Jer. 10:11–25
10:11 You people of Israel should tell those nations this:
‘These gods did not make heaven and earth.
They will disappear from the earth and from under the heavens.’
12The Lord is the one who by his power made the earth.
He is the one who by his wisdom established the world.
And by his understanding, he spread out the skies.
13When his voice thunders, the heavenly ocean roars.
He makes the clouds rise from the far-off horizons.
He makes the lightning flash out in the midst of the rain.
He unleashes the wind from the places where he stores it.
14All these idolaters will prove to be stupid and ignorant.
Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.
For the image he forges is merely a sham.
There is no breath in any of those idols.
15They are worthless, mere objects to be mocked.
When the time comes to punish them, they will be destroyed.
16The Lord, who is the inheritance of Jacob’s descendants, is not like them.
He is the one who created everything.
And the people of Israel are those he claims as his own.
His name is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
17“Gather your belongings together and prepare to leave the land,
you people of Jerusalem who are being besieged.
18For the Lord says, ‘I will now throw out
those who live in this land.
I will bring so much trouble on them
that they will actually feel it.’
19And I cried out, ‘We are doomed!
Our wound is severe!’
We once thought, ‘This is only an illness.
And we will be able to bear it.’
20But our tents have been destroyed.
The ropes that held them in place have been ripped apart.
Our children are gone and are not coming back.
There is no survivor to put our tents back up,
no one left to hang their tent curtains in place.
21For our leaders are stupid.
They have not sought the Lord’s advice.
So they do not act wisely,
and the people they are responsible for have all been scattered.
22Listen! News is coming even now.
The rumble of a great army is heard approaching from a land in the north.
It is coming to turn the towns of Judah into rubble,
places where only jackals live.
23Lord, we know that people do not control their own destiny.
It is not in their power to determine what will happen to them.
24Correct us, Lord, but only in due measure.
Do not punish us in anger, or you will reduce us to nothing.
25Vent your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you.
Vent it on the peoples who do not worship you.
For they have destroyed the people of Jacob.
They have completely destroyed them
and left their homeland in utter ruin.”
(NET Bible)Ps. 126
126:1 A song of ascents.
When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion,
we thought we were dreaming.
2At that time we laughed loudly
and shouted for joy.
At that time the nations said,
“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”
3The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
4O Lord, restore our well-being,
just as the streams in the arid south are replenished.
5Those who shed tears as they plant
will shout for joy when they reap the harvest.
6The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain.
(NET Bible)Acts 6:8–15
6:8 Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and miraculous signs among the people. 9But some men from the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, as well as some from Cilicia and the province of Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. 10Yet they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. 11Then they secretly instigated some men to say, “We have heard this man speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” 12They incited the people, the elders, and the experts in the law; then they approached Stephen, seized him, and brought him before the council. 13They brought forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop saying things against this holy place and the law. 14For we have heard him saying that Jesus the Nazarene will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” 15All who were sitting in the council looked intently at Stephen and saw his face was like the face of an angel.
(NET Bible)At the end of November the Reformer published his writing, On the Abuse of the Mass. At the beginning of this we read: “ Therefore let the unreasonable sophists, the ignorant bishops, monks, and parsons, the Pope with all his Gomorrahs know that we were not baptized in the name of Augustine, Bernard, Gregory, Peter or Paul, nor yet in the name of those from Paris but only in the name of Jesus Christ. Him only, and Him not otherwise than crucified, and no other do we acknowledge as our Master. Paul does not desire that we should believe him or an angel, unless Christ lives and speaks in him. … The saints were subject to error in their writings and to sin in their lives; Scripture cannot err.” Again, “It is not the Word of God because the Church says so, but because God’s Word said so, therefore is the Church. The Church does not make the Word but is made by the Word.” (22)
–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures
This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.