Daily Office - Mar 14

Psalm 53
The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’

Corrupt are they, and abominable in their wickedness;
there is no one that does good.
God has looked down from heaven upon the children of earth,
to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks after God.
They are all gone out of the way;
all alike have become corrupt;
there is no one that does good, no not one.
Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,
who eat up my people as if they ate bread,
and do not call upon God?

There shall they be in great fear, such fear as never was;
for God will scatter the bones of the ungodly.
They will be put to shame, because God has rejected them.
O that Israel’s salvation would come out of Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people then will Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad.

Psalm 86
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and in misery.
Preserve my soul, for I am faithful;
save your servant, for I put my trust in you.
Be merciful to me, O Lord, for you are my God;
I call upon you all the day long.
Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For you, Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer and listen to the voice of my supplication.
In the day of my distress I will call upon you, for you will answer me.
Among the gods there is none like you, O Lord, nor any works like yours.
All nations you have made shall come and worship you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
For you are great and do wonderful things;
you alone are God.
Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth;
knit my heart to you, that I may fear your name.
I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
and glorify your name for evermore;
For great is your steadfast love towards me,
for you have delivered my soul from the depths of the grave.
O God, the proud rise up against me and a ruthless horde seek after my life;
they have not set you before their eyes.
But you, Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and full of kindness and truth.
Turn to me and have mercy upon me;
give your strength to your servant and save the child of your handmaid.
Show me a token of your favour, that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed;
because you, O Lord, have helped and comforted me.

Jeremiah 19.1-13
Thus said the Lord:
Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jug. Take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.

You shall say:
Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to bring such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. Because the people have forsaken me, and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known, and because they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent, and gone on building the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as burnt-offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it enter my mind; therefore the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter. And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will make them fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the wild animals of the earth. And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and all shall eat the flesh of their neighbours in the siege, and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.

Then you shall break the jug in the sight of those who go with you, and shall say to them:
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
So will I break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel, so that it can never be mended. In Topheth they shall bury until there is no more room to bury. Thus will I do to this place, says the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city like Topheth. And the houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of Topheth—all the houses upon whose roofs offerings have been made to the whole host of heaven, and libations have been poured out to other gods.

John 10.22-end
At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.’

Jesus answered,
‘I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.’

The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied,
‘I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?’

The Jews answered,
‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God.’

Jesus answered,
‘Is it not written in your law, “I said, you are gods”? If those to whom the word of God came were called “gods”—and the scripture cannot be annulled—can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, “I am God’s Son”? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.’

Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands.

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying,
‘John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in him there.

The Collect
Merciful Lord,
absolve your people from their offences,
that through your bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the chains of those sins
which by our frailty we have committed;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for Jesus Christ's sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.