Today's Readings

Ah more readings below for today Sat 8 Dec:

Luke 1: 26-38
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age – although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God.” So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love. He did this by predestining us to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will – to the praise of the glory of his grace that he has freely bestowed on us in his dearly loved Son.
...In Christ we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, would be to the praise of his glory.

Genesis 3: 9-15, 20
But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.” So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”
The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.”
...The man named his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

Today's Readings

Here's more readings for today Fri 7 Dec:

Matthew 9: 27-31
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he went into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to him, “Yes, Lord.” Then he touched their eyes saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Then Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that entire region.

Isaiah 29: 17-24
In just a very short time Lebanon will turn into an orchard,
and the orchard will be considered a forest.
At that time the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll,
and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.
The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord;
the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.
For tyrants will disappear, those who taunt will vanish,
and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated –
those who bear false testimony against a person, who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.
So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, says to the family of Jacob:
“Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.
For when they see their children, whom I will produce among them, they will honor my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; they will respect the God of Israel.
Those who stray morally will gain understanding;
those who complain will acquire insight.

Today's Readings

Some more readings for today Thu 6 Dec:

Matthew 7: 21, 24-27
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."
"...Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!”

Isaiah 26: 1-6
At that time this song will be sung in the land of Judah:
“We have a strong city! The Lord’s deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure.
Open the gates so a righteous nation can enter – one that remains trustworthy.
You keep completely safe the people who maintain their faith, for they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord from this time forward, even in Yahweh, the Lord, an enduring protector!
Indeed, the Lord knocks down those who live in a high place, he brings down an elevated town;
he brings it down to the ground, he throws it down to the dust.
It is trampled underfoot by the feet of the oppressed, by the soles of the poor.”