Thursday in Lent — Open Word

FIRST READING

Exodus 16:1-8

Verse 1. On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of Israel set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai. Verse 2. And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Verse 3. “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!” Verse 4. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions. Verse 5. Then on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” Verse 6. So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, Verse 7. and in the morning you will see the LORD’s glory, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. For who are we, that you should grumble against us?” Verse 8. And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”

PSALM

Psalm 95

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation!

Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.

For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.

In His hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to Him.

The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.

O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.

For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,

where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.

For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”

So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

SECOND READING

Colossians 1:15-23

Verse 15. The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. Verse 16. For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. Verse 17. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. Verse 18. And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence. Verse 19. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, Verse 20. and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross. Verse 21. Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds. Verse 22. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence — Verse 23. if indeed you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope of the gospel you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.