Friday, September 27 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 88

¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
    I cry out day and night before you.
²Let my prayer come before you;
    incline your ear to my cry!
³For my soul is full of troubles,
    and my life draws near to Sheol.
⁴I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
    I am a man who has no strength,
⁵like one set loose among the dead,
    like the slain that lie in the grave,
    like those whom you remember no more,
    for they are cut off from your hand.
⁶You have put me in the depths of the pit,
    in the regions dark and deep.
⁷Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
    and you overwhelm me with all your waves.
⁸You have caused my companions to shun me;
    you have made me a horror to them.
    I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
⁹ my eye grows dim through sorrow.
    Every day I call upon you, O Lord;
    I spread out my hands to you.
¹⁰Do you work wonders for the dead?
    Do the departed rise up to praise you?
¹¹Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
    or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹²Are your wonders known in the darkness,
    or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
¹³But I, O Lord, cry to you;
    in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴O Lord, why do you cast my soul away?
    Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
    I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.
¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me;
    your dreadful assaults destroy me.
¹⁷They surround me like a flood all day long;
    they close in on me together.
¹⁸You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
    my companions have become darkness.

Psalm 91

¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
²I will 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,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
    nor 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 recompense of the wicked.
⁹Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
    the Most High, who is my refuge—
¹⁰no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
    no plague 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,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder;
    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.
¹⁴“Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
    I will protect him, because he knows my name.
¹⁵When he calls to me, I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble;
    I will rescue him and honor him.
¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 92

¹ It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
²to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
    and your faithfulness by night,
³to the music of the lute and the harp,
    to the melody of the lyre.
⁴For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
    at the works of your hands I sing for joy.
⁵How great are your works, O Lord!
    Your thoughts are very deep!
⁶The stupid man cannot know;
    the fool cannot understand this:
⁷that though the wicked sprout like grass
    and all evildoers flourish,
    they are doomed to destruction forever;
⁸but you, O Lord, are on high forever.
⁹For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
    for behold, your enemies shall perish;
    all evildoers shall be scattered.
¹⁰But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;
    you have poured over me fresh oil.
¹¹My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
    my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
¹²The righteous flourish like the palm tree
    and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³They are planted in the house of the Lord;
    they flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴They still bear fruit in old age;
    they are ever full of sap and green,
¹⁵to declare that the Lord is upright;
    he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Esther 8:1-8, 15-17

¹On that day King Ahasuerus gave to Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. ²And the king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. ³Then Esther spoke again to the king. She fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews. ⁴When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, Esther rose and stood before the king. ⁵And she said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and if the thing seems right before the king, and I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the provinces of the king. ⁶For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming to my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” ⁷Then King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew, “Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and they have hanged him on the gallows, because he intended to lay hands on the Jews. ⁸But you may write as you please with regard to the Jews, in the name of the king, and seal it with the king’s ring, for an edict written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.” … ¹⁵Then Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal robes of blue and white, with a great golden crown and a robe of fine linen and purple, and the city of Susa shouted and rejoiced. ¹⁶The Jews had light and gladness and joy and honor. ¹⁷And in every province and in every city, wherever the king’s command and his edict reached, there was gladness and joy among the Jews, a feast and a holiday. And many from the peoples of the country declared themselves Jews, for fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

Acts 19:21-41

²¹Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.” ²²And having sent into Macedonia two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while. ²³About that time there arose no little disturbance concerning the Way. ²⁴For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen. ²⁵These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. ²⁶And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that gods made with hands are not gods. ²⁷And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.” ²⁸When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ²⁹So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s companions in travel. ³⁰But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. ³¹And even some of the Asiarchs, who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. ³²Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. ³³Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, motioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. ³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” ³⁵And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? ³⁶Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. ³⁷For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. ³⁸If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ³⁹But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. ⁴⁰For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” ⁴¹And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

Luke 4:31-37

31 And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.