Daily Lectionary:

Morning: Psalm 146:1-10
Lamentations 1:17-22
2 Corinthians 1:8-22
Mark 11:27-33
Evening: Psalm 91:1-16

Tuesday of Holy Week Lectionary:

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 71:1-14
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
John 12:20-36

 

Daily Lectionary:
Morning: Psalm 146:1-10

¹Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD, O my soul!

²I will praise the LORD as long as I live;

I will sing praises to my God all my life long.

³Do not put your trust in princes,

in mortals, in whom there is no help.

⁴When their breath departs, they return to the earth;

on that very day their plans perish.

⁵Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD their God,

⁶who made heaven and earth,

the sea, and all that is in them;

who keeps faith forever;

⁷who executes justice for the oppressed;

who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free;

⁸the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;

the LORD loves the righteous.

⁹The LORD watches over the strangers;

he upholds the orphan and the widow,

but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.

¹⁰The LORD will reign forever,

your God, O Zion, for all generations.

Praise the LORD!

Lamentations 1:17-22

¹⁷Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her; the LORD has commanded against Jacob that his neighbors should become his foes; Jerusalem has become a filthy thing among them.

¹⁸The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against his word; but hear, all you peoples, and behold my suffering; my young women and young men have gone into captivity.

¹⁹I called to my lovers but they deceived me; my priests and elders perished in the city while seeking food to revive their strength.

²⁰See, O LORD, how distressed I am; my stomach churns, my heart is wrung within me, because I have been very rebellious. In the street the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.

²¹They heard how I was groaning, with no one to comfort me. All my enemies heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. Bring on the day you have announced, and let them be as I am.

²²Let all their evil doing come before you; and deal with them as you have dealt with me because of all my transgressions; for my groans are many and my heart is faint.

2 Corinthians 1:8-22

⁸We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. ⁹Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. ¹⁰He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, ¹¹as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

¹²Indeed, this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience: we have behaved in the world with frankness and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God—and all the more toward you. ¹³For we write you nothing other than what you can read and also understand; I hope you will understand until the end—¹⁴as you have already understood us in part—that on the day of the Lord Jesus we are your boast even as you are our boast.

¹⁵Since I was sure of this, I wanted to come to you first, so that you might have a double favor; ¹⁶I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on to Judea. ¹⁷Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards, ready to say "Yes, yes" and "No, no" at the same time? ¹⁸As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been "Yes and No." ¹⁹For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not "Yes and No"; but in him it is always "Yes." ²⁰For in him every one of God’s promises is a "Yes." For this reason it is through him that we say the "Amen," to the glory of God. ²¹But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, ²²by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

Mark 11:27-33

²⁷Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him ²⁸and said, "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?" ²⁹Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me." ³¹They argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?' ³²But shall we say, 'Of human origin'?"—they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. ³³So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

Evening: Psalm 91:1-16

¹You who live in the shelter of the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

²will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress;

my God, in whom I trust."

³For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence;

⁴he will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

⁵You will not fear the terror of the night,

or the arrow that flies by day,

⁶or the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

or the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

⁸You will only look with your eyes

and see the punishment of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the LORD your refuge,

the Most High your dwelling place,

¹⁰no evil shall befall you,

no scourge come near your tent.

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

¹²On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder,

the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.

¹⁴Those who love me, I will deliver;

I will protect those who know my name.

¹⁵When they call to me, I will answer them;

I will be with them in trouble,

I will rescue them and honor them.

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy them,

and show them my salvation.

Tuesday of Holy Week Lectionary:
Isaiah 49:1-7

¹Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me. ²He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. ³And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." ⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward with my God."

⁵And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become my strength—

⁶he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

⁷Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Psalm 71:1-14

¹In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been like a portent to many,

but you are my strong refuge.

⁸My mouth is filled with your praise,

and with your glory all day long.

⁹Do not cast me off in the time of old age;

do not forsake me when my strength is spent.

¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me,

and those who watch for my life consult together.

¹¹They say, "Pursue and seize that person

whom God has forsaken,

for there is no one to deliver."

¹²O God, do not be far from me;

O my God, make haste to help me!

¹³Let my accusers be put to shame and consumed;

let those who seek to hurt me

be covered with scorn and disgrace.

¹⁴But I will hope continually,

and will praise you yet more and more.

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

¹⁸For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." ²⁰Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. ²²For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, ²³but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

²⁶Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, ²⁹so that no one might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

John 12:20-36

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. ²¹They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." ²²Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. ²³Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

²⁷"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." ²⁹The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." ³⁰Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." ³³He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. ³⁴The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" ³⁵Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. ³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid from them.