Wednesday, August 14 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 101

¹I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
    to you, O Lord, I will make music.
²I will ponder the way that is blameless.
    Oh when will you come to me?
    I will walk with integrity of heart
    within my house;
³I will not set before my eyes
    anything that is worthless.
    I hate the work of those who fall away;
    it shall not cling to me.
⁴A perverse heart shall be far from me;
    I will know nothing of evil.
⁵Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly
    I will destroy.
    Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart
    I will not endure.
⁶I will look with favor on the faithful in the land,
    that they may dwell with me;
    he who walks in the way that is blameless
    shall minister to me.
⁷No one who practices deceit
    shall dwell in my house;
    no one who utters lies
    shall continue before my eyes.
⁸Morning by morning I will destroy
    all the wicked in the land,
    cutting off all the evildoers
    from the city of the Lord.

Psalm 109

¹ Be not silent, O God of my praise!
²For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
    speaking against me with lying tongues.
³They encircle me with words of hate,
    and attack me without cause.
⁴In return for my love they accuse me,
    but I give myself to prayer.
⁵So they reward me evil for good,
    and hatred for my love.
⁶Appoint a wicked man against him;
    let an accuser stand at his right hand.
⁷When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
    let his prayer be counted as sin!
⁸May his days be few;
    may another take his office!
⁹May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow!
¹⁰May his children wander about and beg,
    seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
¹¹May the creditor seize all that he has;
    may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
¹²Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
    nor any to pity his fatherless children!
¹³May his posterity be cut off;
    may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
    and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
¹⁵Let them be before the Lord continually,
    that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
¹⁶For he did not remember to show kindness,
    but pursued the poor and needy
    and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
¹⁷He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
    He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
¹⁸He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
    may it soak into his body like water,
    like oil into his bones!
¹⁹May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
    like a belt that he puts on every day!
²⁰May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
    of those who speak evil against my life!
²¹But you, O God my Lord,
    deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
    because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
²²For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is stricken within me.
²³I am gone like a shadow at evening;
    I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴My knees are weak through fasting;
    my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
²⁵I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
    when they see me, they wag their heads.
²⁶Help me, O Lord my God!
    Save me according to your steadfast love!
²⁷Let them know that this is your hand;
    you, O Lord, have done it!
²⁸Let them curse, but you will bless!
    They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
²⁹May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
    may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
³⁰With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
    I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
³¹For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
    to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.

Psalm 119:121-144

¹²¹I have done what is just and right;
    do not leave me to my oppressors.
¹²²Give your servant a pledge of good;
    let not the insolent oppress me.
¹²³My eyes long for your salvation
    and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
¹²⁴Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
    and teach me your statutes.
¹²⁵I am your servant; give me understanding,
    that I may know your testimonies!
¹²⁶It is time for the Lord to act,
    for your law has been broken.
¹²⁷Therefore I love your commandments
    above gold, above fine gold.
¹²⁸Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right;
    I hate every false way.
¹²⁹Your testimonies are wonderful;
    therefore my soul keeps them.
¹³⁰The unfolding of your words gives light;
    it imparts understanding to the simple.
¹³¹I open my mouth and pant,
    because I long for your commandments.
¹³²Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    as is your way with those who love your name.
¹³³Keep steady my steps according to your promise,
    and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
¹³⁴Redeem me from man’s oppression,
    that I may keep your precepts.
¹³⁵Make your face shine upon your servant,
    and teach me your statutes.
¹³⁶My eyes shed streams of tears,
    because people do not keep your law.
¹³⁷Righteous are you, O Lord,
    and right are your rules.
¹³⁸You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness
    and in all faithfulness.
¹³⁹My zeal consumes me,
    because my foes forget your words.
¹⁴⁰Your promise is well tried,
    and your servant loves it.
¹⁴¹I am small and despised,
    yet I do not forget your precepts.
¹⁴²Your righteousness is righteous forever,
    and your law is true.
¹⁴³Trouble and anguish have found me out,
    but your commandments are my delight.
¹⁴⁴Your testimonies are righteous forever;
    give me understanding that I may live.

Judges 13:15-24

¹⁵Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.” ¹⁶And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the Lord.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the Lord.) ¹⁷And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” ¹⁸And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?” ¹⁹So Manoah took the young goat with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the Lord, to the one who works wonders, and Manoah and his wife were watching. ²⁰And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground. ²¹The angel of the Lord appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the Lord. ²²And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” ²³But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.” ²⁴And the woman bore a son and called his name Samson. And the young man grew, and the Lord blessed him.

Acts 6:1-15

¹Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. ²And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ⁶These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. ⁷And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. ⁸And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹²And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, ¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

John 4:1-26

¹Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John ²(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴And he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. ⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”