Daily Readings: December 5, 2023

Tuesday after the First Sunday of Advent

Clement of Alexandria, Priest, c. 210

Morning	Evening
Psalm 5 Psalm 6	Psalm 10 Psalm 11
Amos 3:1-11 2 Pet. 1:12-21 Matt. 21:12-22

The Collect of the Day

First Sunday of Advent

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Clement of Alexandria

O God of unsearchable wisdom, you gave your servant Clement grace to understand and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, the source of all truth: Grant to your church the same grace to discern your Word wherever truth is found; through Jesus Christ our unfailing light, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalms

5

Verba mea auribusBCP p. 588

¹Give ear to my words, O Lord; *consider my meditation.

²Hearken to my cry for help, my King and my God, *for I make my prayer to you.

³In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; *early in the morning I make my appeal and watch for you.

⁴For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, *and evil cannot dwell with you.

⁵Braggarts cannot stand in your sight; *you hate all those who work wickedness.

⁶You destroy those who speak lies; *the bloodthirsty and deceitful, O Lord, you abhor.

⁷But as for me, through the greatness of your mercy I will go into your house; *I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.

⁸Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness, because of those who lie in wait for me; *make your way straight before me.

⁹For there is no truth in their mouth; *there is destruction in their heart;

¹⁰Their throat is an open grave; *they flatter with their tongue.

¹¹Declare them guilty, O God; *let them fall, because of their schemes.

¹²Because of their many transgressions cast them out, *for they have rebelled against you.

¹³But all who take refuge in you will be glad; *they will sing out their joy for ever.

¹⁴You will shelter them, *so that those who love your Name may exult in you.

¹⁵For you, O Lord, will bless the righteous; *you will defend them with your favor as with a shield.

6

Domine, ne in furoreBCP p. 589

¹Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger; *do not punish me in your wrath.

²Have pity on me, Lord, for I am weak; *heal me, Lord, for my bones are racked.

³My spirit shakes with terror; *how long, O Lord, how long?

⁴Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; *save me for your mercy’s sake.

⁵For in death no one remembers you; *and who will give you thanks in the grave?

⁶I grow weary because of my groaning; *every night I drench my bed and flood my couch with tears.

⁷My eyes are wasted with grief *and worn away because of all my enemies.

⁸Depart from me, all evildoers, *for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

⁹The Lord has heard my supplication; *the Lord accepts my prayer.

¹⁰All my enemies shall be confounded and quake with fear; *they shall turn back and suddenly be put to shame.

Daily Office Readings

¹²Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. ¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a den of robbers.” ¹⁴The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became angry ¹⁶and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself’?” ¹⁷He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. ¹⁸In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” ²¹Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. ²²Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”