Matthew 5 ^1-2 When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:

³“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

⁵“You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

⁶“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

⁷“You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ you find yourselves cared for.

⁸“You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

⁹“You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.

¹⁰“You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.

^11-12“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

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Psalm 25 My head is high, God, held high;

I’m looking to you, God;

No hangdog skulking for me.

³ I’ve thrown in my lot with you;

You won’t embarrass me, will you?

Or let my enemies get the best of me?

Don’t embarrass any of us

Who went out on a limb for you.

It’s the traitors who should be humiliated.

⁴ Show me how you work, God;

School me in your ways.

⁵ Take me by the hand;

Lead me down the path of truth.

You are my Savior, aren’t you?

⁶ Mark the milestones of your mercy and love, God;

Rebuild the ancient landmarks!

⁷ Forget that I sowed wild oats;

Mark me with your sign of love.

Plan only the best for me, God!

⁸ God is fair and just;

He corrects the misdirected,

Sends them in the right direction.

⁹ He gives the rejects his hand,

And leads them step-by-step.

¹⁰ From now on every road you travel

Will take you to God.

Follow the Covenant signs;

Read the charted directions.

¹¹ Keep up your reputation, God;

Forgive my bad life;

It’s been a very bad life.

¹² My question: What are God-worshipers like?

Your answer: Arrows aimed at God’s bull’s-eye.

¹³ They settle down in a promising place;

Their kids inherit a prosperous farm.

¹⁴ God-friendship is for God-worshipers;

They are the ones he confides in.

¹⁵ If I keep my eyes on God,

I won’t trip over my own feet.

¹⁶ Look at me and help me!

I’m all alone and in big trouble.

¹⁷ My heart and kidneys are fighting each other;

Call a truce to this civil war.

¹⁸ Take a hard look at my life of hard labor,

Then lift this ton of sin.

¹⁹ Do you see how many people

Have it in for me?

How viciously they hate me?

²⁰ Keep watch over me and keep me out of trouble;

Don’t let me down when I run to you.

²¹ Use all your skill to put me together;

I wait to see your finished product.

²² God, give your people a break

From this run of bad luck.

Lectio: 15 minutes

Meditatio: 10 minutes

Oratio: 5 minutes

Contemplatio: 5 minutes

Gensis 12:1 God told Abram: “Leave your country, your family, and your father’s home for a land that I will show you.

^2-3 I’ll make you a great nation
and bless you.
I’ll make you famous;
you’ll be a blessing.
I’ll bless those who bless you;
those who curse you I’ll curse.
All the families of the Earth
will be blessed through you.”

^4-6 So Abram left just as God said, and Lot left with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, along with all the possessions and people they had gotten in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan and arrived safe and sound.

Abram passed through the country as far as Shechem and the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites occupied the land.

⁷ God appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your children.” Abram built an altar at the place God had appeared to him.

Lectio: 5
Meditatio: 5
Oratio: 5
Contemplatio: 5

^1-2 At one time, the whole Earth spoke the same language. It so happened that as they moved out of the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled down.

³ They said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and fire them well.” They used brick for stone and tar for mortar.

⁴ Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”

⁵ God came down to look over the city and the tower those people had built.

^6-9 God took one look and said, “One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they’ll come up with next—they’ll stop at nothing! Come, we’ll go down and garble their speech so they won’t understand each other.” Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That’s how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into “babble.” From there God scattered them all over the world. Genesis 11

Lectio: 10 minutes
Meditatio: 10 minutes
Oratio: 5 minutes
Contemplatio: 5 minutes

^Genesis6:5 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Lectio: 8 minutes
Meditatio: 10 minutes
Oratio: 5 minutes
Contemplatio: 5 minutes