Thursday 1 January 2015

Daily Lectionary in Poetry Saturday 29th November 2014



Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19

Prayer for Israel’s Restoration

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
    you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2     before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
    and come to save us!
3 Restore us, O God;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.
4 O Lord God of hosts,
    how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears,
    and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us the scorn[a] of our neighbours;
    our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.

17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
    the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18 Then we will never turn back from you;
    give us life, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
    let your face shine, that we may be saved.

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Listen to us Lord
Come save us from our pain
Shine your light of love upon us
So we might suffer no more again

Trust us oh Lord
We will serve you always
We will never turn our backs from you
We will be yours all of our days

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Micah 2:1-13

Social Evils Denounced
2 Alas for those who devise wickedness
    and evil deeds[a] on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in their power.
2 They covet fields, and seize them;
    houses, and take them away;
they oppress householder and house,
    people and their inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
Now, I am devising against this family an evil
    from which you cannot remove your necks;
and you shall not walk haughtily,
    for it will be an evil time.
4 On that day they shall take up a taunt song against you,
    and wail with bitter lamentation,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
    the Lord[b] alters the inheritance of my people;
how he removes it from me!
    Among our captors[c] he parcels out our fields.”
5 Therefore you will have no one to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.
6 “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    “one should not preach of such things;
    disgrace will not overtake us.”
7 Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    Is the Lord’s patience exhausted?
    Are these his doings?
Do not my words do good
    to one who walks uprightly?
8 But you rise up against my people[d] as an enemy;
    you strip the robe from the peaceful,[e]
from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.
9 The women of my people you drive out
    from their pleasant houses;
from their young children you take away
    my glory forever.
10 Arise and go;
    for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.[f]
11 If someone were to go about uttering empty falsehoods,
    saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
    such a one would be the preacher for this people!

A Promise for the Remnant of Israel
12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob,
    I will gather the survivors of Israel;
I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture;
    it will resound with people.
13 The one who breaks out will go up before them;
    they will break through and pass the gate,
    going out by it.
Their king will pass on before them,
    the Lord at their head.

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People of Isreael you have sinned
God is angry with you and will not show mercy
Your lands will be taken away
Your houses destroyed
You will feel the pain of loss and exclusion
You brought this upon yourselves

Do not cry to God that you are sorry
You knew the law and ignored it knowingly
Now it's easy to repent
But many times before you had opportunity
This is the result of your actions
Together you will loose your birth rights

But some of you, small in number
Followed God when others did not
You shone your light in the darkness
This will not be forgot
You God will raise up to the highest
You will be blessed all of your days

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Matthew 24:15-31

The Desolating Sacrilege
15 “So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16 then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17 the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; 18 the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. 19 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! 20 Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. 21 For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 22 And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’[a] or ‘There he is!’—do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs[b] and false prophets will appear and produce great signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 25 Take note, I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, ‘Look! He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look! He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man
29 “Immediately after the suffering of those days
the sun will be darkened,
    and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from heaven,
    and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

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Pray tell of the second coming
A time when Jesus will return
First will be pain and suffering
Those who survive will be his own

The suffering will be all encompassing
In person, and house and land
False prophets will call you to follow
But you must stay with faith in your hand

Then the Son of Man will come
In the darkness he will bring great light
He will send angels with calls above all else
If you follow your future will be bright

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