Monday, December 9 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 9

¹ I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
²I will be glad and exult in you;
    I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.
³When my enemies turn back,
    they stumble and perish before your presence.
⁴For you have maintained my just cause;
    you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment.
⁵You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;
    you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
⁶The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;
    their cities you rooted out;
    the very memory of them has perished.
⁷But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
    he has established his throne for justice,
⁸and he judges the world with righteousness;
    he judges the peoples with uprightness.
⁹The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
¹¹Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion!
    Tell among the peoples his deeds!
¹²For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
    he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
¹³Be gracious to me, O Lord!
    See my affliction from those who hate me,
    O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴that I may recount all your praises,
    that in the gates of the daughter of Zion
    I may rejoice in your salvation.
¹⁵The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
    in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
¹⁶The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;
    the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
¹⁷The wicked shall return to Sheol,
    all the nations that forget God.
¹⁸For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
    and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
¹⁹Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;
    let the nations be judged before you!
²⁰Put them in fear, O Lord!
    Let the nations know that they are but men!

Psalm 15

¹ O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?
    Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
²He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
    and speaks truth in his heart;
³who does not slander with his tongue
    and does no evil to his neighbor,
    nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
⁴in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
    but who honors those who fear the Lord;
    who swears to his own hurt and does not change;
⁵who does not put out his money at interest
    and does not take a bribe against the innocent.
    He who does these things shall never be moved.

Psalm 25

¹ To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
²O my God, in you I trust;
    let me not be put to shame;
    let not my enemies exult over me.
³Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;
    they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.
⁴Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
    teach me your paths.
⁵Lead me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are the God of my salvation;
    for you I wait all the day long.
⁶Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,
    for they have been from of old.
⁷Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
    according to your steadfast love remember me,
    for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!
⁸Good and upright is the Lord;
    therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
⁹He leads the humble in what is right,
    and teaches the humble his way.
¹⁰All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
    for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
¹¹For your name’s sake, O Lord,
    pardon my guilt, for it is great.
¹²Who is the man who fears the Lord?
    Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
¹³His soul shall abide in well-being,
    and his offspring shall inherit the land.
¹⁴The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
    and he makes known to them his covenant.
¹⁵My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
    for he will pluck my feet out of the net.
¹⁶Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    for I am lonely and afflicted.
¹⁷The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
    bring me out of my distresses.
¹⁸Consider my affliction and my trouble,
    and forgive all my sins.
¹⁹Consider how many are my foes,
    and with what violent hatred they hate me.
²⁰Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!
    Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
²¹May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
    for I wait for you.
²²Redeem Israel, O God,
    out of all his troubles.

Isaiah 5:8-12, 18-23

⁸Woe to those who join house to house,
    who add field to field,
    until there is no more room,
    and you are made to dwell alone
    in the midst of the land.
⁹The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
    “Surely many houses shall be desolate,
    large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
    and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
¹¹Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
    that they may run after strong drink,
    who tarry late into the evening
    as wine inflames them!
¹²They have lyre and harp,
    tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
    but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
    or see the work of his hands…
¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,
    who draw sin as with cart ropes,
¹⁹who say: “Let him be quick,
    let him speed his work
    that we may see it;
    let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
    and let it come, that we may know it!”
²⁰Woe to those who call evil good
    and good evil,
    who put darkness for light
    and light for darkness,
    who put bitter for sweet
    and sweet for bitter!
²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
    and shrewd in their own sight!
²²Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,
    and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
    and deprive the innocent of his right!

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. ² For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. ³ While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. ⁴ But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. ⁵ For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. ⁶ So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. ⁷ For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. ⁸ But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹ For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. ¹¹ Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

Luke 21:20-28

²⁰“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. ²¹Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, ²²for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. ²³Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. ²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. ²⁵“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, ²⁶people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”