Scriptures for Second Sunday in Lent

March 8, 2009

How to use this page:
Print this and read a different passage each day and think about it. Some questions are offered to help stimulate your reflection. You'll find your experience of worship on Sunday will be intensified.
For a method to read and pray with the scriptures you might try to use the ancient practice of Lectio Divina (Divine Reading). I've written some instructions on how to use Lectio with the Sunday Scriptures at the following link: Praying the Scriptures using LectioWe use the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary.

The Collect

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ your Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever.. Amen.

The Scriptures
Genesis 17:1-7,15-16Psalm 22:22-30
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38


Genesis (17:1-7,15-16)


When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you."



God said to Abraham, "As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."



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Because of their age, this promise seemed impossible for Abraham and Sarah. Yet it came to pass. Is there a promise that seems impossible for you? Why? How might you live with the faith of Abraham and Sarah.
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Psalm (22:22-30)

May all who fear you, O God, give praise; *

may the offspring of Israel stand in awe, and all of Jacob's line give glory.



For you do not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty,

neither do you hide your face from them, *

but when they cry to you, you hear them.



My praise is of you in the great assembly; *

I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship you.



The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek you shall praise you: *

"May your heart live for ever!"



All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to you, *

and all the families of the nations shall bow before you.



For yours is the royal power, O God; *

you rule over the nations.



To you alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; *

all who go down to the dust fall before you.



My soul shall live for you; my descendants shall serve you; *

they shall be known as yours for ever.



They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn *

the saving deeds that you have done.


(St. Helena's Psalter)
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What is most important to you about this passage from the Psalter?
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Romans (4:13-25)
The promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.



For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") -- in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness." Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.



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Paul praises the faith of Abraham who believed the promise that we read in the first reading. What does Paul want to encourage us to do?
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Mark (8:31-38)


Then Jesus began to teach his disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."



He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.



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These are bold words. How do you hear them as a challenge?How do you hear them as a comfort?_________________________________________________________



For a way to Pray with these scriptures, go to the following link for instructions about how to use Lectio Divina with the Sunday readings: Praying the Scriptures with Lectio Divina (http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id272.html)Click here for "Praying the Scriptures with Lectio Divina"