interest of living. If you can open a new prospect, with all the splendor of vague distance about It, yet farther on, then you can afford to go over And examine in detail and so lose the romantic beauty of the prospect that has already opened to you.
My dear friends, all this seems to me to lead to very serious truth. It seems to me to show that life is certain to become dull and uninteresting and weary to an old man, to every man as he grows old, unless some future beyond life opens before him, which shall be to his old age all that the yet un-tried life was to his boyish dreams. The boy dreamed of the infiniteness of life, and there was color in his cheek and brightness in his eye and a dewy freshness in everything he said and did. That is all gone with you, perhaps gone so far back that it seems as remote as the book of Genesis when something calls it back to you. Is there any possible thing that can replace it for you? Only that opening of another future, with new uncertainties, which has turned many an old man into a child again as he stood at the gateway of the Everlasting Life. When this life is exhausted, when its crooked streets have all been trodden to the end, still the interest need not have gone out of living if only from the hilltop of experience new and untrodden ways can open themselves before us, rolling on into the mystery of eternity. Then one may die with as true vitality, as eager curiosity, as he has ever lived. To him the interest of life is still preserved, as alone it can be preserved, by the power of an uncertain future.
There are some touching instances of this feeling that an unknown future is necessary to any real pleasurable interest in living. Have you never heard people ask one another whether they would be willing to live their lives over again, and has it not sometimes seemed sad to see how almost everybody said “No” almost with a shudder, as if the idea was almost dreadful to him? It is not really that men’s lives have been so unhappy, so that is not why they would dread a repetition so. There have been portions of their lives that they would dread. There are places, if we had to live our lives over again just as we have lived them, where we should set our teeth in grim misery as we came in sight of the old blunder or the terrible catastrophe which we had almost forgotten; but on the whole there has been more of happiness than wretchedness in all our lives. But the main reason why people shudder when you ask them to live their lives again is that the proposition seems to them so utterly dreary. A life with no surprises! A life where you knew just what was coming! There is no succession of terrible blows that can fall upon a man that could begin to be so wretched as the dulness of such a life would be.
Or take another question: You ask yourself, ‘ Would I have lived my life, if I had known at the outset just what it was to be? If all the picture could have been set before my baby-brain, would my baby-hands have been reached out to welcome it, or would they have thrust it impatiently away?” I am afraid there are a good many people here who, either from general temper or from some temporary mood that they are in, would think the answer to that question only too plain. “Never!” they say. “Never would I have lived if I had known beforehand what life was! ” And yet how good it is for these people that they have lived ! How much they have added to the world’s stock. How much happiness they themselves have had in spite of all. They have been tempted on, spared the worst misery of anticipation, and never wholly deserted by eagerness and hope, through the power of an uncertain future.
My dear friends, if we feel this, what can we say ? Is there one of us that dare complain of God because He keeps our futures uncertain ? Does it not put something like a reason underneath these endless changes by which our plans are always being broken up and our best hopes disappointed ? Is it good for a man to grow gloomy over that which is the only source of interest, hopefulness, and joy in life?
These words are very general; let us take our text somewhat more closely. This future in whose uncertainty the power resides is spoken of as the “day and hour wherein the Son of Man cometh,” So what day and hour is meant ? The Son of Man is Christ Himself. His coming is certainly not a time when He draws near to the world, for He is in the world always. It must be, then, some time or times in which His presence becomes manifest. Such comings there are several of. Men discuss which of them the text refers to, and whether to the final coming for judgment, the coming to every man at death, or the coming of the Spirit at a man’s conversion. Let us not try to settle which it means, but let us take all three. It is good for us; it cultivates the life called “watchfulness” within us, not to know when Christ is coming to judge the world, when He is going to call us to Himself by death, when He is coming by some great experience to our souls, and the unknown coming for judgment, the unknown time of death, the unknown spiritual experience.
I. Take first the coming of Christ to judge this world. Clearly the Bible tells of some such time. Clearly there is to be some close of the present state of things and some new dispensation, to begin with some peculiar manifestation of Christ to men. Forever in these chapters of the Bible runs the prophecy of the opened heaven and the Son of man sitting there throned among His angels. ” He Cometh, He cometh to judge the world, and the people with equity.” But yet the time is all uncertain. ” Of that day and hour knoweth no man.” Perhaps for cycles upon cycles yet this tangled web of forces may move on as it is moving now. Perhaps already the great wheels are trembling on the brink of stoppage. Science no more than revelation ventures to guess the time; though science, just like revelation, catches glimpses of the coming fact.
And then, when we ask what the effect of this uncertain future on the world’s character is, we are struck first of all by this, and that every attempt (and men have always with a strange persistency kept making their attempts) to fix what God has left uncertain has done harm and not good to those who made their guesses. Certainly such attempts have not helped the religion on which they tried to fasten themselves. The Apostles evidently, after Jesus had gone away, believed that He would come back while some of them were yet alive, but that was not the religion that inspired the zeal of Paul and John. Again, as the thousand years after Christ approached toward the end of the ninth century, you know there was a strange and widespread impression that when the thousand years were over, Jesus would come. The people waited. From many a housetop, as, in the night, one century gave the world over to the next, eyes must have watched the heavens for the coming Lord. But we do not find that such a confident expectancy made the world better. Certainly there were few centuries darker than the ninth, the century of wars among the nations, and gross corruption in the Church, and ignorance and misery in private life. Again, many of us are old enough to remember how, forty years ago, a vast number of our people believed that on a certain mentioned day the world would end and Christ the Judge appear; but certainly, among the multitudes who looked for such a crisis, no one ever heard that virtue or religion came to any wonderful development, that life was purer, holier, profounder, than among their unbelieving neighbors. Nor will the most enthusiastic supporter of any of the Millenarian theories that have attempted to tell what is to be the end of things with more or less exactness, venture to say that his theory has established for itself any right to be called necessary even to the highest Christian life.
No ; history shows us that where men have thought they knew the end, it has not been good for them. It is better that they should not know. And certainly we can see why. Can we not understand that the best culture for the world is just in that idea under which God has kept the world living, and the idea that all these things were temporary, and yet an entire ignorance as to the length of their endurance? If the world has been saved from entire sordidness, if its heart in every age has aspired after loftier things, if it has been able to keep in its remembrance that character was the one permanent thing, if thus it has been able to sacrifice other more manifest things to the invisible majesty of character, the reason in large part has been that in all ages men have believed that the time would come when all these things would pass away. The “eternal hills” were not eternal. The calm heavens were some day to part in fire, and the Judgment Day of the world to come. On the other hand, if the world of men, believing in the coming Judgment, has still worked on, toiled on the substance of this perishable earth as if it were imperishable, developed its resources and so made it a fitter instrument for their own development, it has been because no day for the catastrophe stared them in the face, paralyzing their healthy activity, and blighting their courage. To live in one’s work, and yet above one’s work, is what one needs. To be a servant of the earth, and yet superior to the earth, where it has been put by God, is the lesson that the human soul always has been learning; and that lesson it has been taught by the power of the world’s uncertain future.
I think it is just the way in which a wise parent treats his child during the preparatory years in which he lives still as a child under the parent’s roof. He lets him know that that home-life is temporary. He opens windows through which the boy can see the life that he must live for himself out in the world, when this first dispensation shall be over. And at the same time he draws no line, fixes no date, makes the child-life as real as it could be if it were to last forever. So God trains this world for the next. So He keeps Time full of solemn watchfulness for Eternity. So, in the ears of a humanity which is to be educated by the ministry of perishable things for those which are imperishable, He seems to be always uttering those unutterably solemn words: “Seeing that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?”
If we can see much reason why the world should be left in ignorance about the time of Christ’s coming to be its Judge, we can understand even more of how good it is for every man not to know just when the word of the Lord will come to him, as it does come to every man, to call him out of this state of being to a higher. I suppose that we have all thought, sometimes, what differences it would make in all our life if we all knew from the beginning just when we were to be called to die. Certainly we do not know, men do not know themselves, how much the certainty that they must die some time influences and controls them. It is not often on their lips. It is not often consciously upon their hearts. But there is something in the life of every man that would be changed in a moment if he suddenly were made aware that he were to stay here upon the earth forever. We say sometimes that men live here just as if they never were to die; we think that all this hurrying crowd upon the street has utterly forgotten death and hurries on as if it were to pour up and down these thronged avenues forever; but it is not so. Every man has in his nature the influence of the fact that he always knows, though it is not always consciously before his mind.
The traveller in the city is always different from the citizen, though he has no time fixed for his departure, and even prolongs his visit to many years. So the pilgrim-and-stranger feeling is somewhere in all of us. It differs in us all. It is an awful sense of brooding mystery in some, a tireless and hurried energy in others, and in almost all it is a certain tenderness and dearness gathering about the earth which we are certainly some day to leave. But just consider what the consequences would be if this vague certainty were brought down and made definite, and each man knew from the beginning of his course just when to him would come the summons that no man can disobey.
The first thing that I think of is the great decrease of physical energy and work that it would probably make in the world if every man knew just when he was to die. One of the strongest springs of action among men is the desire for the preservation of their life, and perhaps it is the strongest spring of action. It is this, the desire to prolong their life. that has in large part broken up the forests and opened the mines and bridged the rivers and built the cities. This, in large part, is what one hears through all the clatter of the world’s machineries and the hoarse roar of business, and the personal desire for life. It is the clangor of the hammers with which men are building walls between themselves and death. This, too, is at the root of almost all our institutions: society, government, and they are all to secure men in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; and of these great ambitions life stands first and lies deepest of all.
And, then, consider how, in the uncertainty as to the time of death, every man’s labor lasts almost and some men’s last quite up to the time of death. Almost or quite up to the very last they still contribute to the wealth and progress of the world. No sight of the approaching end unmans their courage and makes them drop their tools before the time. Think, if you please, how many men, if they knew that their dying day was only one year off, would feel no spirit and no call to work during that year, the hope of self-preservation being definitely taken from them. And, then, think how much the world would have been robbed of, if all the labor that her millions of great and little workers have done within a year of the time when they were called away were taken out of the aggregate ; and we can see already some reason why the cloud is not lifted, and men walk on, working and living and hoping, up to the very door of the other life.
And when I think again, not of what the world would lose, but of what the character and culture of the men themselves would lose, if the day when they were to leave the earth were known to them from the day when they first entered on it, then it seems clearer still. You train your little child for all the duties of his manhood. From his very cradle the thought of ” when he is a man ” is before you as your inspiration and your guide. God takes your child, still in his childhood, to the higher education of the perfect world. The training for this life that you gave him, if it was really sound and true and godly, was the best training that he could have taken to the Eternal School; but could you have given it to him if you had known that he was to die so young, that he was never to mingle among men in all the ministries and competitions of the world?
Or, again, could a young man train himself to prudence, self-constraint, truth, and all the qualities that make the best successes of men’s middle-age, if he knew from the start that just upon the threshold of that middle-age the angel would touch him and he must go away? That eager student, would he have studied so if he had always known that his knowledge would never be used here, that with its new richness all about him he was to lie down and die? And then the happiness that comes to hearts that look forward into years of friendship, and could it have flowed in so abundantly and cloudlessly upon the soul if that soul had foreseen the coming separation? Still, indeed, there would be left the highest values of knowledge and the highest sources of happiness; still the student might have known that he could learn nothing that was really true, for which he would not be the richer in whatever world he lived; still the friend might twine bis friendship all the closer that it might be strong enough not to break even with the strain that carried it beyond the grave; but all the inferior sources of culture and happiness, which, though inferior, are pure, on which we all so much depend, must surely suffer no blight. Surely it is a good, kind God, a blessed Father, who lets us know that He is coming, but does not tell us when. We are like children off at school, to whom the father sends word that he will bring them home, that so they may study all the harder and be ready, but does not fix the day lest they should drop the books altogether and merely stand looking for him out of the window, wasting their time. God will bring the shortness of life home to all of us so as to make us say, “We will work the harder,” but He will not let it weigh upon any of us so as to set us thinking, ” It is not worth while to work.”
And we must think not merely of what such a certainty about the time of our death would take away from us, but also of what it would bring into our lives. It would set us all to preparing for death in a narrow and special sense. It is not good for a man to devote himself to preparation for dying. It is preparation for living that you need. When, in mediaeval times, men, feeling that death was near them, used to give up their work, lay down their arms, and, like the cloistered emperor, put on the cowl and go and live in monasteries, and nay, build their coffins and keep their epitaphs written on their cell-walls, as we know that it was a mere makeshift. It was better perhaps than nothing, but it was an attempt to crowd into a year or two what a whole lifetime should have done, to force by unnatural means that intimacy with the God to whom they
were to go which should have been healthily gathered out of the daily experiences of a long, devout, obedient life. You cannot so make the perfect friendship any more than you can make the lower friendship so. To take away the uncertainty about the time of death would have a tendency (which the best men would resist, but to which multitudes of men would yield) to give the bulk of life up to indifference and recklessness and crowd the last few months or days with an artificial religiousness that would have little power to prepare the soul for its great change. The only real way to ” Prepare to meet thy God ” is to live with thy God so that to meet Him shall be nothing strange.
So, surely, it is better for us as God has appointed it. So, surely, the picture of a faithful man, by every duty of his life preparing himself for the next duty, and so at last finding that living has prepared him for dying, and laying his life back into the hands of a Father in whose strength he has lived it all, and this is the highest illustration of the power of an uncertain future to influence and ripen and prepare us for more than we foresee.
And now, but little time remains for me to speak of the last of the three comings of the Son of Man. Christ comes to all last for judgment, Christ comes to each of us at death, but Christ comes also in the hour of conversion, when He claims a man for His servant and bids him take up his cross and follow Him. In the religion of our day, conversion is made a less prominent and separate moment in a man’s life than it used to be considered in the religion of other days. If this change means that all the life is recognized as being more full of God, and so lifted up nearer to the level of the conversion-hour, then it is well; but if it means that the supernatural power of the conversion itself is being disallowed, and so the whole life brought down to the level of every-day worldliness, then it is bad. All Christian experience bears witness that there are times when that Saviour who is always present and always seeking us makes Himself peculiarly manifest to our souls and asks us to be His. It may be in connection with some great outward change that comes to us ; or it may be something wholly of the inner life, unseen, unheard by any one beside ourselves; but do you not know that such times surely come? I speak to any servant of the Saviour here: Were there not days, perhaps years, when you went on in your own way, Christ by you always but you not seeing Him, Christ speaking to you and you not hearing Him? But at last there came a time when He looked on you with a new face and you did see Him; when He spoke to you with a new voice and you did hear Him! That is the time, be it a moment or a day or a year of a man’s conversion, the beginning of a new life. And now, can you not see that it makes a great difference whether that supreme meeting of your soul and God, which must come and which is fraught with such stupendous consequences, is to come at some fixed time, when you have reached some special age, when you are ready for some special study; or, on the other hand, whether it may come at any moment and at any moment between the solemn moment when you first find that you have a soul and that other solemn moment when you give your soul up to your Master and your Judge? If the first, then you may wait, wait unexpectantly until you hear Him coming. If the other, then any time in the ever-turning journey of life may bring you into sight of Him ; any sound close by your side may be His footstep. This next moment may be His moment to bless your soul. Nay, this moment, now may be His time, and you may be letting it pass just because you are not knowing that it may be any moment, and so are not listening every moment for the slightest indication of His coming.
More and more the law of the Christian life seems to me to be this — that Christ the Saviour comes to every man, and that they that are watching for Him and expecting Him know Him when He comes, and enter with Him into some higher life. ” They that were ready went in with Him to the marriage”; these words of the old parable tell the whole story. Ah! yes, as we look back over our life, how sudden always have been the comings of the Son of Man! We looked for Him off in some distance, and suddenly His voice spoke to us close at our side. Again we said to ourselves in some proud moment of self-exaltation, “Now He must be near me; now He will speak to me” but that proud, selfish moment has gone by, utterly cold and dead, without a sight or sound of Christ; and then, when we had just passed down off from the mountain where we hoped for so much, into a valley of humility where we expected nothing, and then everything around us has been radiant with His presence, and He has spoken to us words of wisdom and a Brother’s tenderest love. We have expected Him, and He has not come; we have forgotten Him, and He has been with us. The deepest experiences of our life have taken us unawares. In such an hour as we thought not the Son of Man has come.
Every man knows this of his life, and so what is the law of lite that it ought to make for us? It is not hard to see. It must be always useless to prepare oneself against this or that moment, to make up conditions for what we fancy are to be the most critical times of life. That is spasmodic and unreal. But to be so possessed with the conviction that God is around us always, and may show Himself to us in any commonest moment, that we are always alert and ready to receive Him, and that is the true condition of the soul. Sometimes from mere expectancy you may be deceived ; sometimes it may seem as if God spoke to you when it is only your own longing that He may speak that makes you think it is His voice; but I think it is better to be mistaken so a hundred times than once not to be ready, and so say, ” Oh, it is nothing!” when He really does Speak. It is better, after all, to be so superstitious that we find God where He is not, than to be so sceptical that we will not find Him where He is.
Have we not, then, come at the end to something like a clear tangible notion of what the watching is to which the Saviour urged His disciples long ago, and to which He still urges us? It is not an act, not a habit, but a character. It is a constant alertness of soul which, believing that Christ does come near to people, is determined that He shall not come near us and escape us because we are asleep. It has no plan for the future, and so is always ready to catch any intimation of His plan. It is profoundly conscious that the world is full of Him, and so is ready to hear His voice from any unexpected corner. It believes, just as those disciples believed, that Jesus never died for men and left them to their fate, but that He will certainly come back to claim the souls He died for. It lives in prayer and work, both of them keeping it open and dependent; and by and by He comes, and they, being ready, enter in with Him to His home and their home in God.
One would like to speak to all these young people very earnestly. Do not think that the life you are beginning has shown you yet all its mystery. Do not think you have got to the height or the depth of it when you have just found it pleasant and sunny. It is more solemn and profound than that itt will bring vast experiences. To you, more wonderful by far than you know yourself, and capable of far greater intercourses than you have imagined, the Son of Man will certainly come. Do not manufacture experiences. Do not pay too much regard
to those who shout to you, “Lo, here is Christ!” or, ”Lo, He is there!” but be so expectant of Him always, keep so in the pure way of His commandments, pray so earnestly for Him to come, that when He does come you will know it; when He calls you, you will answer; when He says, “Come to me,” you will leave all and follow Him. Let your life be that, and then one hardly dares to say which is the holier, the time here while you are watching for His coming, or the Eternity hereafter when He shall have fully come and received you to Himself. May God grant you first the one and then the other I.

Hymn for Today:
“God, That Madest Earth and Heaven” by Reginald Heber 1783-1826 (stanza 1); Frederick Lucian Hosmer, 1840-1929 (stanza 2)
1. God, that madest earth and heaven,
darkness and light,
who the day for toil hast given,
for rest the night:
may thine angel guards defend us,
slumber sweet thy mercy send us;
holy dreams and hopes attend us,
this livelong night.
2. When the constant sun returning
unseals our eyes,
may we, born anew like morning,
to labor rise.
Gird us for the task that calls us,
let not ease and self enthrall us,
strong through thee whate’er befall us,
O God most wise!

Through the Bible in One Year:
Joshua 11 to 20
1 When Jabin king of Hazor heard about this, he sent word to Jobab king of Merom, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph
2 and to the kings in the northern highlands, in the plain south of Chinneroth, and those in the lowlands and on the slopes of Dor to the west.
3 To eastward and to westward lived the Canaanites: in the highlands, the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites; the Hivites, at the foot of Hermon in the area of Mizpah.
4 They set out with all their troops, a people as numerous as the sands of the sea, with a huge number of horses and chariots.
5 These kings, having all agreed on a meeting place, came and set up camp together at the Waters of Merom, to fight Israel.
6 Yahweh then said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of them, for by this time tomorrow I shall hand them all over, cut to pieces, to Israel; you will hamstring their horses and burn their chariots.’
7 With all his warriors Joshua caught them unawares near the Waters of Merom and fell on them.
8 Yahweh put them at Israel’s mercy and they defeated them and pursued them as far as Sidon the Great, and as far as Misrephoth to the west, and as far as the Vale of Mizpah to the east; they harried them until not one of them was left alive.
9 Joshua treated them as Yahweh had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots.
10 Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor, putting its king to the sword. Hazor in olden days was the capital of all these kingdoms.
11 In compliance with the curse of destruction, they put every living creature there to the sword. Not a living soul was left, and Hazor was burnt to the ground.
12 All these royal cities and all their kings Joshua put to the sword in compliance with the curse of destruction, as Moses, servant of Yahweh, had ordered.
13 Yet of all these towns standing on their mounds, Israel burned none, apart from Hazor, burnt by Joshua.
14 All the spoils of these towns, including the livestock, the Israelites took as booty for themselves. But they put all the human beings to the sword till they had destroyed them completely; they did not leave a living soul.
15 What Yahweh had ordered his servant Moses, Moses in turn had ordered Joshua, and Joshua carried it out, leaving nothing undone of what Yahweh had ordered Moses.
16 In consequence, Joshua captured this entire country: the highlands, the whole Negeb and the whole of Goshen, the lowlands, the Arabah, the highlands and lowlands of Israel.
17 From Mount Halak, which rises towards Seir, to Baal-Gad in the Vale of Lebanon at the foot of Mount Hermon, he captured all their kings, struck them down and put them to death.
18 For many a day Joshua made war on all these kings;
19 no city had made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites who lived at Gibeon; all the rest had been captured in battle.
20 For Yahweh had decided to harden the hearts of these men, so that they would engage Israel in battle and thus come under the curse of destruction and so receive no quarter but be exterminated, as Yahweh had ordered Moses.
21 Joshua then went and wiped out the Anakim of the highlands, of Hebron, of Debir, of Anab, of all the highlands of Judah and of all the highlands of Israel; he delivered them and their towns over to the curse of destruction.
22 No Anakim were left in the territory of the Israelites, except at Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.
23 Joshua captured the entire country, just as Yahweh had told Moses, and he gave it as heritage to Israel, to be shared out between their tribes. And the country had rest from warfare.
1 The kings of the country, whom the Israelites conquered and whose territory they took, on the further, eastern side of the Jordan, from the Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon, with the entire Arabah to the east, were as follows:
2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, ruled from Aroer which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, including the bottom of the valley, half Gilead and as far as the Jabbok, the river forming the frontier with the Ammonites;
3 the eastern Arabah up to the Sea of Chinneroth, and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, or Salt Sea, on the eastern side, in the direction of Beth-Jeshimoth, and, in the south, the watered foothills of Mount Pisgah.
4 Og king of Bashan, one of the last of the Rephaim, who lived at Ashtaroth and Edrei,
5 ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecah, the whole of Bashan to the frontier of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and half Gilead to the frontier of Sihon king of Heshbon.
6 Moses, servant of Yahweh, and the Israelites conquered these, and Moses, servant of Yahweh, conferred their territory on the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
7 The kings of the country whom Joshua and the Israelites conquered on the nearer, western side of the Jordan, from Baal-Gad in the Vale of Lebanon to Mount Halak rising towards Seir, and whose heritage Joshua distributed to the tribes of Israel, dividing it up between them, were as follows:
8 In the highlands and the lowlands, in the Arabah and in the watered foothills, in the desert and in the Negeb, belonging to the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites:
9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai near Bethel, one;
10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Sharon, one;
19 the king of Merom, one; the king of Hazor, one;
20 the king of Shimron Meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
23 the king of Dor, on the Slopes of Dor, one; the king of the nations in Galilee, one;
24 the king of Tirzah, one; Total number of all these kings: thirty-one.
1 Now Joshua had grown old and advanced in years. Yahweh said to him, ‘You are now old and advanced in years, yet there is still a great deal of territory left to be taken possession of.
2 This is all the territory left: ‘All the districts of the Philistines and the whole country of the Geshurites;
3 from the Shihor, facing Egypt, to the frontier of Ekron in the north, is reckoned as Canaanite territory. The five rulers of the Philistines have their seats at Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron, respectively; the Avvites are in
4 the south. The entire territory of the Canaanites, and Mearah which belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphekah and as far as the frontier of the Amorites;
5 and then the country of the Gebalites with the entire Lebanon eastwards from Baal-Gad at the foot of Mount Hermon to the Pass of Hamath.
6 ‘All who live in the highlands from the Lebanon to Misrephoth in the west — all the Sidonians — I myself shall dispossess before the Israelites. All you have to do is to distribute the territory as a heritage for the Israelites as I have ordered you.
7 The time has come to divide this territory as a heritage between the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh: from the Jordan as far as the Great Sea in the west, you must give it them; the Great Sea will be their limit.’
8 As regards the other half-tribe of Manasseh, this and the Reubenites and Gadites had already received their heritage, given them by Moses on the further, eastern side of the Jordan, the one which Moses, servant of Yahweh, had already given them:
9 The country onwards from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley, with the town in the bottom of the valley and the entire tableland from Medeba to Dibon;
10 all the towns of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had reigned in Heshbon, to the frontier of the Ammonites;
11 then Gilead and the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites with the whole Hermon range and the whole of Bashan as far as Salecah;
12 and in Bashan, the whole kingdom of Og, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei, and was the last of the survivors of the Rephaim. Moses had conquered and dispossessed these two kings.
13 The Israelites did not, however, dispossess either the Geshurites or the Maacathites, hence Geshur and Maacah survive inside Israel even today.
14 To the tribe of Levi alone no heritage was given; Yahweh, God of Israel, was his heritage, as he had told him.
15 Moses had given the tribe of the sons of Reuben a share by clans.
16 Thus, their territory was the entire tableland from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley, with the town in the bottom of the valley, as far as Medeba,
17 Heshbon with all the towns on the tableland: Dibon, Bamoth-Baal, Beth-Baal-Meon,
18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,
19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah and, in the highlands of the Arabah, Zereth-Shahar;
20 Beth-Peor, the watered foothills of Mount Pisgah, Beth-ha-Jeshimoth,
21 all the towns on the tableland and the entire kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had reigned in Heshbon; he had been defeated by Moses, and with him the princes of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, vassals of Sihon, formerly living in the country.
22 As regards Balaam son of Beor, the soothsayer, the Israelites had put him to the sword with those whom they had killed.
23 The boundary of the Reubenites was the Jordan and its territory. Such was the heritage of the sons of Reuben, by clans, with the towns and villages belonging to them.
24 Moses had given the tribe of Gad, the sons of Gad, a share by clans.
25 Their territory was Jazer, all the towns of Gilead, half the country of the Ammonites as far as Aroer facing Rabbah,
26 and from Heshbon to Ramath-Mizpeh and Betonim; from Mahanaim as far as the territory of Lo-Debar,
27 and in the valley: Beth-Haram, Beth-Nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon — the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon — the Jordan and the territory running to the tip of the Sea of Chinneroth, on the further, eastern side of the Jordan.
28 Such was the heritage of the sons of Gad, by clans, with their towns and villages belonging to them.
29 Moses had given the half-tribe of Manasseh a share by clans.
30 Their territory, starting from Mahanaim, was the whole of Bashan, the entire kingdom of Og king of Bashan, all the Encampments of Jair in Bashan: sixty towns.
31 Half of Gilead, with Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan, were allotted to the sons of Machir son of Manasseh, to half of the sons of Machir, by clans.
32 This was what Moses had conferred in heritage on the Plains of Moab on the further, eastern side of the Jordan opposite Jericho.
33 To the tribe of Levi, however, Moses gave no heritage; Yahweh, God of Israel, was his heritage, as he had told him.
1 This was what the Israelites received as their heritage in Canaan, which was given them as their heritage by the priest, Eleazar, and by Joshua son of Nun, with the heads of families of the tribes of Israel.
2 They received their heritage by lot, as Yahweh had ordered through Moses, as regards the nine tribes and the half-tribe.
3 For Moses himself had given the two-and-a-half tribes their heritage on the further side of the Jordan, although to the Levites he had given no heritage with them.
4 Since the sons of Joseph formed two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim, no share in the country was given to the Levites, apart from some towns to live in, with their pasture lands for their livestock and their possessions.
5 The Israelites did as Yahweh had ordered Moses, and shared out the country.
6 Some sons of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, ‘You know what Yahweh said to Moses, man of God, at Kadesh-Barnea concerning you and me.
7 I was forty years old when Moses, servant of Yahweh, sent me from Kadesh-Barnea to reconnoitre this country, and I made him a completely honest report.
8 The brothers, however, who had gone up with me discouraged the people, whereas I myself scrupulously obeyed Yahweh my God.
9 That day Moses swore this oath, “Be sure of this, that the country your foot has trodden will be a heritage for you and your children for ever, since you have scrupulously obeyed Yahweh my God.”
10 From then till now, Yahweh has kept me alive in observance of his promise. It is forty-five years since Yahweh said this to Moses — Israel was then going through the desert — and now I am eighty-five years old.
11 Today I am still as strong as the day when Moses sent me out on that errand; for fighting, for going and coming, I am as strong now as then.
12 It is time you gave me the highlands, of which Yahweh spoke to me that day. You heard that day that there were Anakim and large, fortified towns there; but if Yahweh is with me, I shall drive them out, as Yahweh has said.’
13 Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as heritage.
14 And hence Hebron down to the present day has remained the heritage of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, since he had scrupulously obeyed Yahweh, God of Israel.
15 Hebron in olden days was called Kiriath-Arba. Arba had been the greatest of the Anakim. And the country had rest from warfare.
1 The portion falling to the tribe of the sons of Judah, by clans, was near the frontier of Edom, from the desert of Zin southwards to Kadesh in the south.
2 Their southern frontier began at the tip of the Salt Sea, at the southerly bay;
3 it proceeded south of the Ascent of Scorpions, crossed Zin and came up to Kadesh-Barnea from the south; past Hezron, it went on to Addar and turned towards Karka;
4 the frontier then went on to Azmon, came out at the Torrent of Egypt and reached as far as the sea. This is to be your southern frontier.
5 The eastern frontier was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan.
6 The northern boundary began at the bay at the mouth of the Jordan. The boundary went up to Beth-Hoglah, passed north of Beth-ha-Arabah and went on to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
7 The boundary then went on to Debir from the Vale of Achor and turned north towards the stone circle opposite the Ascent of Adummim, which is south of the Torrent; the boundary went on to the Waters of En-Shemesh and came out at En-Rogel.
8 It then went back up the Valley of Hinnom, coming from the south to the flank of the Jebusite — that is, Jerusalem — and climbed to the crest of the mountain barring the Valley of Hinnom to the west, at the northern end of the Valley of the Rephaim.
9 From the mountain top, the boundary curved round to the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah, went on to the towns of Mount Ephron and then turned towards Baalah — that is, Kiriath-Jearim.
10 From Baalah, the boundary curved westwards to the highlands of Seir, skirted the northern slope of Mount Jearim — that is, Chesalon — went down to Beth-Shemesh and through Timnah,
11 came out on the northern flank of Ekron, turned towards Shikkeron and, passing through the highlands of Baalah, came out at Jabneel, and reached as far as the sea.
12 The western boundary was the Great Sea itself. Such was the frontier surrounding the sons of Judah, by clans.
13 Caleb son of Jephunneh was given a share within that of the sons of Judah, in accordance with Yahweh’s order to Joshua: Kiriath-Arba, the town of the father of Anak — that is, Hebron.
14 Caleb drove out the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, descended from Anak.
15 From there he marched on the inhabitants of Debir; Debir in olden days was called Kiriath-Sepher.
16 Caleb then said, ‘To the man who attacks and takes Kiriath-Sepher, I shall give my daughter Achsah as wife.’
17 The man who captured it was Othniel son of Kenaz, brother of Caleb, who gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.
18 When she arrived, he urged her to ask her father for arable land, but when she alighted from the donkey and Caleb asked her, ‘What is the matter?’
19 she said to him, ‘Grant me a blessing! As the land you have given me is the Negeb, give me springs of water too!’ So Caleb gave her what she wanted, the upper springs and the lower springs.
20 Such was the heritage of the tribe of the sons of Judah, by clans.
21 Towns at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah, near the frontier of Edom in the Negeb: Kabzeel, Arad, Jagur,
22 Kinah, Dimon, Aroer,
23 Kedesh, Hazor-Ithnan,
24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
25 Hazor-Hadattah, Kiriath-Hezron — that is, Hazor-
26 Amam, Shema, Moladah,
27 Hazar-Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-Pelet,
28 Hazar-Shual, Beersheba and its dependencies,
29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem,
30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,
31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain and Rimmon: in all, twenty-nine towns with their villages.
33 In the lowlands: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
34 Zanoah, En-Gannim, Tappuah, Enam,
35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,
36 Shaaraim, Aditaim, Ha-Gederah and Gederothaim: fourteen towns with their villages.
37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-Gad,
38 Dilean, Ha-Mizpeh, Jokteel,
39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,
40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish,
41 Gederoth, Beth-Dagon, Naamah and Makkedah: sixteen towns with their villages.
42 Libna, Ether, Asham,
43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib,
44 Keilah, Achzib and Mareshah: nine towns with their villages.
45 Ekron with its dependencies and its villages.
46 From Ekron to the sea, everything to the side of Ashdod, with its villages.
47 Ashdod with its dependencies and its villages; Gaza with its dependencies and its villages as far as the Torrent of Egypt, the Great Sea forming the boundary.
48 In the highlands: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,
49 Dannah, Kiriath-Sepher, now Debir,
50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,
51 Goshen, Holon and Giloh: eleven towns with their villages.
52 Arab, Dumah, Eshan,
53 Janum, Beth-Tappuah, Aphekah,
54 Humtah, Kiriath-Arba, now Hebron, and Zior: nine towns with their villages.
55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,
56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,
57 Ha-Kain, Gibeah and Timnah: ten towns with their villages.
58 Halhul, Beth-Zur, Gedor,
59 Maarath, Beth-Anoth and Eltekon: six towns with their villages. Tekoa, Ephrathah, now Bethlehem, Peor, Etam, Kulon, Tatam, Sores, Carem, Gallim, Bether and Manach: eleven towns with their villages.
60 Kiriath-Baal, that is Kiriath-Jearim, and Rabbah: two towns with their villages.
61 In the desert: Beth-Arabah, Middin, Secacah,
62 Nibshan, Salt Town and En-Gedi: six towns with their villages.
63 The Jebusites, however, who lived in Jerusalem, the sons of Judah were unable to dispossess, and the Jebusites still live in Jerusalem today, side by side with the sons of Judah.
1 The portion of the sons of Joseph started on the east at the Jordan opposite Jericho (the Waters of Jericho) through the desert rising from Jericho into the highlands of Bethel;
2 from Bethel it went to Luz, and on towards the frontier of the Archites at Ataroth;
3 then passed downwards and westwards to the frontier of the Japhletites as far as the border of Lower Beth-Horon and on to Gezer, and reached as far as the sea.
4 Such was the heritage of the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim.
5 As regards the territory of the sons of Ephraim, by clans, the frontier of their heritage ran from Ataroth-Arach to Upper Beth-Horon;
6 the frontier then reached as far as the sea . . . the Michmethath in the north, and the frontier turned east to Tanaath-Shiloh which it crossed in an easterly direction to Janoah;
7 it ran down to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho and ended at the Jordan.
8 From Tappuah, the frontier ran westwards to the Torrent of Kanah and reached as far as the sea. Such was the heritage of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim, by clans,
9 apart from the towns reserved for the sons of Ephraim inside the heritage of the sons of Manasseh, all these towns and their villages.
10 The Canaanites living in Gezer were not driven out; they have remained in Ephraim to the present day but are obliged to do forced labour.
1 The portion of the tribe of Manasseh, who was in fact Joseph’s first-born — went to Machir, Manasseh’s first-born, father of Gilead, for he was a warrior; he had Gilead and Bashan.
2 The other sons of Manasseh had theirs, by clans: for the sons of Abiezer, for the sons of Helek, for the sons of Asriel, for the sons of Shechem, for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida: these were the male children of Manasseh son of Joseph, by clans.
3 Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons but only daughters, whose names were these: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.
4 These approached the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun and the leaders, and said, ‘Yahweh ordered Moses to give us a heritage among our brothers.’ In compliance with Yahweh’s order, therefore, they were given a heritage among their father’s brothers.
5 In this way ten portions fell to Manasseh, apart from Gilead and Bashan lying on the further side of the Jordan,
6 since Manasseh’s daughters received a heritage as well as his sons. Gilead itself belonged to Manasseh’s other sons.
7 On the side of Asher, the frontier of Manasseh was the Michmethath, which is opposite Shechem, and thence continued to the right to Jashib, which is at the spring of Tappuah.
8 The territory of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah on Manasseh’s border belonged to the sons of Ephraim.
9 The boundary went down to the Torrent of Kanah; south of the Torrent were the towns of Ephraim, excluding those owned by Ephraim among the towns of Manasseh; the boundary of Manasseh was north of the Torrent and reached as far as the sea.
10 The south belonged to Ephraim and the north to Manasseh and reached as far as the sea; they touched Asher to the north and Issachar to the east.
11 With Issachar and Asher, Manasseh shared Beth-Shean and its dependent towns, Ibleam and its dependent towns, the inhabitants of Dor and of its dependent towns, the inhabitants of Taanach and Megiddo and of their dependent towns: the Three of the Slopes.
12 But because the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these towns, the Canaanites managed to live on in that territory.
13 When, however, the Israelites became stronger, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labour, though they never dispossessed them.
14 The sons of Joseph spoke as follows to Joshua, ‘Why have you given me only one share, only one portion, as heritage, when I am a numerous people, since Yahweh has so blessed me?’
15 Joshua replied, ‘If your people are so many, go up to the wooded area and clear space for yourselves in the area belonging to the Perizzites and Rephaim, since the highlands of Ephraim are too small for you.’
16 The sons of Joseph replied, ‘The highlands are not enough for us, and what is more, all the Canaanites living on the land of the plain have iron chariots, so do those in Beth-Shean and its dependent towns, and those in the plain of Jezreel.’
17 Joshua said to the House of Joseph, to Ephraim and to Manasseh, ‘You are a numerous people and your strength is great; you will not only have one share,
18 but a mountain will be yours as well; even if it is a forest, you can clear it and its territories will be yours. And you will dispossess the Canaanites, although they have iron chariots and although they are strong.’
1 The whole community of the Israelites assembled at Shiloh, and the Tent of Meeting was set up there; the whole country had been subdued for them.
2 But among the Israelites there were still seven tribes left who had not received their heritage.
3 Joshua then said to the Israelites, ‘How much more time are you going to waste before you go and take possession of the country which Yahweh, God of your ancestors, has given to you?
4 Choose three men from each tribe for me to send all over the country so that they can make a survey with a view to their inheritances and then come back to me.
5 They will divide the country into seven portions. Judah will remain in his territory in the south, and those of the House of Joseph will remain in their territory in the north.
6 You must survey the country in seven sections and bring your findings to me here, so that I can cast lots for you here, in the presence of Yahweh our God.
7 The Levites, however, will have no portion with the rest of you; the priesthood of Yahweh will be their heritage. As regards Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh, they have received their heritage on the further, eastern side of the Jordan, the one given them by Moses, servant of Yahweh.’
8 The men stood up and set off. To those who were to survey the country Joshua gave this order, ‘Start out, then, go all over the country, survey it, and then come back to me; and I shall cast lots for you here, in the presence of Yahweh, at Shiloh.’
9 The men left, went all over the country and surveyed it by towns, in seven sections, writing down their findings in a book, and then went back to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh.
10 Joshua cast lots for them in Yahweh’s presence at Shiloh, and there Joshua divided the country between the Israelites, share by share.
11 A portion fell first to the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, by clans: the territory of their portion lay between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.
12 Their northern frontier began at the Jordan, went up the flank of Jericho to the north, climbed westwards through the highlands and came out at the desert of Beth-Aven.
13 Thence, the frontier went on to Luz, on the southern flank of Luz — now Bethel-and then down to Ataroth-Arach, on the mountain south of Lower Beth-Horon.
14 At this westerly point, the frontier curved round and turned south, from the mountain facing Beth-Horon from the south and came out at Kiriath-Baal, now Kiriath-Jearim, a town of the sons of Judah. That was the western side.
15 This was the south side: from the tip of Kiriath-Jearim, the frontier went to Gasin and came out near the spring of the Waters of Nephtoah,
16 it then went down to the edge of the mountain facing the Valley of Hinnom, in the Valley of the Rephaim to the north; it then went down into the Valley of Hinnom, past the southerly flank of the Jebusite, and went down to En-Rogel.
17 It then curved northwards, coming out at En-Shemesh, and came out at the stone circle opposite the Ascent of Adummim, then went down to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
18 It then went on to Cheteph on the flank of Beth-ha-Arabah northwards, and went down into the Arabah;
19 the frontier then passed round the northern flank of Beth-Hoglah, and the frontier came out at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. Such was the southern frontier.
20 The Jordan itself formed the frontier on the east. Such was the heritage of the sons of Benjamin as defined by their frontier, by clans.
21 The towns of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, by clans, were:
22 Jericho, Beth-Hoglah, Emek-Keziz;
23 Beth-Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel; Avvim, Parah, Ophrah;
24 Chephar-Ammoni, Ophni, Geba: twelve towns and their villages.
25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth;
26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah;
27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah;
28 Zela-ha-Eleph, the Jebusite — that is, Jerusalem — Gibeah and Kiriath: fourteen towns with their villages. Such was the heritage of the sons of Benjamin, by clans.
1 The second lot to come out was for Simeon, for the tribe of the sons of Simeon, by clans; their heritage was within the heritage of the sons of Judah.
2 As heritage, they received:
3 Beersheba, Shema, Moladah,
4 Hazar-Shual, Balah, Ezem, Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
5 Ziklag, Beth-ha-Marcaboth, Hazar-Susa,
6 Beth-Lebaoth and Sharuhen: thirteen towns and their villages.
7 Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan: four towns and their villages,
8 with all the villages situated near these towns as far as Baalath-Beer and Ramah of the Negeb. Such was the heritage of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, by clans.
9 The heritage of the sons of Simeon was taken out of the portion of the sons of Judah, because the share of the sons of Judah was too large for them; hence, the sons of Simeon received their heritage within the heritage of the sons of Judah.
10 The third lot fell to the sons of Zebulun, by clans; the territory of their heritage stretched as far as Sadud;
11 their frontier climbed westwards to Maraalah, touching Dabbesheth and the torrent facing Jokneam.
12 From Sadud, the frontier turned east, towards the rising sun, as far as the frontier of Chisloth-Tabor; it came out at Dobrath and went up to Japhia.
13 Thence, it went east, towards the sunrise, to Gath-Hepher and Ittah-Kazin, came out at Rimmon and turned towards Neah.
14 The northern frontier turned towards Hannathon and came to an end in the Valley of Iphtah-El;
15 with Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Iralah and Bethlehem: twelve towns with their villages.
16 Such was the heritage of the sons of Zebulun, by clans: these towns with their villages.
17 The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the sons of Issachar, by clans.
18 Their territory stretched towards Jezreel and included Chesulloth, Shunem,
19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,
20 Dobrath, Kishion, Ebez,
21 Remeth, En-Gannim, En-Haddah and Beth-Pazzez.
22 Their frontier touched Tabor, Shahazimah and Beth-Shemesh, and the frontier came to an end at the Jordan: sixteen towns with their villages.
23 Such was the heritage of the tribe of the sons of Issachar, by clans: the towns and their villages.
24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Asher, by clans.
25 Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,
26 Alammelech, Amad and Mishal.
27 On the west, it touched Carmel and the course of the Libnath. On the side of the rising sun, it went as far as Beth-Dagon, touched Zebulun, the Valley of Iphtah-El on the north side, Beth-ha-Emek and Neiel, coming out with Cabul on the left,
28 with Abdon, Rehob, Hammon and Kanah as far as Sidon the Great. The frontier then turned towards Ramah, as far as the fortress-town of Tyre;
29 the frontier then went to Hosah and reached as far as the sea at Mahalab and Achzib,
30 with Acco, Aphek and Rehob: twenty-two towns with their villages.
31 Such was the heritage of the tribe of the sons of Asher, by clans; these towns and their villages.
32 To the sons of Naphtali fell the sixth portion, to the sons of Naphtali, by clans.
33 Their frontier went from Heleph and the Oak of Zanaannim, with Adami-ha-Negeb and Jabneel, as far as Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan.
34 The westward boundary ran to Aznoth-Tabor and thence came out at Hukkok, marching with Zebulun in the south, Asher in the west and the Jordan in the east.
35 The fortified towns were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,
36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,
37 Kedesh, Edrei, En-Hazor,
38 Jiron, Migdal-El, Horem, Beth-Anath and Beth-Shemesh: nineteen towns and their villages.
39 Such was the heritage of the sons of Naphtali, by clans: the towns and their villages.
40 To the tribe of the sons of Dan, by clans, fell the seventh portion.
41 The territory of their heritage comprised: Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-Shemesh,
42 Shaalbim, Aijalon, Silatha,
43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon,
45 Baalath, Azor, Bene-Berak and Gath-Rimmon;
46 and, by the sea, Jerakon with the territory facing Jaffa.
47 The territory of the sons of Dan eluded them, however, and the sons of Dan consequently went up and attacked Leshem, captured it and put it to the sword. Having gained possession of it, they settled there and called Leshem, Dan, after Dan their ancestor.
48 Such was the heritage of the tribe of the sons of Dan, by clans: these towns and their villages.
49 Having finished dividing the country, frontier by frontier, the Israelites gave Joshua son of Nun a heritage among themselves;
50 at Yahweh’s command, they gave him the town which he had asked for, Timnath-Serah in the highlands of Ephraim; he rebuilt the town and settled there.
51 Such are the heritages which the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of each family apportioned by lot between the tribes of Israel at Shiloh, in Yahweh’s presence, at the door of the Tent of Meeting; and thus the apportioning of the country was completed.
1 Yahweh said to Joshua,
2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them, “Choose yourselves the cities of refuge of which I spoke to you through Moses,
3 to which anyone who has accidentally (unintentionally) killed someone else may flee, and which will serve you as refuge from the avenger of blood.
4 (The killer must flee to one of these towns. He will stop at the entrance to the town gate and explain his case to the town elders. These will admit him to their town and assign him a place to live among them.
5 If the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not hand the killer over to him, since he has killed his fellow unintentionally and was not motivated by long-standing hatred for him.
6 He must stay in this town) until he is brought to trial before the community (until the death of the high priest then in office. Only then may the killer go back to his own town and to his own house in the town from which he has fled).”
7 For this purpose they designated Kedesh in Galilee, in the highlands of Naphtali, Shechem in the highlands of Ephraim, and Kiriath-Arba — now Hebron — in the highlands of Judah.
8 On the other, eastern, side of the Jordan opposite Jericho, in the desert of the tableland, they chose Bezer of the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan of the tribe of Manasseh.
9 Such were the towns designated for all the Israelites and for foreigners living among them, so that anyone who had accidentally killed someone could flee there and might escape the hand of the avenger of blood, until brought to trial before the community.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Sunday, January 22, 2012:
Psalm 63:1-11
1 [Psalm Of David When he was in the desert of Judah] God, you are my God, I pine for you; my heart thirsts for you, my body longs for you, as a land parched, dreary and waterless.
2 Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary, seeing your power and your glory.
3 Better your faithful love than life itself; my lips will praise you.
4 Thus I will bless you all my life, in your name lift up my hands.
5 All my longings fulfilled as with fat and rich foods, a song of joy on my lips and praise in my mouth.
6 On my bed when I think of you, I muse on you in the watches of the night,
7 for you have always been my help; in the shadow of your wings I rejoice;
8 my heart clings to you, your right hand supports me.
9 May those who are hounding me to death go down to the depths of the earth,
10 given over to the blade of the sword, and left as food for jackals.
11 Then the king shall rejoice in God, all who swear by him shall gain recognition, for the mouths of liars shall be silenced.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 98
1 [Psalm] Sing a new song to Yahweh, for he has performed wonders, his saving power is in his right hand and his holy arm.
2 Yahweh has made known his saving power, revealed his saving justice for the nations to see,
3 mindful of his faithful love and his constancy to the House of Israel. The whole wide world has seen the saving power of our God.
4 Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth, burst into shouts of joy!
5 Play to Yahweh on the harp, to the sound of instruments;
6 to the sound of trumpet and horn, acclaim the presence of the King.
7 Let the sea thunder, and all that it holds, the world and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands, and the mountains shout for joy together,
9 at Yahweh’s approach, for he is coming to judge the earth; he will judge the world with saving justice and the nations with fairness.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 103
1 [Of David] Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the depths of my being, his holy name;
2 bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all his acts of kindness.
3 He forgives all your offences, cures all your diseases,
4 he redeems your life from the abyss, crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;
5 he contents you with good things all your life, renews your youth like an eagle’s.
6 Yahweh acts with uprightness, with justice to all who are oppressed;
7 he revealed to Moses his ways, his great deeds to the children of Israel.
8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;
9 his indignation does not last for ever, nor his resentment remain for all time;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offences.
11 As the height of heaven above earth, so strong is his faithful love for those who fear him.
12 As the distance of east from west, so far from us does he put our faults.
13 As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats those who fear him;
14 he knows of what we are made, he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for a human person — his days are like grass, he blooms like the wild flowers;
16 as soon as the wind blows he is gone, never to be seen there again.
17 But Yahweh’s faithful love for those who fear him is from eternity and for ever; and his saving justice to their children’s children;
18 as long as they keep his covenant, and carefully obey his precepts.
19 Yahweh has fixed his throne in heaven, his sovereign power rules over all.
20 Bless Yahweh, all his angels, mighty warriors who fulfil his commands, attentive to the sound of his words.
21 Bless Yahweh, all his armies, servants who fulfil his wishes.
22 Bless Yahweh, all his works, in every place where he rules. Bless Yahweh, my soul.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 13:2-18
2 Abram was very rich in livestock, silver and gold.
3 By stages he went from the Negeb to Bethel, where he had first pitched his tent, between Bethel and Ai,
4 at the place where he had formerly erected the altar. There Abram invoked the name of Yahweh.
5 Lot, who was travelling with Abram, had flocks and cattle of his own, and tents too.
6 The land was not sufficient to accommodate them both at once, for they had too many possessions to be able to live together.
7 Dispute broke out between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and those of Lot. (The Canaanites and Perizzites were living in the country at the time.)
8 Accordingly Abram said to Lot, ‘We do not want discord between us or between my herdsmen and yours, for we are kinsmen.
9 Is not the whole land open before you? Go in the opposite direction to me: if you take the left, I shall go right; if you take the right, I shall go left.’
10 Looking round, Lot saw all the Jordan plain, irrigated everywhere — this was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah-like the garden of Yahweh or the land of Egypt, as far as Zoar.
11 So Lot chose all the Jordan plain for himself and moved off eastwards. Thus they parted company:
12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan; Lot settled among the cities of the plain, pitching his tents on the outskirts of Sodom.
13 Now the people of Sodom were vicious and great sinners against Yahweh.
14 Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had parted company from him, ‘Look all round from where you are, to north and south, to east and west,
15 for all the land within sight I shall give to you and your descendants for ever.
16 I shall make your descendants like the dust on the ground; when people succeed in counting the specks of dust on the ground, then they will be able to count your descendants too!
17 On your feet! Travel the length and breadth of the country, for I mean to give it to you.’
18 So Abram moved his tent and went to settle at the Oak of Mamre, at Hebron, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Galatians 2:1-10
1 It was not until fourteen years had gone by that I travelled up to Jerusalem again, with Barnabas, and I took Titus with me too.
2 My journey was inspired by a revelation and there, in a private session with the recognised leaders, I expounded the whole gospel that I preach to the gentiles, to make quite sure that the efforts I was making and had already made should not be fruitless.
3 Even then, and although Titus, a Greek, was with me, there was no demand that he should be circumcised;
4 but because of some false brothers who had secretly insinuated themselves to spy on the freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, intending to reduce us to slavery-
5 people we did not defer to for one moment, or the truth of the gospel preached to you might have been compromised. . .
6 but those who were recognised as important people — whether they actually were important or not: There is no favouritism with God -those recognised leaders, I am saying, had nothing to add to my message.
7 On the contrary, once they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been entrusted to me, just as to Peter the gospel for the circumcised
8 (for he who empowered Peter’s apostolate to the circumcision also empowered mine to the gentiles),
9 and when they acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, then James and Cephas and John, who were the ones recognised as pillars, offered their right hands to Barnabas and to me as a sign of partnership: we were to go to the gentiles and they to they to the circumcised.
10 They asked nothing more than that we should remember to help the poor, as indeed I was anxious to do in any case.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 7:31-37
31 Returning from the territory of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon towards the Lake of Galilee, right through the Decapolis territory.
32 And they brought him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they asked him to lay his hand on him.
33 He took him aside to be by themselves, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle.
34 Then looking up to heaven he sighed; and he said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’
35 And his ears were opened, and at once the impediment of his tongue was loosened and he spoke clearly.
36 And Jesus ordered them to tell no one about it, but the more he insisted, the more widely they proclaimed it.
37 Their admiration was unbounded, and they said, ‘Everything he does is good, he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.’(New Jerusalem Bible)

Gary Lee Parker’s Sermon Outline with Scriptures for Sunday, January 22, 2012:
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 22, 2012
ART — PRAYER
Thematic
Perfect Light of revelation,
as you shone in the life of Jesus,
whose epiphany we celebrate,
so shine in us and through us,
that we may become beacons of truth and compassion,
enlightening all creation with deeds of justice and mercy. Amen.
OR
O God,
you spoke your word
and revealed your good news in Jesus, the Christ.
Fill all creation with that word again,
so that by proclaiming your joyful promises to all nations
and singing of your glorious hope to all peoples,
we may become one living body,
your incarnate presence on the earth. Amen.
Intercessory
To God who welcomes all in love,
let us pray for the good of the church
and the concerns of those in need.
Prayers of the People, concluding with:
God of every land and nation,
you have created all people
and you dwell among us in Jesus Christ.
Listen to the cries of those who pray to you,
and grant that, as we proclaim the greatness of your name,
all people will know the power of love at work in the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
OR
Sisters and brothers,
let us lift our hearts in faith
to the one who hears all prayers
and holds close all those in need.
Prayers of the People, concluding with:
Holy God, you gather the whole universe
into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds,
make whole all that is broken,
speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.
Scripture
God of the prophets,
you call us from evil to serve you.
Fulfill in us your commonwealth of justice and joy,
that the light of your presence
may be revealed to all nations,
to the glory of Jesus’ name. Amen
Jonah 3:1-5,10
1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to Jonah a second time.
2 ‘Up!’ he said, ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to it as I shall tell you.’
3 Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare; to cross it took three days.
4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city and then proclaimed, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.’
5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.
10 God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring it.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 62:5-12
5 Rest in God alone, my soul! He is the source of my hope.
6 He alone is my rock, my safety, my stronghold, so that I stand unwavering.
7 In God is my safety and my glory, the rock of my strength. In God is my refuge;
8 trust in him, you people, at all times. Pour out your hearts to him, God is a refuge for us.Pause
9 Ordinary people are a mere puff of wind, important people a delusion; set both on the scales together, and they are lighter than a puff of wind.
10 Put no trust in extortion, no empty hopes in robbery; however much wealth may multiply, do not set your heart on it.
11 Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this: Strength belongs to God,
12 to you, Lord, faithful love; and you repay everyone as their deeds deserve.(New Jerusalem Bible)
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
29 What I mean, brothers, is that the time has become limited, and from now on, those who have spouses should live as though they had none;
30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning; those who enjoy life as though they did not enjoy it; those who have been buying property as though they had no possessions;
31 and those who are involved with the world as though they were people not engrossed in it. Because this world as we know it is passing away.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 1:14-20
14 After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying,
15 ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’
16 As he was walking along by the Lake of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net in the lake — for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, ‘Come after me and I will make you into fishers of people.’
18 And at once they left their nets and followed him.
19 Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending the nets.
20 At once he called them and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
TITLE: The Time Has Come
SCRIPTURE: Jonah 3:1-5,10, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, & Mark 1:14-20
THEME: The call to repent.
INTRODUCTION: Through the Scripture passages today, we learn that God is calling for His people to repent or suffer the consequences even from people who did not know god before. God called Jonah and after the suffering he went through, he went to the City of Ninevah to call the people to repent or their city would be destroyed. What surprised Jonah was that the people repented and god did not destroy the city. Would you have delayed to obey God if you knew your enemies would not be destroyed because they would repent from their sins? The Apostle Paul is teaching the people in Corinth that they should prepare for God return and not live as if there would be no judgment if they did not repent. Yes, Paul told those who are married to live as if they were not and those who are single not to seek a spouse. How would you have reacted to Paul’s letter if you were part of the Faith Community in Corinth? We come to after the death of John the Baptist where Jesus went and preach the Message of Repentance calling four fishermen to drop everything and follow Him. They left everything and followed Jesus. How would you have reacted if you were Peter, Andrew, James, or John? How about today? How do you obey what God is asking you to do for His Kingdom?
I. After Jonah’s suffering, he went to Ninevah.
A. It took Jonah many days to travel through Ninevah preaching God’s message of destruction if no repentance occurred.
B. The Ninevites repented from the greatest to the least and God did not destroy the city.
C. Would you have repented if a man preached judgement if no repentance occurred?
II. The Apostle Paul writes to the Faith Community how they are to live.
A. Paul speaks about the time being short.
B. Paul tells the married to live as if they are single and those who are single not to seek a spouse.
C. How would you really hear Paul then and now?
III. Jesus proclaims the message of time being up and for repentance to occur.
A. Jesus went to Galilee after John the Baptist was arrested or killed.
B. Jesus called four people to follow Him.
C. How would you have responded then and now?
CONCLUSION: We come to realize that too often we have failed to fully obey God in His call upon our lives. Where necessary, we come and repent to receive God’s grace and forgiveness.
INVITATION: We come to receive by eating the Body of Jesus and Drinking His Blood through the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We come singing the Hymn “Where He Leads Me” by E. W. Blandy:
1. I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
“Take thy cross and follow, follow me.”
Refrain:
Where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow;
I’ll go with him, with him all the way.
2. I’ll go with him through the garden,
I’ll go with him through the garden,
I’ll go with him through the garden,
I’ll go with him, with him all the way.
Refrain:
Where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow;
I’ll go with him, with him all the way.
3. I’ll go with him through the judgment,
I’ll go with him through the judgment,
I’ll go with him through the judgment,
I’ll go with him, with him all the way.
Refrain:
Where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow;
I’ll go with him, with him all the way.
4. He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory,
and go with me, with me all the way.
Refrain:
Where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow,
where he leads me I will follow;
I’ll go with him, with him all the way.
BENEDICTION: Let us go from worship today and follow Jesus wherever He leads us.

Sunday, 22, January 2012
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Vincent, Deacon and Martyr (+ 304)
Jonah 3:1-5,10
1 The word of Yahweh was addressed to Jonah a second time.
2 ‘Up!’ he said, ‘Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach to it as I shall tell you.’
3 Jonah set out and went to Nineveh in obedience to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond compare; to cross it took three days.
4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city and then proclaimed, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh will be overthrown.’
5 And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.
10 God saw their efforts to renounce their evil ways. And God relented about the disaster which he had threatened to bring on them, and did not bring it.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 25
1 [Of David] ADORATION I offer, Yahweh,
2 to you, my God. BUT in my trust in you do not put me to shame, let not my enemies gloat over me.
3 CALLING to you, none shall ever be put to shame, but shame is theirs who groundlessly break faith.
4 DIRECT me in your ways, Yahweh, and teach me your paths.
5 ENCOURAGE me to walk in your truth and teach me since you are the God who saves me. FOR my hope is in you all day long — such is your generosity, Yahweh.
6 GOODNESS and faithful love have been yours for ever, Yahweh, do not forget them.
7 HOLD not my youthful sins against me, but remember me as your faithful love dictates.
8 INTEGRITY and generosity are marks of Yahweh for he brings sinners back to the path.
9 JUDICIOUSLY he guides the humble, instructing the poor in his way.
10 KINDNESS unfailing and constancy mark all Yahweh’s paths, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
11 LET my sin, great though it is, be forgiven, Yahweh, for the sake of your name.
12 MEN who respect Yahweh, what of them? He teaches them the way they must choose.
13 NEIGHBOURS to happiness will they live, and their children inherit the land.
14 ONLY those who fear Yahweh have his secret and his covenant, for their understanding.
15 PERMANENTLY my eyes are on Yahweh, for he will free my feet from the snare.
16 QUICK, turn to me, pity me, alone and wretched as I am!
17 RELIEVE the distress of my heart, bring me out of my constraint.
18 SPARE a glance for my misery and pain, take all my sins away.
19 TAKE note how countless are my enemies, how violent their hatred for me.
20 UNLESS you guard me and rescue me I shall be put to shame, for you are my refuge.
21 VIRTUE and integrity be my protection, for my hope, Yahweh, is in you.
22 Ransom Israel, O God, from all its troubles.(New Jerusalem Bible)
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
29 What I mean, brothers, is that the time has become limited, and from now on, those who have spouses should live as though they had none;
30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning; those who enjoy life as though they did not enjoy it; those who have been buying property as though they had no possessions;
31 and those who are involved with the world as though they were people not engrossed in it. Because this world as we know it is passing away.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Mark 1:14-20
14 After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying,
15 ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel.’
16 As he was walking along by the Lake of Galilee he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net in the lake — for they were fishermen.
17 And Jesus said to them, ‘Come after me and I will make you into fishers of people.’
18 And at once they left their nets and followed him.
19 Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending the nets.
20 At once he called them and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Commentary of the day:
Saint Leo the Great (?-c.461), Pope and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 1 for the Nativity of the Lord, III; PL 54, 190 (trans. ©Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers; cf breviary 25/12)
“Repent, and believe in the gospel”
Let us then, dearly beloved, give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, who “for the great mercy wherewith He has loved us,” has had pity on us, and “when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life in Christ,” (Eph 2,5) that we might be in him a new creation and a new production. Let us put off then the old man with his deeds (Col 3,9), and having obtained a share in the birth of Christ let us renounce the works of the flesh.
Christian, acknowledge your dignity, and since you have become a partner in the Divine na­ture (2Pt 1,4), refuse to return to the baseness you were in before. Remember whose is the head and body of which you are a member (Eph 4,15-16). Recollect that you were “rescued from the power of darkness and have been brought into God’s light and kingdom” (Col 1,13). By the mystery of baptism you were made the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6,19); do not put so great a guest to flight by evil deeds and so subject yourself once more to the devil’s thraldom, because you have been redeemed by the blood of Christ.

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Sunday 22nd January 2012
WHAT AM I LOOKING AT? by Oswald Chambers
Look unto Me, and be ye saved.(Isaiah 45:22)
Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says – Look unto Me, and be saved. The great difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and it is His blessings that make it difficult. Troubles nearly always make us look to God; His blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is, in effect – Narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body is concentration on Jesus Christ. “Look unto Me.”
Many of us have a mental conception of what a Christian should be, and the lives of the saints become a hindrance to our concentration on God. There is no salvation in this way, it is not simple enough. “Look unto Me” and – not “you will be saved,” but “you are saved.” The very thing we look for, we shall find if we will concentrate on Him. We get preoccupied and sulky with God, while all the time He is saying – “Look up and be saved.” The difficulties and trials – the casting about in our minds as to what we shall do this summer, or to-morrow, all vanish when we look to God.
Rouse yourself up and look to God. Build your hope on Him. No matter if there are a hundred and one things that press, resolutely exclude them all and look to Him. “Look unto Me,” and salvation is, the moment you look.

Reflecting God-What Is Your Destiny?
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 49:12-20
12 In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals.
13 So they go on in their self-assurance, right up to the end they are content with their lot.Pause
14 They are penned in Sheol like sheep, Death will lead them to pasture, and those who are honest will rule over them. In the morning all trace of them will be gone, Sheol will be their home.
15 But my soul God will ransom from the clutches of Sheol, and will snatch me up.Pause
16 Do not be overawed when someone gets rich, and lives in ever greater splendour;
17 when he dies he will take nothing with him, his wealth will not go down with him.
18 Though he pampered himself while he lived — and people praise you for looking after yourself-
19 he will go to join the ranks of his ancestors, who will never again see the light.
20 In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals.(New Jerusalem Bible)
What Is Your Destiny? by Lenny Wisehart
In verses 12-20 the destinies of the wicked and righteous are vividly stated. The wicked man has no hope beyond this life, but the righteous man will be resurrected to eternal life. Verse 15 stands in sharp contrast to the preceding verses and affirms the psalmist’s unshakable conviction of redemption beyond the grave.
No amount of money can buy life. It is a temporary condition. Just like animals that die, even the wealthy must perish (verse 12). While those wealthy persons who rely on their money will perish, those who trust in the Lord will be “taken” to him when they die. In these verses we see the foolishness of thinking that anyone can do wrong and get away with it. No one can escape the judgment of God. There is coming a day when all persons will given an account.
Is your life a temporary distraction or a preparation for the long term? Are you enjoying life while preparing for eternity, or is your focus solely the fleeting moments of this life? How valuable is your soul? Do you know where its destiny lies?
Hymn for Today:
“The Church’s One Foundation” by Samuel J. Stone
1. The church’s one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.
2. Elect from every nation,
yet one o’er all the earth;
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.
3. Though with a scornful wonder
we see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping;
their cry goes up, “How long?”
And soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.
4. Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation
of peace forevermore;
till, with the vision glorious,
her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest.
5. Yet she on earth hath union
with God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.
2nd Thought for Today:
“Life’s disappointments, for the believer, can become God’s appointments for grace and blessing.
Prayer Needs:
Developing Christian leaders in Poland.

The Upper Room daily devotional
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Renewed Faith
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Matthew 6:25-34
25 ‘That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and what you are to wear. Surely life is more than food, and the body more than clothing!
26 Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are?
27 Can any of you, however much you worry, add one single cubit to your span of life?
28 And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin;
29 yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of these.
30 Now if that is how God clothes the wild flowers growing in the field which are there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you who have so little faith?
31 So do not worry; do not say, “What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?”
32 It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.
33 Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God’s saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.
34 So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Today’s Scripture:
If . . . God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?(Matthew 6:30 (NIV))
Today’s Devotional
I had been laid off for five months. While I was actively searching for new employment, the economy continued to contract, and jobs were not easy to find, particularly in my rather specialized field. One morning I received a form, e-mail rejection, after I had spent hours writing and sending the application for a job that seemed tailor-made for me. I was completely demoralized and decided to quit my job search for the day.
As I walked outside in tears, I noticed that my orange, yellow, and white lilies had bloomed for the first time of the season. They were spectacular. Immediately I thought of the verses in the Matthew reading above about how God clothes the lilies and takes care of the birds and that we are more important then they are. The passage continues, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” I immediately felt as if a weight had been lifted from my shoulders and replaced with a renewed faith that God would meet my needs and direct me to a better place. I resolved to continue to put my trust in God. by Susan Bennett (Virginia, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: We can trust God in the parched deserts and in the lush gardens of life.
Prayer: Dear God, when we begin to worry, help us instead to gain the comfort and calm that come from trusting you. In the name of your son, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Those searching for a job
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Wisdom — January 22, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
WISDOM
“Wisdom is bright and does not grow dim . . . and is found by those who look for her.”(Wisdom 6:12-13)
Wisdom is not the gathering of more facts and information, as if that would eventually coalesce into truth. Wisdom is precisely a different way of seeing and knowing the “ten thousand things” in a new way. I suggest that wisdom is precisely the freedom to be truly present to what is right in front of you. Presence is wisdom! People who are fully present know how to see fully, rightly, and truthfully.
Presence is the one thing necessary for wisdom, and in many ways, it is the hardest thing of all. Just try to keep 1) your heart space open, 2) your mind without division or resistance, and 3) your body not somewhere else—and all at the same time! Most religions just decided it was easier to believe doctrines and obey often-arbitrary laws than the truly converting work of being present. Those who can be present will know what they need to know, and in a wisdom way. From The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See, pp. 59-60
Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Sunday January 22, 2012
Community Supported by Solitude
Solitude greeting solitude, that’s what community is all about. Community is not the place where we are no longer alone but the place where we respect, protect, and reverently greet one another’s aloneness. When we allow our aloneness to lead us into solitude, our solitude will enable us to rejoice in the solitude of others. Our solitude roots us in our own hearts. Instead of making us yearn for company that will offer us immediate satisfaction, solitude makes us claim our center and empowers us to call others to claim theirs. Our various solitudes are like strong, straight pillars that hold up the roof of our communal house. Thus, solitude always strengthens community. by Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.22.12 – The Significance of Sexual Intimacy from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Weekly Prayer:
Lord God, “a man embraces his wife, and they become one flesh”? Wow—Genesis said the
first human couple were really strongly attracted to each other! Sometimes I have
that sense, too, but so many things (grief, illness, betrayal, unresolved childhood
hurts, even just human brokenness in one or both partners) can go wrong. This week,
teach me about the joy, bonding and sharing of life that “good sex,” sex as you
intend it to be, can bring to our lives. Amen.
Prayer Tip:
For the past few weeks, during this sermon series on marriage, Pastor Adam has said, right before the prayer at the end of the message, “If you are sitting near your spouse, take their hand as we pray.” Touch of all kinds is important to us as human beings. We are wired to connect physically with each other, and not just in a sexual way. Jesus often reached out his hand to touch people and heal them.
There can be great comfort and power in something as simple as holding the hands of someone else while you pray. According to scientists, a warm touch seems to set off the release of oxytocin, a hormone that helps create a sensation of trust, and to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Another study suggests that humans are wired to “share the load” of processing problems, and that simple touching of one another helps initiate that process. (From “Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much.” Benedict Cary. NY Times 2/10/2011.)
When you are “processing problems,” is prayer part of that process? Do you take your fears, frustrations, joys or concerns to others and ask them to join you in carrying those parts of your life to God? Do you hold hands while you pray, powerfully connecting to each other as you connect to God?
This week, find at least one other person, hold their hand or touch their shoulder, and pray with them. If you don’t have anyone you feel comfortable praying with in this way, come to Firestone Chapel on the south side of the Narthex before and after worship this weekend, or the Congregational Care offices in the East Building of the Leawood Campus from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm on any weekday, and one of our pastors, CCMs, or staff members would be blessed to hold your hand and pray with you. by Jennifer Creagar, Resurrection Prayer Ministries

5th Thought for Today:
Sunday 22 January 2012
Cultures
Is culture a dangerous thing? There is a whole global movement of destroying culture. Because the big problem today is, for some people, Christianity and Islam. Or it’s Buddhism and something else. So we have to breakdown culture for a new humanity to rise up. The theory sounds great. But it is not as easy as that. If I don’t belong, well who am I? by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

Reflections with GOD for Saturday, January 21, 2012

Quotes for Today:
If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer. by Alfred North Whitehead (1861 – 1947)
Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. by Ann Landers (1918 – 2002)
I loathe people who keep dogs. They are cowards who haven’t got the guts to bite people themselves. by August Strindberg (1849 – 1912), A Madman’s Diary, 1895
Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. by Bible, Matthew xv. 27.
Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog. Sigh! There’s so little hope for advancement. by Charles M. Schulz (1922 – 2000), (Snoopy)
You can’t surprise a man with a dog. by Cindy Chupack, Sex and the City, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, 2000
It’s funny how dogs and cats know the inside of folks better than other folks do, isn’t it? by Eleanor H. Porter (1868 – 1920), Pollyanna, 1912
If you are a dog and your owner suggests that you wear a sweater, suggest that he wear a tail. by Fran Lebowitz (1950 – )
When a dog runs at you, whistle for him. by Henry David Thoreau (1817 – 1862)
The dog was created especially for children. He is the god of frolic. by Henry Ward Beecher (1813 – 1887)
A dog owns nothing, yet is seldom dissatisfied. by Irish Proverb
Cats are smarter than dogs. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow. by Jeff Valdez
Who knew that dog saliva can mend a broken heart? by Jennifer Neal, nakedjen, 07-22-08
Old age means realizing you will never own all the dogs you wanted to. by Joe Gores
My dog is worried about the economy because Alpo is up to 99 cents a can. That’s almost $7.00 in dog money. by Joe Weinstein
When a dog bites a man, that is not news, because it happens so often. But if a man bites a dog, that is news. by John B. Bogart (1848 – 1921)
A dog is the greatest gift a parent can give a child. OK, a good education, then a dog. by John Grogan, An Interview with John Grogan, 2008
A person can learn a lot from a dog, even a loopy one like ours. Marley taught me about living each day with unbridled exuberance and joy, about seizing the moment and following your heart. He taught me to appreciate the simple things – a walk in the woods, a fresh snowfall, a nap in a shaft of winter sunlight. And as he grew old and achy, he taught me about optimism in the face of adversity. Mostly, he taught me about friendship and selflessness and, above all else, unwavering loyalty. by John Grogan, Marley and Me, 2005
We could have bought a small yacht with what we spent on our dog an dall the things he destroyed. Then again, how many yachts wait by the door all day for your return? by John Grogan, Marley and Me, 2005
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself. by Josh Billings (1818 – 1885)
If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. by Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)
We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet: and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us. by Maurice Maeterlinck (1862 – 1949)
A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of. by Ogden Nash (1902 – 1971)
On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. by Peter Steiner, cartoon in The New Yorker, July 5, 1993
I wonder if other dogs think poodles are members of a weird religious cult. by Rita Rudner
A boy can learn a lot from a dog: obedience, loyalty, and the importance of turning around three times before lying down. by Robert Benchley (1889 – 1945)
Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole. by Roger Caras
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals. by Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965)
Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? I think that’s how dogs spend their lives. by Sue Murphy

Sermon for Today:
New Starts In Life by Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
“And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day
he sent them into his vineyard.”(Matthew 20: 2)
The parable from which these words are taken is one of the most complete in its details of any that the Saviour ever spoke. It covers a whole day, and as we read it the whole course of the day stands out clear before us. In the words which I have quoted we are set at one moment of the vivid story and can see exactly what is going on. The master of a vineyard having gone out into the highways and found some workmen waiting there now stands at his vineyard gate and, coming to an agreement with each man about the wages which he will receive, he sends each in succession into the great field where the work is waiting. It is a bright, fresh picture. Everything is sparkling in the morning light. The men all ready for work stand waiting. The master, thoughtful and considerate, stands talking with them. Through the open door we see the vineyard with its long rows of young vines. Here is strength waiting for work. Here is work waiting for strength. The two are just upon the point of touching one another. There is no sense of exhaustion anywhere. Everything shines with vigor and hope. There is no limit to the work which we dream may be done before the day is over. The exhilaration of beginning fills the verses.
A man has faded out of the real happiness and strength of life who does not know what that exhilaration is, who does not feel the brightness of the picture which this verse draws. It is sad indeed when any man comes to that state in which each new day does not seem in some true sense to begin the world anew, recalling every departed hope and brightening every faded color of the night before. There is a human instinct which tells us that our life, while it is meant to have a great continuousness and to be always one, is no less meant to be full of new starts, to be ever refreshing its forces and beginning once again. The true proportion between these two feelings, between the sense of continuity and the sense of ever new beginning, makes the finest, the freshest, and the primest life. We may picture to ourselves two rivers of wholly different kinds. One is a great, broad, quiet stream, ever moving swiftly but smoothly on, unbroken by rapids, majestic in its calm and noble monotony, each mile of its great course seeming like every other mile, so perfectly and evidently is it everywhere itself. Its great thought is continuity. The other river is a mountain torrent. Broken and stopped perpetually it is always gathering itself up in a pool, at the foot of the rock that stopped it, for a fresh start. It is always full of new beginnings. It is different in each mile of its course from what it is in every other mile; when it grows calm for a moment it seems as if it had wholly stopped, until it finds an outlet and plunges down another precipice, and with a new cascade begins its life again. Like the first stream, like the majestic and continuous river, is the life of God. Continuousness and identity is our great thought of Him,
“From everlasting to everlasting thou art God,” we cry. Full of movement, the impression of His life is stillness, like the impression of the vast and solemn Nile. But like the mountain torrent is the life of man. With a true continuity, so that it is the same life from its beginning to its end, it yet forever is refreshing its vitality with new beginnings. It loves to turn sharp comers into unseen ways. It loves to gather itself into knots and then start out with the new birth of a new resolution. It loves to take into itself the streams of newborn lives that its monotony may be refreshed with their freshness. It is wonderful how ingenious men will be in making artificial new starts in their lives, as if at midday they shut up the house and lighted all the lamps and made believe that it was night, only in order that in a moment they might fling the shutters back again as if a new moming had come with its enthusiasm. So all live men covet the exhilaration of beginning.
I want to speak today about beginnings or new starts in life. It is a subject which the time suggests. For, beside the aspect of perpetual renewal of which I have been speaking, life here among us in these days has a peculiar look of newness which belongs to the season and the place. The essential power of a new beginning, then, seems to be very simple. It is that it recalls and freshens the principle and fundamental motive under which a work is done, and so keeps it from degenerating into mechanical routine. When the stream starts over a new fall it cannot help being conscious anew of its own fluidness and of the force of gravitation. It is the renewed sense of these things, of what it is and of what a great power is at work upon it, that sparkles in it and fills it full of life as it begins its new career, which is simply the old career with its fundamental consciousness freshened and revived. And so when a man starts afresh, either with the newness of a new day, or with the stimulus of altered circumstances, or with the inspiration of a new work, what his new start ought to do for him is to refresh the deepest principles by which he lives. You feel the engine when the steamer starts. After that when the steamer is on its long monotonous voyage you feel as if the machinery moved itself. So in a new beginning men ought to feel, and in some way more or less real and clear they do feel, what they are and what great powers are at work upon them, as they do not ordinarily feel these things in common times.
Let us keep all this in our mind as we come back and stand in the bright morning light which floods the vineyard gate where the laborers of the parable are just beginning their day’s work. “When the householder had agreed with them for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” In that verse, taken as the story of the way in which human life as a whole and also of the way in which any special department or enterprise of human life begins, there are two ideas which we may examine and develop in succession. One of them is the idea of mission. The other is the idea of wages. First the master of the vineyard sends the men to do their work, and second he agrees with them for “a penny a day.” We will look at these two ideas in relation to the great new starts or beginnings that come in every full human life.
I. First the idea of mission. “He sent them in his vineyard.” “He,” in the parable, means God in human life. See what a personality steps at once into the story and see how, when it once is there, it cannot be left out again. The whole story lives and moves and has its being in that central person, by whose sending the laborers start out on their day’s work. Suppose at first that you did not see the householder. Suppose you only saw a host of workmen with their tools streaming in through an open vineyard gate. “What are they going for?” you say. The answer must be one of two. Either it is the mere pleasure of the exercise they love, as when a company of boys go hurrying to a fruitless, profitless game of ball, for the pure pleasure of the game, or else it is the desire for something that they are to get, some profits, some reward that lies waiting for them in the vineyard. Both of these are conceivable, both are legitimate motives. And motives which correspond to both of them come in legitimately at every beginning in our lives. Any new undertaking of ours may properly be inspired by the pleasure which we find in its execution and by the advantage which it will bring to us when it is finished. But now put in the householder. Set him in your picture beside the vineyard gate. Make every laborer who passes in pass under his inspection, go in by his commission, and then have you not put another motive in which does not exclude the others but surrounds and comprehends them? Now you ask any laborer why he is there, and pointing back to the master at the gate, he says, “He sent me.” No matter how much any laborer might love the work or want the profits, he would have no right to be there unless the householder had sent him in. Do you not see the parable? Whenever any man believes that God has given him a work to do that belief becomes the great motive of his labor. It does not exclude the others, but it overshadows and, as it were, includes them. Still the man may find the work delightful and may expect from it a great result, but when you ask him why he does it, he rises from his happy toil and points back to where God stands beside the gate and says, “He sent me.” However he might love the work, whatever advantage he might look for from it, he would have no right to be doing it if God had not sent him.
Every work ought to begin simply and with one clear simple motive. It is not pleasant to hear the beginner in any work talk too far-looking talk, anticipate the gain that lies for him far away when his work shall have been successful. Prophecies are too doubtful, and this anticipative spirit is too apt to be discouraged. Some cloud comes between the beginner and his vision of the end, and his impulse is all gone. Nor is it pleasant to hear the new worker congratulating himself that his work is pleasant, that he loves it, and trusting to that love for his energy and his persistence. There will surely come times when the love will grow dull, when the enthusiasm will flicker. What then? There must be some authority that impels as well as some attraction that invites. Not merely a bright vineyard but a majestic master of the vineyard there must be. All serious men have craved a master as well as a task. Some workers call their master duty. Others wiser and devouter call him “God,” but all have done their best work only when they were not merely called by the thing that was to be done but sent by him for whom they were to do it. It is like the going of the arrow out of the bow. The starting arrow is only conscious of the string, not yet has it any perception of the target. You question it as it goes flying past you, and ask it why it takes that track, and its reply is not “Because the target stands this way” but “Because this way the bow-string sent me.” It is only in going where the bow-string sent it that the arrow finds first the joy of the rushing air and then at last the satisfaction as it buries itself into the very centre of the target.
“Like arrows in the hand of a giant so are the young children,” says the Psalm. The child’s life is marked by this, that it is conscious of impulse far more than of aim. It does all that it does because its father sent it, not because the essential attractiveness of the task invited it. If the task’s attractiveness is felt it is as an accidental pleasure, not as the main motive. The main motive is the Father’s will. And in God’s family we are all children always. We are God’s arrows. Not because the end attracts us, but because He says to us “Go” must be the main motive for our going. This is so clear in the life of Jesus, the perfect Son of God. No man ever felt as He felt the essential joy of holy work. No man ever saw as He saw the glorious fruits of holiness. And yet it was not for these at last that He always said that He was holy. The last, the deepest, and the strongest reason was that his Father sent Him. “I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of Him that sent me.” Those are the key words of His life. And these words do not necessarily mean, I beg you to observe, that his will was contrary to the will of Him who sent him. They apply even when the wills are just the same. Then it meant everything to Jesus that the action which he did, though outwardly it would have been just the same act in either case, was done not because he wanted to do it, though he did, but because his Father wanted him to do it.” Father, not my will but thine be done,” Jesus was always saying even when there was no difference in what the two wills separately would have chosen. In that word “Father” lies the commission of his life. Only to a father would one have a right to say that, but when one once knew God to be his father there could be no other real completion of his life, no other crowning and filling of it with its consummate motive.
I am afraid this looks to some of you like foolish subtlety, but, indeed, my friends, it is not so. Let me try to apply it more closely and show how prac- tical it is. I said that there were certain different beginnings in men’s lives to which the parable of our text might be applied. In every full life, in the life of every man who goes through the whole circle of what a man ought to be, there must be at least three such beginnings or new starts, and to each of those three we may apply what I have just been saying. These three beginnings are: i. Youth, or the start of the physical life. 2. The choice of occupation or the deliberate selection of one’s work; and 3. Religious consecration or the entrance of the soul in its deeper life with God. No man lives completely who does not at least start in each of these three roads. O, think of it, you to whom only the first beginning has any recognizable reality. You who were born, but who have never entered upon any work upon the earth and who have known nothing whatever of that deeper birth in which the spirit takes up a willing loyalty to God. This is the measure of your wretched incompleteness. Judged by the standard of the completest human being, does it not seem as if you were really nearer to the brutes than to Him. For you have entered upon only the first and lowest of careers, and even for that it may be, as we shall see, that you have not begun to conceive the true motive which gives it its real value.
Take the mere physical beginning. How beautiful it is! It is not confined to any one moment when the new-born being first catches with a gasp our earthly air. It runs through all those bright and happy years which we call youth, the years in which the physical life is always coming to some new relation to the earth where it has freshly come. Youth is but one long birth. The leaping of new tastes, the timid trying of new skills, the ripening of the senses in answer to the skies they see and the world full of melody which they are ever hearing. Youth is one long bright being born— one rich and gradual beginning. And what shall be its consciousness, its great prevailing feeling about this life that lies before it? O my young friends, the world is beautiful and every breath of your young life is happiness. You have a full right to feel that! And life is full of promise. There are great prizes to be gained in this great world with which your relations grow completer every day.
But those are not all. These two are like two flowers which need a stem to hold them and to give them life. If they have no stem and try to live alone, they are doomed to wither. The stem must be the consciousness of God, God as the sender and the source of life. The instant that consciousness stands up firm and complete everything else takes its true place and value. The beauty of the flowers means something when they hang upon the stem. It means seed and endless perpetuity of growth. A young man to whom life stretching out before him is not merely something which attracts him for himself but something to which God has sent him with a commission to live peculiarly his own, to him youth gets its full glory. His spirit, as he gazes forth into the future, is full at once of humility and hope. Into his beginning work there comes a noble union of energy and repose. Responsibility becomes to him an inspiration, not a weight.
There is an utter absence of frivolity, a perfect seriousness, and at the same time an absolute buoyancy and joy. Is not that what we all want to see in youth as its chief glory. There is a youth which sets forth on the sea of life as apleasure yacht sails from her moorings on a summer morning. All is gay and bright and trifling, all is light and laughter. She sails because the wind is fair and the sea smooth.
No one bids her go and there is no port for her to seek. There is another youth whose start is like the sailing of a great deep-freighted ship. There is no less joy and exhilaration, but there is no laughter. Faces are serious. Still the sweet freshness in the breeze, the sunlight on the water, bring their influence of happiness, but there is so much underneath. This ship is sent. Great interests are embarked in her. She is freighted with sacred hopes. And so she sails forth in the silence of a joy that does not break out in chattering talk. Such is the sacred joy that fills a child’s, a young man’s, or young woman’s life to whom the simplest and greatest of all truths has come, that they are going forth into life sent by God. That just as truly as He sent Moses, David, Paul, Luther, God has sent them into life out of His own great hand. O parents, what a task and privilege is yours to make God so real to your children’s life that they shall know that He did send them; and so to make God great and true and sweet and good to your children’s first thoughts of Him, that they shall rejoice and triumph in the knowledge that they are sent by such a God as He is.
II. The second beginning which I spoke of was the start of a new occupation, the deliberate entrance by a young man upon what is to be the profession of his life. With regard to that time I think that all of us who have seen many men will bear witness that it is just there that very many men grow narrow, and, from being broad in sympathies, large, generous, humane, before, even in all the crudity of theu” boyhood, the moment of the choice of their profession seems to make them limited and special, shuts them up between narrow walls, makes them uninteresting to all the world outside their little work, and makes all the world outside their little work uninteresting to them. It is not strange. The works that men must do to live become more and more special and absorbing. Anybody who thinks about it sees that the escape must be not in the worker refusing to do one work and undertaking to do all things. It must be in his doing his one thing in a larger spirit. Where shall that larger spirit come from? The spirit of an act comes from its motive. There must be a larger motive then. And the largest of all motives is the sending of God, the commission of Him who is the Father of us all. When the young lawyer dares to believe beyond the pleasure which he finds in the practice of the law, beyond the fortune or the fame that he hopes to make out of it, that God sent him there, that the fitness for it which he has found in his character and circumstances is something more than a lucky accident, is a true sign of the inten- tion concerning him of the dear, wise God; when a young lawyer dares to believe this, two great blessings come to him out of so high a faith : first he is armed against the lower temptations of his profession, and second, he is kept in cordial sympathy with all other children of God who are trying to find and follow the same Father’s intentions concerning them, though in works utterly different from his. The true salvation from the sordidness and narrowness of professional life comes only with a profound faith that God sent us to be the thing we are, to do the work that we are doing.
III. And then with regard to the third great beginning which comes in every man’s life who lives completely, the beginning of conscious religion, of the deliberate consecration to God and culture of the soul. It begins in every kind of way, suddenly with one man, gradually with another. With one man like the swift illumination of a flash of lightning, with another man like the slow brightening of the dawn; but to all men who come to their full life it surely comes by that unchangeable necessity which is in the words of Jesus, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”; and no man truly lives who does not see that kingdom. But of this deeper life, the life of spiritual struggle, of prayer, of search after divine communion, the life that sacrifices the body for the soul, that hopes for heaven and overcomes the world by faith, of this life so misty and vague to many men, so much realler than all realities besides to every man who lives it, what is the motive power? Why do the best souls undertake it? The simplest answer is the truest, I believe. Because God calls them into it. Ask me why I am a Christian, and I may say, ” Because the Christian life is satisfactory and full of daily sweetness,” or I may say, “Because in the certain distance hangs the prize of everlasting life.” Both are good answers. But suppose I say, “Because God bade me be.” That is a better answer. It includes both the others. The soul that makes it is sure of happiness and reward not by its own direct perception of them but because they are involved in the very nature of God, in obedience to whose authority it gives itself to Him. It makes the persistence of the Christian life depend not on the constancy of our emotions but on the unremitting sense of the Divine authority. The best and noblest Christians, I am sure, have always most loved to give this simplest account of their experience. “Why are you
in the vineyard?” “Because He sent me,” that is all.
Afterward the perception of the sweetness of the work, but first of all because He sent me. O my young friends to whom the soul’s life with its vast hopes and mysterious joys is just opening, I beg you to set at the gate through which you enter into it the simple authority of your master. Come to your Lord because He calls you. As John and James came off the lake where they were fishing; as Matthew came out of the shop where he was gathering taxes; for only to the soul that first gives itself to Him in unquestioning obedience can Christ give himself in unhindered love.
I must pass on to say a few words on what we saw to be the second point suggested in our text, namely, the wages which were promised to those whom the master sent into his vineyard.” When he had agreed with them for a penny a day he sent them into his vineyard.” The first thing that strikes us is that there should be any wages. It is that truth of covenant, that picture of a bargain between God and man which runs through all the Bible, and has often given much trouble to very spiritual and unselfish hearts. “Can I not give myself to God and God promise me nothing? Must I have a promise of advantage to myself, to watch every consecration of myself to Him whom I love better than my life? Is not the “penny a day” an intrusion and offence coming in between me and my Lord?” Such thoughts have come to many minds. I know but one answer. The master owes something to himself as well as to his laborers. He owes it to himself to recognize the service that they give him. Not even from the child will the father take a wholly unacknowledged duty. The “penny a day” is wages, but it is wages raised to its highest power in love. It is valuable not for itself alone, but as the token of the master’s recognition of the service. In other words, I think we have the perpetual recurrence of the covenant idea all through the Bible until something of it appears even in the mystery of the Atonement, and the precious sacrifice of Calvary is called the “Blood of the Everlasting Covenant”; we have in all this not a degradation of the spiritual relations to a commercial sordidness, we have rather an exaltation of the essential idea of commerce, an assertion of the invariable and beautiful reciprocity which runs through all the universe; a declaration that righteousness and justice, the return of like for like, is not an arbitrary arrangement, which can be tampered with or repealed, but is in the very nature of all things and beings because it is in the nature of Him from whom all things and beings come.
And then, if the idea of wages need not trouble us, see what the special wages are which the Lord offers. He agreed with them for a penny a day. It was no outright gift, given in bulk, one large, round sum with which He fastened their allegiance. It was to be a daily payment. Evening by evening they were to come to him, and only gradually should the money accumulate and grow large in their hands. What picture could more truly show the way in which the Lord gives His rewards to all His servants? What could more truly set before us all the kind of promise which He makes us as we begin our life, or our profession, or our soul’s experience at His command! Not in one complete gift is physical life bestowed on any child. “A penny a day” is the promise which is fulfilled in the slow development of the vital powers which goes on all through the infancy and early years. Not all at once are the fruits of a new career or profession put into the eager hands of the young aspirant. “A penny a day” comes scholarship to the scholar, power to the statesman, wealth to the merchant. Not all at once does the new Christian win the completeness of his Saviour’s grace. “A penny a day “! “A penny a day”! so only does the soul grow rich, so only are truthfulness, courage, humility, patience, love, faithfulness given to the soul and made its own. Surely it is a kind warning of the master at the open gate. He will not have us disappointed. O, hear His warning, you who are taking any of His invitations. You cannot take it all at once. Even to His Incarnate Son God gave life in slow development. What wonder if to us it comes with a slowness that makes us often despair; and yet when it does come completely we shall know that except as it was thus slowly given it never could have been made really ours at all.
There is a reason for this method of God’s gifts which we soon learn to know. It lies in two truths. The first is that the very nature of the soul itself requires it. The soul appropriates slowly. A torrent drowns the soil which a rain would make fertile. There is such a thing as a soul gorged with blessing and not fed.
And the other reason is still truer and deeper. The object of God’s giving us any gift is not that we may possess the gift, but that through the possession of the gift we may possess Him. The gift is a pledge to assure us of His presence and His love. God’s gifts are given to us not like robes to clothe us in. The only robe in which we can be clothed is He Himself, His righteousness made truly ours not in an unreal, artificial sense, but really, truly. The gifts He gives us are the clasps that hold the robe about us — not the robe. Therefore it is that they are given only as they are required. Not once for all, so that we might take them on our shoulders and go away and forget the Giver, but day by day, so that each day the day’s gift might make the giver real and so all life be filled with Him.
I have spoken mainly to the young today. At least, they have been mostly in my mind as I have spoken. To them the exhilaration of beginning is an ever-present consciousness. Thank God life may be always so full of new beginnings that it never need be stale to any of us. And before us all there always is the great beginning of the everlasting life to keep us always young. Aye, even to make us count ourselves as babes unborn. But to the young the sense of starting is the great prevailing sense of life. I wish that something I have said to-day might make you feel how noble and rich the opening of any life becomes when at the very gate it comes to agreement with God. It is a beautiful moment when with life before you, with your work before you, with your soul’s salvation before you, you stand first with Him beside the gate and let Him, when He has agreed with you for a penny a day, send you into His vineyard. I dare to think that some of you are standing there with Him now ; that while I speak it is that moment, awful and glorious for some of you, in which, while those who sit beside you in the pew cannot guess at what is passing, you are giving yourself to Him and taking Him to be yours for all your life. If it is so, may He make the consecration perfect and keep you always faithful with His great surrounding love!

Hymn for Today:
“In Christ There Is No East or West” by John Oxenham (sts 1, 2, 4); (st 3–not shown) Laurence Hull Stookey
1. In Christ there is no east or west,
in him no south or north;
but one great fellowship of love
throughout the whole wide earth.
2. In Christ shall true hearts everywhere
their high communion find;
his service is the golden cord
close binding humankind.
3. (Words copr.)
4. In Christ now meet both east and west,
in him meet south and north;
all Christly souls are one in him
throughout the whole wide earth.

Through the Bible in One Year:
Joshua 1 to 10
1 When Moses, servant of Yahweh, was dead, Yahweh spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ adjutant. He said,
2 ‘Moses my servant is dead; go now and cross this Jordan, you and this whole people, into the country which I am giving to them (the Israelites).
3 Every place you tread with the soles of your feet I shall give you, as I declared to Moses that I would.
4 From the desert and the Lebanon, to the Great River, the Euphrates (the entire country of the Hittites), and as far as the Great Sea to westward, is to be your territory.
5 As long as you live, no one will be able to resist you; I shall be with you as I was with Moses; I shall not fail you or desert you.
6 ‘Be strong and stand firm, for you are the man to give this people possession of the land which I swore to their ancestors that I would give them.
7 Only be strong and stand very firm and be careful to keep the whole Law which my servant Moses laid down for you. Do not swerve from this either to right or to left, and then you will succeed wherever you go.
8 Have the book of this Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may carefully keep everything that is written in it. Then your undertakings will prosper, then you will have success.
9 Have I not told you: Be strong and stand firm? Be fearless and undaunted, for go where you may, Yahweh your God is with you.’
10 Joshua then gave the people’s officials this instruction:
11 ‘Go through the camp and give the people this order, “Make provisions ready, for in three days’ time you will cross this Jordan and go on to take possession of the land which Yahweh your God is giving you as your own.” ‘
12 Joshua then said to the Reubenites and Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
13 ‘Remember the order given you by Moses, servant of Yahweh: Yahweh your God, in bringing you to rest, has given you the land where we are.
14 Your wives, your little ones and your cattle must stay in the country given you by Moses beyond the Jordan. But all you fighting men must cross in battle formation at the head of your brothers and help them,
15 until Yahweh grants rest to your brothers and you alike, when they too have taken possession of the land which Yahweh your God is giving to them. Then you may go back and take possession of the land which belongs to you and which Moses, servant of Yahweh, has given you on the eastern side of the Jordan.’
16 They answered Joshua, ‘We will do whatever you order us, and wherever you send us we will go.
17 We obeyed Moses in everything, and now we will obey you. Only may Yahweh your God be with you as he was with Moses!
18 If anyone rebels against your orders or will not listen to your commands, let him be put to death. Only be strong and stand firm.’
1 From Shittim, Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men to reconnoitre. He said, ‘Go and explore the country and Jericho.’ They left; they went into the house of a prostitute called Rahab, to spend the night there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, ‘Some men have come here tonight from the Israelites, to reconnoitre the country.’
3 The king of Jericho then sent a message to Rahab, ‘Send out the men who came to you and are lodging in your house, for they have come to reconnoitre the whole country.’
4 But the woman took the two men and hid them. ‘It is true,’ she said, ‘the men did come to me, but I did not know where they came from.
5 When the city gate was about to be closed at nightfall, the men went out and I cannot say where they have gone. Follow them quickly and you will overtake them.’
6 She had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under some stalks of flax which she had laid out there.
7 The men hurried in pursuit of them towards the Jordan, as far as the fords, and the gate was shut once the pursuers had gone through.
8 The two men had not yet settled down for the night when Rahab came up to them on the roof.
9 She said to them, ‘I know that Yahweh has given you this country, that we are afraid of you and that everyone living in this country has been seized with terror at your approach;
10 for we have heard how Yahweh dried up the Sea of Reeds before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two Amorite kings across the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you put under the curse of destruction.
11 When we heard this, our hearts failed us, and now no one has any courage left to resist you, since Yahweh your God is God both in heaven above and on earth beneath.
12 So, swear to me now by Yahweh, since I have been kind to you,
13 that you in your turn will be kind to my father’s family; and give me a sure sign of this: that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them, and will preserve us from death.’
14 The men replied, ‘We pledge you our lives, provided that you say nothing about our mission. When Yahweh has given us the country, we shall treat you kindly and faithfully.’
15 She then let them down from the window on a rope, as her house was against the city wall and she actually lived in the wall.
16 ‘Make for the hills,’ she said, ‘or you may run into your pursuers. Hide there for three days, until your pursuers have come back, and then go on your way.’
17 The men said, ‘This is how we shall fulfil the oath which you have made us swear:
18 when we invade the country, you must tie this scarlet cord to the window from which you let us down, and collect your father, mother, brothers and entire family inside your house.
19 If anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood will be on his own head and we shall not be to blame; but the blood of all staying inside the house with you will be on our heads if a hand is laid on any of them.
20 But if you divulge our mission in the meanwhile, we shall be free of the oath which you have made us swear.’
21 She replied, ‘Let it be as you say.’ She let them go, and they left. She then tied the scarlet cord to the window.
22 They left and made for the hills. They stayed there for three days, until their pursuers had gone home, having scoured the countryside without finding them.
23 The two men then came down again from the hills, crossed over and, going to Joshua son of Nun, told him everything that had happened to them.
24 To Joshua they said, ‘Yahweh has put the whole country at our mercy, and its inhabitants are all panic-stricken at our approach.’
1 Early in the morning, Joshua struck camp and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and there they camped before they crossed.
2 Three days later, the officials went through the camp
3 and gave the people these instructions, ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God being carried by the levitical priests, you will leave your position and follow it,so that you may know which way to take, since you have never gone this way before. Between you and the ark, however, keep a distance of about two thousand cubits: do not go near it.’
4 Between you and the ark, however, keep a distance of about two thousand cubits: do not go near it.’
5 Joshua said to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves, since tomorrow Yahweh will work wonders among you.’
6 Joshua then said to the priests, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant and cross at the head of the people.’ They took up the ark of the covenant and moved to the head of the people.
7 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘This very day, I shall begin to make you great in the eyes of all Israel so that they will know that, as I was with Moses, so I shall be with you.
8 Now, give this order to the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, “When you have reached the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you must halt in the Jordan itself.” ‘
9 To the Israelites, Joshua then said, ‘Come closer and hear the words of Yahweh your God.’
10 Joshua said, ‘By this, you are to know that the living God is with you and without a doubt will expel the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites before you.
11 Look, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth is about to move into the Jordan at your head.
12 Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe.
13 As soon as the priests carrying the ark of Yahweh, Lord of the whole earth, have set the soles of their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off; the upper waters flowing down will stop as a single mass.’
14 Accordingly, when the people left their tents to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.
15 As soon as the bearers of the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark touched the waters — the Jordan is in spate throughout the harvest season-
16 the upper waters stood still and formed a single mass over a great distance, at Adam, the town near Zarethan, while those flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely separated. The people crossed opposite Jericho.
17 The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh stood firm on dry ground in mid-Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until the whole nation had completed its crossing of the Jordan.
1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, Yahweh spoke to Joshua and said,
2 ‘Choose twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and give them this order,
3 “Here, from mid-Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet were standing, take twelve stones; carry them with you and set them down in the camp where you pass the night.” ‘
4 Joshua called the twelve men whom he had selected from the Israelites, one man from each tribe,
5 and Joshua said to them, ‘Go on ahead of the ark of Yahweh your God into mid-Jordan, and each of you take one stone on his shoulder, corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel,
6 to make this a sign among you; and when, in the future, your children ask you, “What do these stones mean for you?”
7 you will then tell them, “The waters of the Jordan separated before the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the river separated. These stones are an everlasting reminder of this to the Israelites.”
8 The Israelites did as Joshua ordered; they took twelve stones from mid-Jordan corresponding to the number of the tribes of Israel, as Yahweh had told Joshua; they carried them over to the camp and set them down there.
9 Joshua then erected twelve stones in mid-Jordan, on the spot where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are still there today.
10 The priests carrying the ark stood still in mid-Jordan, until everything had been done that Yahweh had ordered Joshua to tell the people (in accordance with everything that Moses had ordered Joshua); and the people hurried across.
11 When the people had finished crossing, the ark of Yahweh then crossed, with the priests, to the head of the people.
12 The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed in battle formation at the head of the Israelites, as Moses had told them.
13 Some forty thousand warriors in arms, they crossed in Yahweh’s presence, ready for battle, towards the plain of Jericho.
14 That day, Yahweh made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, who respected him as they had respected Moses, as long as he lived.
15 Yahweh said to Joshua,
16 ‘Order the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan.’
17 And Joshua gave the order to the priests, ‘Come up, out of the Jordan!’
18 Now, when the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came up out of mid-Jordan, no sooner had the soles of the priests’ feet touched solid ground, than the waters of the Jordan returned to their bed and ran on, in spate as before.
19 It was the tenth day of the first month when the people came up from the Jordan and made their camp at Gilgal, on the eastern border of Jericho.
20 As regards those twelve stones, which they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set them up at Gilgal.
21 He then said to the Israelites, ‘When, in the future, your children ask their fathers, “What are these stones?”
22 you will explain to your children, “Israel crossed this Jordan dry-shod.
23 For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan in front of you until you had crossed, just as Yahweh your God did to the Sea of Reeds, which he dried up before us until we had crossed it;
24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know how mighty the hand of Yahweh is, and always stand in awe of Yahweh your God.” ‘
1 When all the kings of the Amorites living to westward across the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites living on the seaboard, heard that Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed, their hearts failed and they lost all courage to resist the Israelites.
2 At this time Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again (a second time).
3 Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites on the Hill of Foreskins.
4 The reason why Joshua circumcised them was this. All the males of the people who had come out of Egypt of age to bear arms had died in the desert on their journey after leaving Egypt.
5 Now, all the people who came out had been circumcised; but none of those born in the desert, during the journey, after leaving Egypt, had been circumcised;
6 for the Israelites walked the desert for forty years, until the whole nation had died out, that is, the men who had come out of Egypt of age to bear arms; they had not obeyed the voice of Yahweh, and Yahweh had sworn to them never to let them see the land which he had sworn to their ancestors that he would give us a land flowing with milk and honey.
7 But in place of these he set their sons, and these were the ones whom Joshua circumcised: they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised during the journey.
8 When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they stayed resting in the camp till they were well again.
9 Yahweh then said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’ Hence, the place has been called Gilgal ever since.
10 The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the plain of Jericho.
11 On the very next day after the Passover, they ate what the land produced, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn.
12 The manna stopped the day after they had eaten the produce of the land. The Israelites from that year onwards ate the produce of Canaan and had no more manna.
13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him, grasping a naked sword. Joshua walked towards him and said to him, ‘Are you on our side or on that of our enemies?’
14 He replied, ‘On neither side. I have come now as the captain of the army of Yahweh.’ Joshua fell on his face to the ground, worshipping him, and said, ‘What has my Lord to say to his servant?’
15 The captain of the army of Yahweh answered Joshua, ‘Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so.
1 Now, Jericho had shut and barricaded its gates (against the Israelites): no one came out and no one went in.
2 Yahweh then said to Joshua, ‘Look, I am putting Jericho, its picked troops and its king, at your mercy.
3 All you warriors must march round the city (go right round the city once, doing the same on six successive days.
4 Seven priests must carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets in front of the ark. On the seventh day, you will go seven times round the city and the priests will blow their trumpets).
5 When the ram’s horn sounds (when you hear the sound of the trumpet), the entire people must utter a mighty war cry and the city wall will collapse then and there; the people will then go into the assault, each man straight ahead.’
6 Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets ahead of the ark of Yahweh.’
7 To the people he then said, ‘Forward! March round the city, and let the vanguard march ahead of the ark of Yahweh!’
8 (Everything was done as Joshua had given orders to the people.) Seven priests, carrying seven ram’s-horn trumpets ahead of Yahweh, moved forward blowing their trumpets; the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came behind them,
9 the vanguard marched ahead of the priests, who blew their trumpets, the rearguard followed behind the ark; the men marched, the trumpets sounded.
10 Joshua had given the people the following orders, ‘Do not raise a war cry, do not let your voice be heard (not a word must pass your lips), until the day when I say, “Raise the war cry.” That is when you must raise the war cry.’
11 He made the ark go round the city (going round it once), then they went back to camp, where they spent the night.
12 Joshua got up early, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh.
13 Carrying the seven ram’s-horn trumpets, the seven priests walked ahead of the ark of Yahweh, blowing their trumpets as they went, while the vanguard marched ahead of them and the rearguard behind the ark of Yahweh, and the march went on to the sound of the trumpet.
14 They marched once round the city (on the second day) and went back to camp; and so on for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at dawn and marched (in the same manner) round the city seven times. (This was the only day when they marched round the city seven times.)
16 At the seventh time, the priests blew their trumpets and Joshua said to the people, ‘Raise the war cry, for Yahweh has given you the city!
17 ‘The city and everyone in it must be devoted to Yahweh under the curse of destruction; the life of Rahab the prostitute alone must be spared, with all those with her in her house, since she hid the messengers we sent.
18 But beware of the curse of destruction, yourselves, for fear that, moved by greed, you take something lying under the curse; that would put the camp of Israel under the same curse and bring disaster on it.
19 All the silver and all the gold, everything made of bronze or iron, will be consecrated to Yahweh and put in his treasury.’
20 The people raised the war cry, the trumpets sounded. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a mighty war cry and the wall collapsed then and there. At once the people stormed the city, each man going straight forward; and they captured the city.
21 They enforced the curse of destruction on everyone in the city: men and women, young and old, including the oxen, the sheep and the donkeys, slaughtering them all.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had reconnoitred the country, ‘Go into the prostitute’s house, and bring the woman out with all who belong to her, as you swore to her that you would.’
23 The young men who had been spies went and brought Rahab out, with her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out all her clansmen too, and put them in a place of safety outside the camp of Israel.
24 They burned the city and everything inside it, except the silver, the gold and the things of bronze and iron; these they put into the treasury of Yahweh’s house.
25 But Rahab the prostitute, her father’s family and all who belonged to her, these Joshua spared. She is still living in Israel even today, for having hidden the messengers whom Joshua sent to reconnoitre Jericho.
26 At that time Joshua made them take this oath before Yahweh: Accursed before Yahweh be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city (Jericho)! On his first-born will he lay its foundations, on his youngest son set up its gates!
27 So Yahweh was with Joshua, whose fame spread throughout the country.
1 But the Israelites were unfaithful to the curse of destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took something that fell under the curse of destruction, and the anger of Yahweh was aroused against the Israelites.
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai (which is near Beth-Aven), to the east of Bethel, having said to them, ‘Go up and reconnoitre the country.’ They went up and reconnoitred Ai.
3 Coming back to Joshua, they said, ‘There is no need for the whole people to go up; let some two or three thousand go and attack Ai. Spare the whole people such an effort; there are only a few of them!’
4 Of the people, some three thousand marched up, but these broke before the people of Ai,
5 who killed some thirty-six of them and pursued them from the town gate as far as Shebarim, and on the slope cut them to pieces. The hearts of the people melted away and turned to water.
6 Joshua then tore his clothes and prostrated himself before the ark of Yahweh till nightfall; the elders of Israel did the same, and all poured dust on their heads.
7 And Joshua said, ‘Alas, Lord Yahweh, why did you bother to bring this nation across the Jordan, if it was only to put us at the mercy of the Amorites and destroy us? If only we could have settled down on the other side of the Jordan!
8 Forgive me, Lord, but what can I say, now that Israel has turned tail on the enemy?
9 The Canaanites, all the inhabitants of the land, will hear of it; they will unite against us to wipe our name from the earth. And what will you do about your great Name then?’
10 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! Why are you lying prostrate like this?
11 Israel has sinned; they have violated the covenant which I imposed on them. They have gone so far as to take what was under the curse of destruction, they have even stolen it; they have actually hidden it; they have put it in their baggage.
12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand up to their foes, why they have turned tail on their enemies: because they have come under the curse of destruction themselves. Unless you get rid of the object among you which has been put under the curse of destruction, I shall be with you no longer.’
13 ‘Get up, sanctify the people and say, “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, since Yahweh, the God of Israel, declares: The curse of destruction has now fallen on you, Israel; you will not be able to stand up to your enemies, until you have rid yourselves of that object which has been put under the curse of destruction.
14 Tomorrow morning, therefore, you will come forward tribe by tribe, and then the tribe which Yahweh selects by lot will come forward clan by clan, and the clan which Yahweh selects by lot will come forward family by family, and the family which Yahweh selects by lot will come forward mam by man.
15 And the man indicated by lot as regards the object which has been put under the curse of destruction will be delivered to the flames, he and all his possessions, for having violated the covenant with Yahweh and for having committed an infamy in Israel.” ‘
16 Joshua got up early; he made Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the lot indicated the tribe of Judah.
17 He summoned the clans of Judah, and the lot indicated the clan of Zerah. He summoned the clan of Zerah, family by family, and the lot indicated Zabdi.
18 Joshua then summoned the family of Zabdi, man by man, and the lot indicated Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah.
19 Joshua then said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to Yahweh, God of Israel, and confess; tell me what you have done and hide nothing from me.’
20 Achan replied to Joshua, ‘Yes, I am the man who has sinned against Yahweh, God of Israel, and this is what I have done.
21 In the loot, I saw a fine robe from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and an ingot of gold weighing fifty shekels, I set my heart on them and I took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.’
22 Joshua sent messengers; they ran to the tent, and the robe was indeed hidden in the tent, with the silver underneath.
23 They took the things out of the tent and, bringing them to Joshua and all the Israelites, laid them out before Yahweh.
24 Joshua then took Achan son of Zerah and led him up to the Vale of Achor, with the silver and the robe and the ingot of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his goats, his tent and all his belongings. All Israel went with him.
25 Joshua said, ‘Why have you brought misfortune on us? Today may Yahweh bring misfortune on you!’ And all Israel stoned him to death (and they burned them and threw stones at them).
26 Over him, they raised a great mound of stones, which is still there today. Yahweh then relented from his fierce anger. That was why the place was called the Vale of Achor, as it still is today.
1 Yahweh then said to Joshua, ‘Be fearless and undaunted. Take all your fighting men with you. Up! March against Ai. Look, I have put the king of Ai, his people, his town and his territory at your mercy.
2 You must treat Ai and its king as you treated Jericho and its king. The only booty you will take are the spoils and the cattle. Take up a concealed position by the town, to the rear of it.’
3 Joshua set out to march against Ai with all the fighting men. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the bravest and sent them out under cover of dark,
4 having given them these orders, ‘Pay attention! You must take up a concealed position by the town, at the rear, not very far from the town, and be sure you all keep alert!
5 I, and the whole people with me, shall advance on the town, and when the people of Ai come out to engage us as they did the first time, we shall run away from them.
6 They will then give chase, and we shall draw them away from the town, since they will think, “They are running away from us as they did the first time.”
7 You will then burst out of your concealed position and seize the town; Yahweh your God will put it at your mercy.
8 When you have captured the town, set fire to it, in obedience to Yahweh’s command. Well then, these are my orders.’
9 Joshua sent them off, and they made their way to the place of ambush and took up position between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. Joshua spent the night with the people,
10 then, getting up early next morning, reviewed the people and, with the elders of Israel, marched on Ai at their head.
11 All the warriors marching with him advanced on the front of the town and pitched camp north of Ai, with the valley between them and the town.
12 Joshua took about five thousand men and concealed these between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the town.
13 The people pitched the main camp to the north of the town and set up its ambush to the west of the town. Joshua went that night into the middle of the plain.
14 The king of Ai had seen this; the people of the town got up early and hurried out, so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle on the slope facing the Arabah; but he did not know that an ambush had been laid for him to the rear of the town.
15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten by them and took to their heels along the road to the desert.
16 All the people in the town joined in the pursuit and, in pursuing Joshua, were drawn away from the town.
17 Not a man was left in Ai (nor in Bethel), who had not gone in pursuit of Israel; and in pursuing Israel they left the town undefended.
18 Yahweh then said to Joshua, ‘Point the sabre in your hand at Ai; for I am about to put the town at your mercy.’ Joshua pointed the sabre in his hand towards the town.
19 No sooner had he stretched out his hand than the men in ambush burst from their position, ran forward, entered the town, captured it and quickly set it on fire.
20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from the town into the sky. None of them had the courage to run in any direction, for the people fleeing towards the desert turned back on their pursuers.
21 For, once Joshua and all Israel saw that the town had been seized by the men in ambush, and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned about and attacked the men of Ai.
22 The others came out from the town to engage them too, and the men of Ai were thus surrounded by Israelites, some on this side and some on that. The Israelites struck them down until not one was left alive and none to flee;
23 but the king of Ai was taken alive, and brought to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open ground, and in the desert where they had pursued them, and when every single one had fallen to the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and slaughtered its remaining population.
25 The number of those who fell that day, men and women together, was twelve thousand, all people of Ai.
26 Joshua did not draw back the hand with which he had pointed the sabre until he had subjected all the inhabitants of Ai to the curse of destruction.
27 For booty, Israel took only the cattle and the spoils of this town, in accordance with the order that Yahweh had given to Joshua.
28 Joshua then burned Ai, making it a ruin for evermore, a desolate place even today.
29 He hanged the king of Ai from a tree till evening; but at sunset Joshua ordered his body to be taken down from the tree. It was then thrown down at the entrance to the town gate and on top of it was raised a great mound of stones, which is still there today.
30 Joshua then built an altar to Yahweh, God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
31 as Moses, servant of Yahweh, had ordered the Israelites, as is written in the law of Moses: an altar of undressed stones, on which no iron has been used. On this they presented burnt offerings to Yahweh and communion sacrifices as well.
32 There, Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the Law of Moses, which Moses had written in the presence of the Israelites.
33 All Israel, with their elders, their officials and their judges, stood on either side of the ark, facing the levitical priests who were carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, foreigners with the native-born, half of them on the upper slopes of Mount Ebal, as Moses, servant of Yahweh, had originally ordered for the blessing of the people of Israel.
34 After this, Joshua read all the words of the Law — the blessing and the cursing — exactly as it stands written in the Book of the Law.
35 Of every word laid down by Moses, not one was left unread by Joshua in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners living with them.
1 Hearing these things, all the kings on this side of the Jordan, in the highlands and in the lowlands, all along the coast of the Great Sea towards the Lebanon, Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, with one consent
2 formed a fighting alliance against Joshua and Israel.
3 When the inhabitants of Gibeon learned how Joshua had treated Jericho and Ai, for their part,
4 they had recourse to a ruse. They provided themselves with supplies, and loaded their donkeys with old sacks and with old wineskins which had burst and been sewn up again.
5 They put on patched old sandals and worn-out clothes. The only bread they took with them to eat was dried up and crumbling.
6 They came to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, and to him and the men of Israel they said, ‘We come from a distant country, so make a treaty with us.’
7 The Israelites answered these Hivites, ‘For all we know, you may live right among us. How then could we make a treaty with you?’
8 They said to Joshua, ‘We are your servants.’ ‘But who are you?’ Joshua asked them, ‘and where do you come from?’
9 They said, ‘Your servants have come from a country very far away, because of the fame of Yahweh your God; for we have heard of him and of all that he did in Egypt,
10 and of all that he did to the two Amorite kings who used to live on the other side of the Jordan: Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who used to live at Ashtaroth.
11 Because of which, our elders and all the people of our country said to us, “Take provisions with you for the journey; go and meet them and say to them: We are your servants; so make a treaty with us.”
12 Here is our bread; it was warm when we took it from home to provide for our journey the day we set out to come to you, and now, you can see, it is dried up and crumbling.
13 These wineskins were new when we filled them; you can see, they have burst; and these clothes and sandals of ours are worn out from travelling such a long way.’
14 The leaders sampled some of the food they offered, but they did not ask Yahweh’s orders.
15 Joshua made peace with them, and struck a treaty with them guaranteeing their lives, and the leaders of the community ratified it by oath.
16 Now it so happened that three days after the treaty had been made, it became known that they were a neighbouring people, living in Israel’s region.
17 The Israelites set out from camp, arriving in their towns three days later. Their towns were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-Jearim.
18 The Israelites did not attack them, since the leaders of the community had sworn to them by Yahweh, God of Israel, but the whole community muttered against the leaders.
19 The leaders, however, all said to the whole community, ‘Since we have sworn an oath to them by Yahweh, God of Israel, we cannot touch them now.
20 This is what we shall do with them: let them live, rather than bring retribution down on ourselves on account of the oath which we have sworn to them.’
21 And the leaders went on, ‘Let them live, but let them be wood-cutters and water-carriers for the whole community.’ Thus spoke the leaders.
22 Joshua sent for the Gibeonites and asked them, ‘Why did you deceive us by saying, “We live very far away,” when in fact you live right among us?
23 From now on, you are accursed and will for ever be serfs, as wood-cutters and water-carriers in the house of my God.’
24 Their answer to Joshua was, ‘We did it because your servants had been rightly told that Yahweh your God had ordered his servant Moses to give you the whole of this country and destroy all its inhabitants before you; also because, as you advanced on us, we feared very greatly for our lives. That was why we did this.
25 Now, as you see, we are at your mercy; do to us whatever you think good and right.’
26 What he did with them was this: he saved them from the hand of the Israelites, who did not kill them.
27 But that very day Joshua made them wood-cutters and water-carriers for the community and for the altar of Yahweh, at the place which he would eventually choose; and so they are today.
1 Now, it happened that Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem, learned that Joshua had conquered Ai and put the town under the curse of destruction, treating Ai and its king as he had already treated Jericho and its king; and also that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living with them.
2 There was consternation at this, since Gibeon was as important a town as any of the royal towns themselves (it was larger than Ai), while all its citizens were fighting men.
3 Consequently, Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon,
4 ‘Join me up here and help me to conquer Gibeon, since it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.’
5 The five Amorite kings joined forces and went up there, that is, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish and the king of Eglon, they and all their armies; laying siege to Gibeon, they attacked it.
6 The men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal, ‘Do not desert your servants; come up here quickly to save us and help us, since all the Amorite kings living in the highlands have allied themselves against us.’
7 Joshua came up from Gilgal, he, all the fighting men and all the bravest of his army.
8 Yahweh said to Joshua, ‘Do not be afraid of these people; I have put them at your mercy; not one of them will put up any resistance.’
9 Having marched from Gilgal throughout the night, Joshua caught them unawares.
10 Yahweh threw them into disorder at the sight of Israel, defeating them completely at Gibeon; furthermore, he pursued them by way of the Descent of Beth-Horon and harassed them as far as Azekah (and as far as Makkedah).
11 And as they fled from Israel down the Descent of Beth-Horon, Yahweh hurled huge hailstones from heaven on them all the way to Azekah, and they died. More of them died under the hailstones than under the swords of the Israelites.
12 Joshua then spoke to Yahweh, the day Yahweh delivered the Amorites to the Israelites. In the presence of Israel, Joshua said: Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and, moon, you too, over the Vale of Aijalon!
13 And the sun stood still, and the moon halted, until the people had taken vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of the Just? The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and delayed its setting for almost a whole day.
14 There was never a day like that before or since, when Yahweh obeyed the voice of a man — for Yahweh was fighting for Israel.
15 Joshua, and all Israel with him, then went back to the camp at Gilgal.
16 As regards the five kings, these had fled and hidden in the cave of Makkedah,
17 and news of this was brought to Joshua. ‘The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah.’
18 Joshua said, ‘Roll great stones over the mouth of the cave and post men there to keep guard.
19 You yourselves, do not stay there doing nothing; pursue the enemy, cut off their line of retreat and do not let them enter their towns, for Yahweh your God has put them at your mercy.’
20 When Joshua and the Israelites had finished inflicting a very great defeat on them, to the point of destroying them, those who had escaped alive took refuge in their fortresses.
21 The people came back to Joshua’s camp at Makkedah; they were all safe and sound, and no one dared to attempt anything against the Israelites.
22 Joshua then said, ‘Clear the mouth of the cave and bring the five kings out to me.’
23 They did so, and brought the five kings out of the cave to take them to him: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish and the king of Eglon.
24 When these kings had been brought out, Joshua assembled all the men of Israel and said to the chiefs of the warriors who had fought with him, ‘Come forward and put your feet on the necks of these kings!’ They came forward and put their feet on their necks.
25 ‘Be fearless and undaunted,’ Joshua went on, ‘be strong and stand firm, for this is how Yahweh will deal with all the enemies you fight.’
26 With this, Joshua struck and killed them and had them hanged on five trees; they hung there till evening.
27 At the hour of sunset, on Joshua’s orders, they were taken down from the trees and thrown into the cave where they had been hiding. Great stones were laid over the mouth of the cave, and these are still there to this very day.
28 The same day Joshua captured Makkedah, putting it and its king to the sword; he delivered them over to the curse of destruction, with every living creature there, and let no one escape, and he treated the king of Makkedah as he had treated the king of Jericho.
29 Joshua, and all Israel with him, went on from Makkedah to Libnah and attacked it
30 and Yahweh put this, too, and its king at Israel’s mercy; and Israel put every living creature there to the sword, and left none alive, and treated its king like the king of Jericho.
31 Joshua, and all Israel with him, went on from Libnah to Lachish and besieged it and attacked it.
32 Yahweh put Lachish at Israel’s mercy, and Israel took it on the second day and put it and every living creature in it to the sword, as they had treated Libnah.
33 Horam king of Gezer then marched up to help Lachish, but Joshua beat him and his people until not one was left alive.
34 Joshua, and all Israel with him, went on from Lachish to Eglon. They besieged it and attacked it.
35 The same day they took it and put it to the sword. That day he delivered over to the curse of destruction every living creature there, treating it as he had treated Lachish.
36 Joshua, and all Israel with him, went on up from Eglon to Hebron. They attacked it,
37 took it and put it to the sword, with its king, its dependencies and every living creature in it. As he had treated Eglon, so here, he left no one alive. He delivered it over to the curse of destruction, with every living creature in it.
38 Joshua, and all Israel with him, then turned back on Debir and attacked it.
39 He took it and its king and all the places belonging to it; they put them to the sword, and every living creature there they delivered over to the curse of destruction. He left no one alive. As he had treated Hebron, as he had treated Libnah and its king, so he treated Debir and its king.
40 Thus Joshua subjugated the whole country: the highlands, the Negeb, the lowlands and watered foothills, and all their kings. He left not one survivor and put every living thing under the curse of destruction, as Yahweh, God of Israel, had commanded.
41 Joshua conquered them from Kadesh-Barnea to Gaza, and the whole region of Goshen as far as Gibeon.
42 All these kings and their territory Joshua captured in a single campaign, because Yahweh, God of Israel, fought for Israel.
43 And then Joshua, and all Israel with him, went back to the camp at Gilgal.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Daily Office for Saturday, January 21, 2012:
Psalm 30
1 [Psalm Canticle for the Dedication of the House Of David] I praise you to the heights, Yahweh, for you have raised me up, you have not let my foes make merry over me.
2 Yahweh, my God, I cried to you for help and you healed me.
3 Yahweh, you have lifted me out of Sheol, from among those who sink into oblivion you have given me life.
4 Make music for Yahweh, all you who are faithful to him, praise his unforgettable holiness.
5 His anger lasts but a moment, his favour through life; In the evening come tears, but with dawn cries of joy.
6 Carefree, I used to think, ‘Nothing can ever shake me!’
7 Your favour, Yahweh, set me on impregnable heights, but you turned away your face and I was terrified.
8 To you, Yahweh, I call, to my God I cry for mercy.
9 What point is there in my death, my going down to the abyss? Can the dust praise you or proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Listen, Yahweh, take pity on me, Yahweh, be my help!
11 You have turned my mourning into dancing, you have stripped off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
12 So my heart will sing to you unceasingly, Yahweh, my God, I shall praise you for ever.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 32
1 [Of David Poem] How blessed are those whose offence is forgiven, whose sin blotted out.
2 How blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt, whose spirit harbours no deceit.
3 I said not a word, but my bones wasted away from groaning all the day;
4 day and night your hand lay heavy upon me; my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought.Pause
5 I made my sin known to you, did not conceal my guilt. I said, ‘I shall confess my offence to Yahweh.’ And you, for your part, took away my guilt, forgave my sin.Pause
6 That is why each of your faithful ones prays to you in time of distress. Even if great floods overflow, they will never reach your faithful.
7 You are a refuge for me, you guard me in trouble, with songs of deliverance you surround me.Pause
8 I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go; I shall not take my eyes off you.
9 Be not like a horse or a mule; that does not understand bridle or bit; if you advance to master them, there is no means of bringing them near.
10 Countless troubles are in store for the wicked, but one who trusts in Yahweh is enfolded in his faithful love.
11 Rejoice in Yahweh, exult all you upright, shout for joy, you honest of heart.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 42
1 [For the choirmaster Poem Of the sons of Korah] As a deer yearns for running streams, so I yearn for you, my God.
2 I thirst for God, the living God; when shall I go to see the face of God?
3 I have no food but tears day and night, as all day long I am taunted, ‘Where is your God?’
4 This I remember as I pour out my heart, how I used to pass under the roof of the Most High used to go to the house of God, among cries of joy and praise, the sound of the feast.
5 Why be so downcast, why all these sighs? Hope in God! I will praise him still, my Saviour,
6 my God. When I am downcast I think of you: from the land of Jordan and Hermon, I think of you, humble mountain.
7 Deep is calling to deep by the roar of your cataracts, all your waves and breakers have rolled over me.
8 In the daytime God sends his faithful love, and even at night; the song it inspires in me is a prayer to my living God.
9 I shall say to God, my rock, ‘Why have you forgotten me? Why must I go around in mourning, harrassed by the enemy?’
10 With death in my bones, my enemies taunt me, all day long they ask me, ‘Where is your God?’
11 Why so downcast, why all these sighs? Hope in God! I will praise him still, my Saviour, my God.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 43
1 Judge me, God, defend my cause against a people who have no faithful love; from those who are treacherous and unjust, rescue me.
2 For you are the God of my strength; why abandon me? Why must I go around in mourning, harrassed by the enemy?
3 Send out your light and your truth; they shall be my guide, to lead me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell.
4 Then I shall go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy. I will rejoice and praise you on the harp, O God, my God.
5 Why so downcast, why all these sighs? Hope in God! I will praise him still, my Saviour, my God.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Genesis 12:9-13:1
9 Then Abram made his way stage by stage to the Negeb.
10 There was a famine in the country, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there for a time, since the famine in the country was severe.
11 When he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, ‘Look, I know you are a beautiful woman.
12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, “That is his wife,” and they will kill me but leave you alive.
13 Therefore please tell them you are my sister, so that they may treat me well because of you and spare my life out of regard for you.’
14 When Abram arrived in Egypt the Egyptians did indeed see that the woman was very beautiful.
15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her they sang her praises to Pharaoh and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s household.
16 And Abram was very well treated because of her and received flocks, oxen, donkeys, men and women slaves, she-donkeys and camels.
17 But Yahweh inflicted severe plagues on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram’s wife Sarai.
18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, ‘What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me she was your wife?
19 Why did you say, “She is my sister,” so that I took her to be my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go!’
20 And Pharaoh gave his people orders about him; they sent him on his way with his wife and all his possessions.
1 From Egypt Abram returned to the Negeb with his wife and all he possessed, and Lot with him.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Hebrews 7:18-28
18 The earlier commandment is thus abolished, because of its weakness and ineffectiveness
19 since the Law could not make anything perfect; but now this commandment is replaced by something better-the hope that brings us close to God.
20 Now the former priests became priests without any oath being sworn,
21 but this one with the swearing of an oath by him who said to him, The Lord has sworn an oath he will never retract: you are a priest for ever;
22 the very fact that it occurred with the swearing of an oath makes the covenant of which Jesus is the guarantee all the greater.
23 Further, the former priests were many in number, because death put an end to each one of them;
24 but this one, because he remains for ever, has a perpetual priesthood.
25 It follows, then, that his power to save those who come to God through him is absolute, since he lives for ever to intercede for them.
26 Such is the high priest that met our need, holy, innocent and uncontaminated, set apart from sinners, and raised up above the heavens;
27 he has no need to offer sacrifices every day, as the high priests do, first for their own sins and only then for those of the people; this he did once and for all by offering himself.
28 The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 4:27-42
27 At this point his disciples returned and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, ‘What do you want from her?’ or, ‘What are you talking to her about?’
28 The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people,
29 ‘Come and see a man who has told me everything I have done; could this be the Christ?’
30 This brought people out of the town and they made their way towards him.
31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, do have something to eat’;
32 but he said, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’
33 So the disciples said to one another, ‘Has someone brought him food?’
34 But Jesus said: My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work.
35 Do you not have a saying: Four months and then the harvest? Well, I tell you, look around you, look at the fields; already they are white, ready for harvest!
36 Already the reaper is being paid his wages, already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life, so that sower and reaper can rejoice together.
37 For here the proverb holds true: one sows, another reaps;
38 I sent you to reap a harvest you have not laboured for. Others have laboured for it; and you have come into the rewards of their labour.
39 Many Samaritans of that town believed in him on the strength of the woman’s words of testimony, ‘He told me everything I have done.’
40 So, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, and
41 many more came to believe on the strength of the words he spoke to them;
42 and they said to the woman, ‘Now we believe no longer because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he is indeed the Saviour of the world.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Agnes
Psalm 45:11-16
11 then the king will fall in love with your beauty; he is your lord, bow down before him.
12 The daughter of Tyre will court your favour with gifts, and the richest of peoples
13 with jewels set in gold. Clothed
14 in brocade, the king’s daughter is led within to the king with the maidens of her retinue; her companions are brought to her,
15 they enter the king’s palace with joy and rejoicing.
16 Instead of your ancestors you will have sons; you will make them rulers over the whole world.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Song of Solomon 2:10-13
10 My love lifts up his voice, he says to me, ‘Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come.
11 For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone.
12 ‘Flowers are appearing on the earth. The season of glad songs has come, the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree is forming its first figs and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance. Come then, my beloved, my lovely one, come.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Corinthians 6:16-18
16 The temple of God cannot compromise with false gods, and that is what we are — the temple of the living God. We have God’s word for it: I shall fix my home among them and live among them; I will be their God and they will be my people.
17 Get away from them, purify yourselves, says the Lord. Do not touch anything unclean, and then I shall welcome you.
18 I shall be father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says the almighty Lord.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Matthew 18:1-6
1 At this time the disciples came to Jesus and said, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?’
2 So he called a little child to him whom he set among them.
3 Then he said, ‘In truth I tell you, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.
4 And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.
5 ‘Anyone who welcomes one little child like this in my name welcomes me.
6 But anyone who is the downfall of one of these little ones who have faith in me would be better drowned in the depths of the sea with a great millstone round his neck.(New Jerusalem Bible)
2 Samuel 1:1–4,11–12,19–27
1 Saul was dead and David, returning after his victory over the Amalekites, had been at Ziklag for two days.
2 On the third day, a man arrived from Saul’s camp with his clothes torn and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and prostrated himself.
3 David asked him, ‘Where have you come from?’ ‘I have escaped from the Israelite camp,’ he said.
4 David said, ‘What has happened? Tell me.’ He replied, ‘The people fled from the battle, and many of them have fallen and are dead. Saul and his son Jonathan are dead too.’
11 David then took hold of his clothes and tore them, and all the men with him did the same.
12 They mourned and wept and fasted until the evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, for the people of Yahweh and for the House of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
19 Does the splendour of Israel lie dead on your heights? How did the heroes fall?
20 Do not speak of it in Gath, nor broadcast it in the streets of Ashkelon, for fear the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, for fear the daughters of the uncircumcised gloat.
21 You mountains of Gilboa, no dew, no rain fall on you, O treacherous fields where the heroes’ shield lies dishonoured! Not greased with oil, the shield of Saul,
22 but with the blood of wounded men, the fat of warriors! The bow of Jonathan never turned back, the sword of Saul never came home unsated!
23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and handsome, were divided neither in life, nor in death. Swifter than eagles were they, stronger than lions.
24 O daughters of Israel, weep for Saul who gave you scarlet and fine linen to wear, who pinned golden jewellery on your dresses!
25 How did the heroes fall in the thick of the battle? Jonathan, by your dying I too am stricken,
26 I am desolate for you, Jonathan my brother. Very dear you were to me, your love more wonderful to me than the love of a woman.
27 How did the heroes fall and the weapons of war succumb!(New Jerusalem Bible)
Psalm 80:1–7
1 [For the choirmaster Tune: 'The decrees are lilies' Of Asaph Psalm] Shepherd of Israel, listen, you who lead Joseph like a flock, enthroned on the winged creatures, shine forth
2 over Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh; rouse your valour and come to our help.
3 God, bring us back, let your face shine on us and we shall be safe.
4 Yahweh, God Sabaoth, how long will you flare up at your people’s prayer?
5 You have made tears their food, redoubled tears their drink.
6 You let our neighbours quarrel over us, our enemies mock us.
7 God Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face shine on us and we shall be safe.(New Jerusalem Bible)
John 8:51–59
51 In all truth I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death.
52 The Jews said, ‘Now we know that you are possessed. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and yet you say, “Whoever keeps my word will never know the taste of death.”
53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too. Who are you claiming to be?’
54 Jesus answered: If I were to seek my own glory my glory would be worth nothing; in fact, my glory is conferred by the Father, by the one of whom you say, ‘He is our God,’
55 although you do not know him. But I know him, and if I were to say, ‘I do not know him,’ I should be a liar, as you yourselves are. But I do know him, and I keep his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to think that he would see my Day; he saw it and was glad.
57 The Jews then said, ‘You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!’
58 Jesus replied: In all truth I tell you, before Abraham ever was, I am.
59 At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.(New Jerusalem Bible)

Saturday, 21 January 2012
Saturday of the Second week in Ordinary Time
Saint(s) of the day:St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr (+ 304) – Memorial
Mark 3:20-21
20 He went home again, and once more such a crowd collected that they could not even have a meal.
21 When his relations heard of this, they set out to take charge of him; they said, ‘He is out of his mind.’(New Jerusalem Bible)
Commentary of the day:
Blessed John XXIII (1881-1963), pope
Prayer to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (Journal of a soul, ©Geoffrey Chapman)
Jesus loved us to the end (Jn 13,1)
O Jesus, divine food of the soul, this immense concourse turns to you. It wishes to give to its human and Christian vocation a new, vigorous power of interior virtue, and to be ready for sacrifice, of which you were such a wonderful pattern in word and example. You are our elder brother; you have trodden our path before us, O Christ Jesus, the path of every one of us; you have forgiven all our sins; you inspire us, each and all, to give a nobler, more convinced and more active witness of Christian life.
O Jesus, our “bread of life” (Jn 6,35) and the only substantial food for our souls, gather all peoples around your table. Your altar is divine reality on earth, the pledge of heavenly favours, the assurance of just understanding among peoples, and of peaceful rivalry in the true progress of civilization. Nourished by you and with you, O Jesus, men will be strong in faith, joyful in hope, and active in the many and varied expressions of charity. Our wills will know how to overcome the snares of evil, the temptations of selfishness, the listlessness of sloth. And men who love and fear the Lord will hear arising from earth the first mysterious and sweet voices of the City of God, of which the wayfaring Church militant is the image. O Jesus, you guide us to fresh pastures and watch over us. Grant that we may see good things in the land of the living, (Ps 27 [26], 13).

1st Thought for Today:
My Utmost for His Highest
Reading for Saturday 21st January 2012
RECALL WHAT GOD REMEMBERS by Oswald Chambers
I remember . . . the kindness of thy youth.(Jeremiah 2:2)
Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Am I full of the little things that cheer His heart over me, or am I whimpering because things are going hardly with me? There is no joy in the soul that has forgotten what God prizes. It is a great thing to think that Jesus Christ has need of me – “Give Me to drink.” How much kindness have I shown Him this past week? Have I been kind to His reputation in my life?
God is saying to His people – You are not in love with Me now, but I remember the time when you were – “I remember . . . the love of thine espousals.” Am I as full of the extravagance of love to Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He find me recalling the time when I did not care for anything but Himself? Am I there now, or have I become wise over loving Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no account of where I go? or am I watching for the respect due to me; weighing how much service I ought to give?
If, as I recall what God remembers about me, I find He is not what He used to be to me, let it produce shame and humiliation, because that shame will bring the godly sorrow that works repentance.

Reflecting God-Who Are The Real Winners In Life?
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Scripture-Psalm 49:1-11
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Psalm] Hear this, all nations, listen, all who dwell on earth,
2 people high and low, rich and poor alike!
3 My lips have wisdom to utter, my heart good sense to whisper.
4 I listen carefully to a proverb, I set my riddle to the music of the harp.
5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble? Malice dogs me and hems me in.
6 They trust in their wealth, and boast of the profusion of their riches.
7 But no one can ever redeem himself or pay his own ransom to God,
8 the price for himself is too high; it can never be
9 that he will live on for ever and avoid the sight of the abyss.
10 For he will see the wise also die no less than the fool and the brute, and leave their wealth behind for others.
11 For ever no home but their tombs, their dwelling-place age after age, though they gave their name to whole territories.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Who Are The Real Winners In Life? by Lenny Wisehart
The psalmist announces he is about to solve one of life’s greatest riddles (49:1-4). The wicked who prosper materially are not ultimately blessed, for they trust their wealth and die without hope.
This psalm is about rich people. Ironically the “rich” people here are in reality “poor.” Money is the ruling factor in their lives. These are people who have possessions, and that is all they have. The psalm does not make being rich a sin. The sin lies in trusting in riches. It is not money that is the root of evil, but the inordinate love of it.
Psalm 49 gives a believer’s perspective for coping with such people. The wicked will not gain eternal life (verse 9). Although they may have power, it will only be during this life. This perspective demands demands a firm persuasion that this life is quickly passing and will be replaced with eternal life or death.
This passage forcefully illustrates the irrevocable biblical truth that riches are limited and cannot ward off death. No amount of money can save their souls (verses 7-8). The righteous are the real winners.
Hymn for today:
“I Belong to the King” by Ida Reed Smith
1. I belong to the King; I’m a child of His love,
I shall dwell in His palace so fair,
For He tells of its bliss in yon Heaven above,
And His children in splendor shall share.
Refrain
I belong to the King; I’m a child of His love,
And he never forsaketh His own.
He will call me some day to His palace above;
I shall dwell by His glorified throne.
2. I belong to the King, and He loves me I know,
For His mercy and kindness so free
Are unceasingly mine wheresoever I go,
And my refuge unfailing is He.
Refrain
I belong to the King; I’m a child of His love,
And he never forsaketh His own.
He will call me some day to His palace above;
I shall dwell by His glorified throne.
3. I belong to the King, and His promise is sure:
That we all shall be gathered at last
In His kingdom above, by life’s waters so pure,
When this life with its trials is past.
Refrain
I belong to the King; I’m a child of His love,
And he never forsaketh His own.
He will call me some day to His palace above;
I shall dwell by His glorified throne.
2nd Thought for Today:
“It is not what a person owns, but what owns them, that shapes their destiny.”
Prayer Needs:
Many people in Poland will come to know Christ and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

The Upper Room Daily Devotional
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Ordinary Servants
Suggested Bible Reading:
Read Luke 17:7-10
7 ‘Which of you, with a servant ploughing or minding sheep, would say to him when he returned from the fields, “Come and have your meal at once”?
8 Would he not be more likely to say, “Get my supper ready; fasten your belt and wait on me while I eat and drink. You yourself can eat and drink afterwards”?
9 Must he be grateful to the servant for doing what he was told?
10 So with you: when you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We are useless servants: we have done no more than our duty.” ‘(New Jerusalem Bible)
Today’s Scripture:
When you have done all you have been told to do, say, “We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty.”(Luke 17:10 (TEV))
Today’s Devotional
Several months ago, my husband realized an elderly woman he knew needed medical attention. Though she resisted, he continued to encourage her to see a doctor and to assist her in practical ways. Eventually, she was hospitalized with serious health issues. Upon discharge, she needed a lot of care. Believing that God had called us to minister in this situation, we determined to do what was needed, trusting God to help us. A number of people expressed surprise that we were able to do what we did.
Recently another elderly woman needed help moving from her home to temporary housing. She called me, asking if we knew anyone who had a truck. We had one. Throughout the packing and after getting her settled, she continually exclaimed, “You two are angels!”
These responses made me uncomfortable. In both situations, I encouraged people to give the glory to God because God’s love moved us to act as we did. Yet responding in that way seemed inadequate. Then, I came across these words that Jesus spoke, “When you have done all you have been told to do, say, ‘We are ordinary servants; we have only done our duty.’”
Christians doing what we’re called to do should not be deemed extraordinary. Obeying God’s commands is simply living the normal Christian life. by Lois Duble (Maryland, USA)
3rd Thought for the Day: Where can I show the love of God in practical ways?
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you that you enable us to do what you have called us to do to show others your love. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Elderly persons who need care
The scripture quotation, unless otherwise indicated, is from the NEW REVISED STANDARD VERSION of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2012 by The Upper Room, a ministry of GBOD. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce or redistribute without written permission from the publisher.

Daily Meditation: Living on our One Earth — January 21, 2012
Center for Action and Contemplation
LIVING ON OUR ONE EARTH
Plato, a foundational Greek philosopher, has had far more influence on Christianity up to now than even Jesus often has! (I want to shock you into awareness!) Jesus says matter and spirit, divine and human are not enemies, but in fact are two sides of the same coin. They reveal one another, and are finally one! That is the meaning of his two raised fingers in much of Christian art.
Plato positions body and soul as irreconcilable enemies. Our moral theology, most of our sexual teaching, and our lackluster history of Earth care all show that we too have not seen matter and spirit, or body and soul, as friends, and as a result, have been Platonists more than Christians. (Part of the reason for this is Paul’s unfortunate use of the the word “flesh” in opposition to spirit. He would have made his point so much better, so much clearer, if he had used the word “ego” instead.) Embodiment is not the problem, ego is!
Matter and spirit have never been separate, says the Christ Mystery. We live in One United Whole; there is no sacred and profane, no natural and supernatural. All is sacred and supernatural inside of the One Christ Mystery, who “reconciles all things in Himself” (Colossians 1:15-20). Adapted from Soul Centering Through Nature: Becoming a True Human Adult (webcast) (CD/DVD/MP3)
Starter Prayer:
I am part of the whole. by Father Richard Rohr

4th Thought for Today:
Saturday January 21, 2012
The Voice in the Garden of Solitude
Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love. It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit. It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds. Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives. It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction. Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval. But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, “Do not be afraid. I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness.”
Let’s keep returning to our solitude. by Henri J. M. Nouwen

1.21.12 – Living the good life, married or single from The Church of the Resurrection-United Methodist in Leawood, Kansas, United States
Daily Scripture: Colossians 3:5 “That is why you must kill everything in you that is earthly: sexual vice, impurity, uncontrolled passion, evil desires and especially greed, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god;
6 it is precisely these things which draw God’s retribution upon those who resist.
7 And these things made up your way of life when you were living among such people,
8 but now you also must give up all these things: human anger, hot temper, malice, abusive language and dirty talk;
9 and do not lie to each other. You have stripped off your old behaviour with your old self,
10 and you have put on a new self which will progress towards true knowledge the more it is renewed in the image of its Creator;
11 and in that image there is no room for distinction between Greek and Jew, between the circumcised and uncircumcised, or between barbarian and Scythian, slave and free. There is only Christ: he is everything and he is in everything.
12 As the chosen of God, then, the holy people whom he loves, you are to be clothed in heartfelt compassion, in generosity and humility, gentleness and patience.
13 Bear with one another; forgive each other if one of you has a complaint against another. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same.
14 Over all these clothes, put on love, the perfect bond.”(New Jerusalem Bible)
Reflection Question:
The apostle Paul used the daily act of changing our clothes as a metaphor for living a new life in Christ. He listed ten hurtful qualities Christ-followers should “take off” (verses 5, 8), and six helpful qualities they can “put on” (verses 12, 14). Paul knew that changing is not that quick and easy—that it is the work of a lifetime of walking with Christ (Colossians 3:1-4). But note: he wrote this just before the part of the letter expressly about marriage and family life.
“Put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Be tolerant with each other and, if someone has a complaint…, forgive each other. As the Lord forgave you, so also forgive each other. And over all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.” How are you growing to be that kind of a partner in your most valued relationship? When you fail to “put on” this way of life, what blocks you? In God, there’s always hope! Get human help if you need it, and let God go to work in your life.
Family Activity:
Purchase some seeds of a favorite flower or plant that can grow indoors. Plant the seeds in a container and place it where your family can watch it grow. Read the directions about caring for the plant and follow them carefully. Celebrate the growth of the plant. As this is occurring, discuss how everything takes work and needs help to grow—even our relationships. Talk about the importance of listening to one another, sharing thoughts and feelings, having fun together, and supporting and encouraging each other. As you are working to helping the plant grow, also commit to helping your relationships grow. Celebrate your family and ask God to help you grow together.
Saturday 1.21.12 Insight from Lori Trupp
Lori Trupp is the Director of Children’s Ministries at The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection.
I am currently in the season of life that includes having teenagers–2 full-fledged, one wannabe pre-teen (yes, your prayers are welcomed). When my kids received the e-note, FB update, Tweet about this sermon series on “Love, Marriage, and Sex,” the grumbling immediately began in my household. The grumbles sounded something like this: “You’re not going to make us go to this, are you?” “Oh brother, this is going to be so boring, a bunch of old married stuff.” “Gross! I don’t have to sit by you while Adam talks about that, do I? That will be sooooo embarrassing!” You get the picture. Truthfully, I couldn’t believe my ears. I mean, I expected some eye-rolling (typical teenage reaction to most things these days), but I was perplexed. Where was this coming from?
After some prodding to give us reasons for their protests, my husband and I were able to conclude that they simply didn’t think this had anything to do with them, since they don’t see love, marriage, or sex happening for them for a long time, when they are “older” (to quote them.) While that line of thinking makes me want to cheer a little (in fact ,I believe my exact words were, “Yes, that is right, you are WAY too young for any of that”), we knew we needed to help them connect the dots a little better from the way they live now to what that means for their future relationships, and ultimately who they choose as a spouse.
Enter Paul’s difficult, yet perfect words from his letter to the Colossians. Because we are followers of Christ, we are called to die to self and sin. We are called to forgive because we have been forgiven. We are called to clothe ourselves in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience daily. Our prayer for our kids is that someday when they meet “the one”, this person will also know THE ONE, and that these truths will be the foundation for their marriage. (I have to admit that we do chuckle a little about who will marry our middle child someday. Hope that person is up for it! I know, we’re bad).
Of course, the words “this will be a piece of cake” do not appear anywhere in this passage of scripture. We are not promised an easy path, either spiritually or relationally. We know we are imperfect and will make mistakes that require forgiveness. But the more we grow in our relationship with Christ and the more we strive to live as he lived, the better the rest of our relationships will be, present and future. So even though I catch an occasional eye roll or two during our ongoing conversations regarding each sermon and passage of scripture read from our GPS, we know that God is at work always, guiding our path, helping us connect the dots between scripture and life, molding our hearts and the hearts of our children, as they prepare to someday (a LONG time from now) meet the one they will choose as their spouse.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, TODAY’S NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 2001, 2005 by International Bible Society®. Used by permission of International Bible Society®. All rights reserved worldwide.

Saturday 21 January 2012
The History of Humanity
The history of humanity is one group breaking off from another group creating their rituals, creating their language and so on–and then wars. Very quickly, my culture’s better than your culture, my way of doing things is better than your way of doing things. Now, let’s rethink a new vision for our world based on every human being as important–and that means we have to change. by Jean Vanier
Belonging: The Search for Acceptance
Windborne Production Video

Shabbat Shalom Weekly Message!
Welcome to Va’era (And I Appeared), this week’s Parsha (Torah Portion).
Please read along with us as we make our way through the Torah portion
that will be read in synagogues around the world during this week’s Shabbat
(Saturday) service. Enjoy!
VA’ERA (And I Appeared)
Exodus 6:2–9:35
1 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. A mighty hand will force him to let them go, a mighty hand will force him to expel them from his country.’
2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, ‘I am Yahweh.
3 To Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I appeared as El Shaddai, but I did not make my name Yahweh known to them.
4 I also made my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the country in which they were living as aliens.
5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, enslaved by the Egyptians, and have remembered my covenant.
6 So say to the Israelites, “I am Yahweh. I shall free you from the forced labour of the Egyptians; I shall rescue you from their slavery and I shall redeem you with outstretched arm and mighty acts of judgement.
7 I shall take you as my people and I shall be your God. And you will know that I am Yahweh your God, who have freed you from the forced labour of the Egyptians.
8 Then I shall lead you into the country which I swore I would give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and shall give it to you as your heritage, I, Yahweh.” ‘
9 And Moses repeated this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to Moses, so crushed was their spirit and so cruel their slavery.
10 Yahweh then said to Moses,
11 ‘Go to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and tell him to let the Israelites leave his country.’
12 But Moses spoke out in Yahweh’s presence and said, ‘The Israelites have not listened to me, so why should Pharaoh take any notice of a poor speaker like me?’
13 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron and sent them to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
14 These were their heads of families: The sons of Reuben, Israel’s first-born: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi: these are the clans of Reuben.
15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul son of the Canaanite woman: these are the clans of Simeon.
16 These were the names of the sons of Levi with their descendants: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived for a hundred and thirty-seven years.
17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, with their clans.
18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived for a hundred and thirty-three years.
19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of Levi with their descendants.
20 Amram married Jochebed, his aunt, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived for a hundred and thirty-seven years.
21 The sons of Izhar were: Korah, Nepheg and Zichri.
22 And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.
23 Aaron married Elisheba daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.
25 Eleazar, son of Aaron, married one of Putiel’s daughters who bore him Phinehas. These were the Levitical heads of families, according to clan.
26 It was to this Aaron and Moses that Yahweh said, ‘Lead the Israelites out of Egypt in their armies.’
27 It was they who spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to lead the Israelites out of Egypt — namely Moses and Aaron.
28 Now the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in Egypt,
29 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything that I am going to say to you.’
30 But Moses said to Yahweh’s face, ‘I am a poor speaker, so why should Pharaoh take any notice of me?’
1 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Look, I have made you as a god for Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron is to be your prophet.
2 You must say whatever I command you, and your brother Aaron will repeat to Pharaoh that he is to let the Israelites leave his country.
3 But I myself shall make Pharaoh stubborn and shall perform many a sign and wonder in Egypt.
4 Since Pharaoh will not listen to you, I shall lay my hand on Egypt and with great acts of judgement lead my armies, my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.
5 And the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand against the Egyptians and lead the Israelites out of their country.’
6 Moses and Aaron did exactly as Yahweh had ordered.
7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron,
9 ‘If Pharaoh says to you, “Display some marvel,” you must say to Aaron, “Take your staff and throw it down in front of Pharaoh, and let it turn into a serpent!” ‘
10 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as Yahweh had ordered. Aaron threw down his staff in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it turned into a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh in his turn called for the sages and sorcerers, and by their spells the magicians of Egypt did the same.
12 Each threw his staff down and these turned into serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up theirs.
13 Pharaoh, however, remained obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
14 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Pharaoh is adamant. He refuses to let the people go.
15 Go to Pharaoh tomorrow morning as he makes his way to the water, confront him on the river bank and in your hand take the staff that turned into a snake.
16 Say to him, “Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, sent me to say: Let my people go and worship in the desert. Up till now, you have refused to listen.
17 This is what Yahweh says: You will know that I am Yahweh by this: with the staff that is in my hand I shall strike the waters of the River and they will turn to blood.
18 The fish in the river will die, and the River will stink, and the Egyptians will not be able to drink the river water.” ‘
19 Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt — over their rivers and canals, their marshland, and all their reservoirs — and they will turn to blood. There will be blood throughout the whole of Egypt, even in sticks and stones,”
20 Moses and Aaron did as Yahweh ordered. He raised his staff and struck the waters of the River, with Pharaoh and his officials looking on, and all the water in the River turned to blood.
21 The fish in the River died, and the River stank; and the Egyptians could no longer drink the River water. Throughout the whole of Egypt there was blood.
22 But by their spells the magicians of Egypt did the same; Pharaoh remained obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to Moses and Aaron.
23 Pharaoh turned away and went back into his palace, taking no notice even of this.
24 And the Egyptians all dug holes along the river-bank in search of drinking water, since they could not drink the River water.
25 After Yahweh struck the River, seven days went by.
26 Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Yahweh says this: Let my people go and worship me.
27 If you refuse to let them go, I shall strike your whole territory with frogs.
28 The River will swarm with frogs; they will make their way into your palace, into your bedroom, onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and subjects, into your ovens, into your kneading bowls.
29 The frogs will actually clamber onto you, onto your subjects and onto all your officials.” ‘
1 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand with your staff, over the rivers, the canals and the marshland, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.” ‘
2 So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
3 But by their spells the magicians did the same, bringing frogs over the land of Egypt.
4 Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Entreat Yahweh to take the frogs away from me and my subjects, and I promise to let the people go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’
5 Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘You are the one to gain by it: when would you like me to pray for you, your officials and your subjects, so as to rid you and your houses of the frogs so that they will be left only in the River?’
6 ‘Tomorrow,’ he said. Moses said, ‘It shall be as you say, so that you will know that there is no one like Yahweh our God.
7 The frogs will leave you, your houses, your officials and your subjects and will be left only in the River.’
8 Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh’s presence, and Moses pleaded with Yahweh about the frogs which he had inflicted on Pharaoh.
9 Yahweh did as Moses asked, and in house and courtyard and field the frogs died.
10 They piled them up in heaps and the country stank.
11 But once Pharaoh saw that there had been a respite, he became obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to them.
12 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, and it will turn into mosquitoes throughout the whole of Egypt.” ‘
13 Aaron stretched out his hand, with his staff, and struck the dust of the earth, and there were mosquitoes on man and beast; all the dust of the earth turned into mosquitoes throughout the whole of Egypt.
14 By their spells the magicians tried to produce mosquitoes in the same way but failed, and there were mosquitoes on man and beast.
15 So the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God.’ But Pharaoh was obstinate and, as Yahweh had foretold, refused to listen to them.
16 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he makes his way to the water. Say to him, “Yahweh says this: Let my people go and worship me.
17 But if you will not let my people go, I shall send horseflies on you, on your officials, your subjects and your houses. The Egyptians’ houses will swarm with horseflies, and so will the very ground they stand on.
18 But I shall exempt the region of Goshen, where my people are living, that day; there will be no horseflies there, so that you will know that I am Yahweh, here in this country.
19 I shall make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.” ‘
20 Yahweh did this, and great swarms of horseflies found their way into Pharaoh’s palace, into his officials’ houses and all over Egypt; the country was ruined by the horseflies.
21 Pharaoh then summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Go and sacrifice to your God, inside the country.’
22 ‘That would never do,’ Moses said, ‘since what we sacrifice to Yahweh our God is outrageous to the Egyptians. If the Egyptians see us offering sacrifices which outrage them, won’t they stone us?
23 We shall make a three-days’ journey into the desert to sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he has ordered us.’
24 Pharaoh said, ‘I will let you go and sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the desert, provided you do not go very far. Pray for me.’
25 ‘The moment I leave you,’ Moses said, ‘I shall pray to Yahweh. Tomorrow morning the horseflies will leave Pharaoh, his officials and his subjects. But Pharaoh must stop trifling with us by not allowing the people to go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’
26 Moses then left Pharaoh’s presence and prayed to Yahweh,
27 and Yahweh did as Moses asked; the horseflies left Pharaoh, his officials and his subjects; not one remained.
28 But Pharaoh became obstinate this time too and did not let the people go.
1 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, says this: Let my people go and worship me.
2 If you refuse to let them go and detain them any longer,
3 look, the hand of Yahweh will strike your livestock in the fields, horses, donkeys, camels, oxen and flocks with a deadly plague.
4 Yahweh will discriminate between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt: nothing of what belongs to the Israelites will die.
5 Yahweh has fixed the time. Tomorrow, he has said, Yahweh will do this in the country.” ‘
6 Next day Yahweh did this: all the Egyptians’ livestock died, but nothing of the livestock owned by the Israelites died.
7 Pharaoh had enquiries made, and found that of the livestock owned by the Israelites not a single beast had died. But Pharaoh was obstinate and did not let the people go.
8 Yahweh then said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and before Pharaoh’s eyes let Moses throw it in the air.
9 It will turn into fine dust over the whole of Egypt and produce boils breaking into sores on man and beast throughout the whole of Egypt.’
10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood in front of Pharaoh, and Moses threw it in the air, and on man and beast it brought out boils breaking into sores.
11 And the magicians could not compete with Moses in the matter of the boils, for the magicians were covered with boils like all the other Egyptians.
12 But Yahweh made Pharaoh stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold to Moses, he did not listen to them.
13 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh. Say to him, “Yahweh, God of the Hebrews, says this: Let my people go and worship me.
14 For this time I am going to inflict all my plagues on you, on your officials and on your subjects, so that you will know that there is no one like me in the whole world.
15 Had I stretched out my hand to strike you and your subjects with pestilence, you would have been swept from the earth.
16 But I have let you survive for this reason: to display my power to you and to have my name talked of throughout the world.
17 Since you take a high hand with my people, refusing to let them go,
18 very well, at about this time tomorrow, I shall cause so severe a hail to fall as was never known in Egypt from the day of its foundation until now.
19 So now send word to have your livestock and everything else you own in the fields put under cover. On man or beast, all that happen to be in the fields and are not brought indoors, the hail will fall and they will die.” ‘
20 Those of Pharaoh’s officials who respected what Yahweh said, brought their slaves and livestock indoors,
21 but those who did not take to heart what Yahweh said left their slaves and livestock in the fields.
22 Yahweh then said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven so that it hails throughout the whole of Egypt, on man and beast and on everything growing anywhere in Egypt.’
23 Moses stretched out his staff towards heaven, and Yahweh thundered and rained down hail. Lightning struck the earth and Yahweh rained down hail on Egypt.
24 And so there was hail, and lightning accompanied the hail, very severe, such as had never been known anywhere in Egypt since it first became a nation.
25 All over Egypt the hail struck down everything in the fields, man and beast, and the hail beat down everything growing in the fields and shattered all the trees in the fields.
26 The only place where there was no hail was in the Goshen region, where the Israelites lived.
27 Pharaoh then sent for Moses and Aaron and said, ‘This time, I have sinned. Yahweh is in the right; I and my subjects are in the wrong.
28 Pray to Yahweh, for we cannot bear any more of this thunder and hail. I promise to let you go. You need stay no longer.’
29 Moses said to him, ‘The moment I leave the city I shall stretch out my hands to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth belongs to Yahweh.
30 But as for you and your officials, I know very well that you still have no respect for Yahweh God.’
31 The flax and the barley were ruined, since the barley was in the ear and the flax in bud,
32 but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, being late crops.
33 Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He stretched out his hands to Yahweh and the thunder and hail ceased and the rain stopped pouring down on the earth.
34 When Pharaoh saw that rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he relapsed into sin,
35 and he and his officials became obstinate again. Pharaoh was stubborn and, as Yahweh had foretold through Moses, refused to let the Israelites go.(New Jerusalem Bible)
Ezekiel 28:25–29:21
25 “The Lord Yahweh says this: When I gather the House of Israel back from the peoples where they are dispersed, I shall display my glory in them for the nations to see. They will live on the soil which I gave to my servant Jacob.
26 They will live there in confidence, build houses, plant vineyards. They will live in safety, once I inflict punishments on all the hostile nations surrounding them, and they will know that I am Yahweh their God.” ‘
1 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,
2 ‘Son of man, turn towards Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against the whole of Egypt.
3 Speak and say, “The Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt- the great crocodile wallowing in his Niles who thought: My Nile is mine, I made it.
4 I shall put hooks through your jaws, make your Nile fish stick to your scales, and pull you out of your Niles with all your Nile fish sticking to your scales.
5 I shall drop you in the desert, with all your Nile fish. You will fall in the wilds and not be taken up or buried. I shall give you as food to the wild animals and the birds of heaven,
6 and all the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh, for they have given no more support than a reed to the House of Israel.
7 Wherever they grasped you, you broke in their hands and cut their hands all over. Whenever they leaned on you, you broke, making all their limbs give way.
8 “So, the Lord Yahweh says this: I shall send the sword against you to denude you of human and animal.
9 Egypt will become a desolate waste, and they will know that I am Yahweh. Because he thought: The Nile is mine, I made it,
10 very well, I am against you and your Niles. I shall make Egypt a waste and a desolation, from Migdol to Syene and beyond to the frontiers of Ethiopia.
11 No human foot will pass through it, no animal foot will pass through it. For forty years it will remain uninhabited.
12 I shall make Egypt the most desolate of countries; for forty years its cities will be the most desolate of wasted cities. And I shall scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries.
13 The Lord Yahweh, however, says this: After forty years have passed, I shall gather the Egyptians back from the nations where they were dispersed.
14 I shall bring the Egyptian captives back and re-install them in the land of Pathros, in the country of their origin. There they will constitute a modest kingdom.
15 Egypt will be the most modest of kingdoms and no longer dominate other nations; for I shall reduce it, so that it will not rule other nations ever again.
16 It will no longer be anything for the House of Israel to trust in, but will be a reminder of the guilt which lay in turning to it for help. And they will know that I am Lord Yahweh.” ‘
17 In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows:
18 ‘Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken his army in a great expedition against Tyre. Their heads have all gone bald, their shoulders are all chafed, but even so he has derived no profit, either for himself or for his army, from the expedition mounted against Tyre.
19 Since this is so, the Lord Yahweh says this, “Look, I shall hand Egypt over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off its riches, loot it, put it to the sack; that will be the wages for his army.
20 As wages for the trouble he has taken, I am giving him Egypt instead (for they have been working for me)-declares the Lord Yahweh.
21 “That day, I shall raise up a new stock for the House of Israel and allow you to open your mouth among them. And they will know that I am Yahweh.” ‘(New Jerusalem Bible)
Romans 9:14–33
14 What should we say, then? That God is unjust? Out of the question!
15 For speaking to Moses, he said: I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity.
16 So it is not a matter of what any person wants or what any person does, but only of God having mercy.
17 Scripture says to Pharaoh: I raised you up for this reason, to display my power in you and to have my name talked of throughout the world.
18 In other words, if God wants to show mercy on someone, he does so, and if he wants to harden someone’s heart, he does so.
19 Then you will ask me, ‘How then can he ever blame anyone, since no one can oppose his will?’
20 But you — who do you think you, a human being, are, to answer back to God? Something that was made, can it say to its maker: why did you make me this shape?
21 A potter surely has the right over his clay to make out of the same lump either a pot for special use or one for ordinary use.
22 But suppose that God, although all the time he wanted to reveal his retribution and demonstrate his power, has with great patience gone on putting up with those who are the instruments of his retribution and designed to be destroyed;
23 so that he may make known the glorious riches ready for the people who are the instruments of his faithful love and were long ago prepared for that glory.
24 We are that people, called by him not only out of the Jews but out of the gentiles too.
25 Just as he says in the book of Hosea: I shall tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people,’ and I shall take pity on those on whom I had no pity.
26 And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be told that they are ‘children of the living God’.
27 And about Israel, this is what Isaiah cried out: Though the people of Israel are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will be saved;
28 for without hesitation or delay the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth.
29 As Isaiah foretold: Had the Lord Sabaoth not left us a few survivors, we should be like Sodom, we should be the same as Gomorrah.
30 What should we say, then? That the gentiles, although they were not looking for saving justice, found it, and this was the saving justice that comes of faith;
31 while Israel, looking for saving justice by law-keeping, did not succeed in fulfilling the Law.
32 And why? Because they were trying to find it in actions and not in faith, and so they stumbled over the stumbling-stone-
33 as it says in scripture: Now I am laying in Zion a stumbling-stone, a rock to trip people up; but he who relies on this will not be brought to disgrace.(New Jerusalem Bible)
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord (YHVH) says: ‘I will now
restore the fortunes of Jacob and will have compassion on all the
people of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name.’”
(Ezekiel 39:25)
In last week’s Parsha, we began our study of the book of Shemot
(Exodus). Moses was called by God to deliver the children of Israel out of
bondage in Egypt, and discovered the true, authentic name of God—
YHVH, which is usually translated as LORD in English Bibles, though we
sometimes see Jehovah or Yahweh as scholars try to add vowel sounds
to these consonants.
This name is used over 6000 times in the Bible!
The sacred name of God, often referred to
as the Tetragrammaton, consists of the
following four Hebrew letters: yud, hey, vav,
hey (right to left). In Hebrew you read the
opposite way than you do in English.
This week’s Scripture portion opens with God revealing to Moshe (Moses)
the importance of His holy name:
“I am the Lord (Ani YHVH). I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to
Jacob as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by my name the Lord (YHVH)
I did not make myself fully known to them. (Exodus 6:2-3)
Today, most Jewish people do not use the name of God out of reverence
for His holiness and fear of transgressing the command forbidding the use
of God’s name in vain.
Instead, the term Hashem (The Name) is substituted.
Still, God’s word promises that His people shall know His name.
“So I will make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel….”
(Ezekiel 39:7)
Wall in Jerusalem
Knowing God by His Name
“I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (El
Shaddai)….” (Exodus 6:2-3)
El Shaddai (God the All Sufficient) is an interesting name of God that
reveals the maternal quality of God’s character as nurturer, comforter, and
sustainer of life-giving nourishment, since it relates to the Hebrew word for
a woman’s breast.
Up to this point in the history of His People, God had cared for and
nurtured Israel as a mother.
When God brought His people out of Egypt, He was in effect, birthing a
new nation of holy people–a Royal Priesthood.
But, He also now was revealing Himself to Moses and to the children of
Israel as their Father–protector, provider, deliverer, and redeemer.
El Gibor (Mighty God)
“And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting
Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
God is El Shaddai (Almighty/ All Sufficient God) and He is El Gibor
(Mighty God).
He displayed His might and power when He overcame Pharaoh and
delivered the children of Israel from Egypt, and for many situations in
which we find ourselves, we need His powerful intervention as well.
We need to know Him as a Father (Abba in Hebrew) and feel comfortable
crying out to Him, “Abba!”
God wants to father us – not as our earthly fathers who in their imperfect
humanity failed or disappointed us have fathered us, but as our perfect
Heavenly Father who will never leave us nor forsake us.
God is good, and all He does is for our good.
As covenant people of the God of Abraham, we can reclaim God’s authentic name and its accompanying power as part of our Divine inheritance. “Therefore I will teach them—this time I will teach them my power and
might (g’vurati, from the same Hebrew root as gibor). Then they will know
that my name is the LORD.” (Jeremiah 16:21)
Establishing the Covenant
“I also established My Covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan,
where they lived as aliens.” (Exodus 6:4)
God re-affirms in this parsha the unconditional covenant He made to give
the people of Israel the land in which we now live.
God’s faithfulness to His people is bound up with this Land. He is a faithful,
covenant-keeping God who says, “My Covenant I will not break.” (Psalm 89:34)
As people belonging to the God of Abraham, we need to stand firm on
Israel’s Biblical right to this Land promised to Abraham, seeing the issues in
the Middle East from a Biblical perspective, through God’s eyes and not
what the newspapers report.
Our ministry workers are Jewish Believers in Yeshua; we live here in joy–
this is our homeland.
But we are surrounded by hostile Arab enemies both in Israel and in all the
surrounding countries. Imagine if the city in which you lived had rockets
pointed at it and had to be on guard 24/7 against terrorist attacks.
Many Israeli cities are surrounded by hostile Arab cities, from which
terrorists come into Israeli cities to kill Israeli Jews. On our northern
border we have Lebanon and Syria, and Jordan on the east.
In the south there is Egypt where rockets and weapons are smuggled into
Gaza. And next to our direct neighbors we have Iraq that sends Scud
missiles into our cities, and today we have Iran threatening to send nuclear
warheads at us.
We are surrounded by enemies but we know that above us is the
King of Kings who is watching over us.
Renewing the Promise of Redemption
“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out
from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to
them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts
of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God.”
(Exodus 6:6-7)
In this week’s parsha, God renews His promises of redemption to His
Covenant People, Israel.
In Exodus 6:6-8, He makes the following five redemptive promises to them:
I WILL bring you out (hotzeiti) from under the yoke of the Egyptians;
I WILL free you (hitzalti) from being slaves to them;
I WILL redeem you (goalti) with an outstretched arm and with
mighty acts of judgment;
I WILL take you (lakachti) as my own people, and I will be your
God; and
I WILL bring you (haveiti) to the land I swore with uplifted hand to
give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession.
When the Promises Look Empty
“…they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh
labor.” (Exodus 6:9)
Even though God promised redemption to His People in Egypt, for awhile
those promises looked like empty words to the Israelites.
We see that through Moses, God repeatedly demanded that Pharaoh let
the Israelite slaves go free, and Pharaoh repeatedly refused. Even though it
sometimes looked liked he might cooperate, he actually made their lives
harder in response to God’s demands.
So much harder, in fact, that the Israelites’ anguish grew so deep that they
would no longer receive God’s promise of redemption through Moses.
Nevertheless, God’s plan for freeing Israel was never in danger of not
coming to pass.
God intervened to rescue His helpless and suffering people from slavery,
bondage and oppression.
“But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted; You consider their grief and
take it in hand. The victims commit themselves to You; You are the helper
of the fatherless.” (Psalm 10:14)
The Dark before the Dawn
We can take heart from this example from the Word of God. There may
be times when, after receiving the wonderful promises of God in our hearts,
our situation seems to worsen rather than improve.
The enemy may try to discourage and dishearten, but he can only delay
God’s promises from coming to pass in our lives. God will bring His
plans and purposes to pass in our lives.
Each one of us was helpless and suffering, enslaved to sin and the powers
of darkness. Just like the Israelites in Egypt, we could not redeem ourselves.
Nevertheless, God sent a redeemer, just as He sent Moses, and this
redeemer is Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).
It’s wonderful to know that even when we are helpless and seemingly at the
mercy of those who are too strong and powerful for us, God will intervene
to deliver us when we continue to call out to Him in faith.
And we know that God is as faithful to redeem Israel today as He was in
the days of Moses!
“Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right
hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.” (Psalm 98:1)
Shabbat Shalom from all our ministry staff!