Monday, April 22 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 41

¹ Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; ² the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. ³ The Lord sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to full health. ⁴ As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me; heal me, for I have sinned against you!” ⁵ My enemies say of me in malice, “When will he die, and his name perish?” ⁶ And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words, while his heart gathers iniquity; when he goes out, he tells it abroad. ⁷ All who hate me whisper together about me; they imagine the worst for me. ⁸ They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.” ⁹ Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. ¹⁰ But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them! ¹¹ By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. ¹² But you have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. ¹³ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! Amen and Amen.

Psalm 44

¹ O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old: ² you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free; ³ for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. ⁴ You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob! ⁵ Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. ⁶ For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me. ⁷ But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us. ⁸ In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah ⁹ But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies. ¹⁰ You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil. ¹¹ You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations. ¹² You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them. ¹³ You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us. ¹⁴ You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples. ¹⁵ All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face ¹⁶ at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. ¹⁷ All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant. ¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way; ¹⁹ yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death. ²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, ²¹ would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. ²² Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. ²³ Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! ²⁴ Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? ²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground. ²⁶ Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

Psalm 52

¹ Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. ² Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. ³ You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah ⁴ You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. ⁵ But God will break you down forever; he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah ⁶ The righteous shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, ⁷ “See the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction!” ⁸ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. ⁹ I will thank you forever, because you have done it. I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of the godly.

Exodus 32:1-20

¹ When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. ⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” ¹¹ But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” ¹⁴ And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. ¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he said, “It is not the sound of shouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” ¹⁹ And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

Colossians 3:18-4:18

¹⁸ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. ¹⁹ Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. ²⁰ Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. ²¹ Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. ²² Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. ²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. ²⁵ For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality. ^4:1 Masters, treat your bondservants justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven. ² Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. ³ At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— ⁴ that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. ⁵ Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. ⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. ⁷ Tychicus will tell you all about my activities. He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord. ⁸ I have sent him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are and that he may encourage your hearts, ⁹ and with him Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will tell you of everything that has taken place here. ¹⁰Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions—if he comes to you, welcome him), ¹¹ and Jesus who is called Justus. These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me. ¹² Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God. ¹³ For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis. ¹⁴ Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. ¹⁵ Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. ¹⁶ And when this letter has been read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you also read the letter from Laodicea. ¹⁷ And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” ¹⁸ I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

Matthew 5:1-10

¹ Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. ² And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. ⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. ⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. ⁷“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. ⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. ⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. ¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.