<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.19019">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The following are the readings for the Fifth Sunday
in Lent, March 9, 2008, according to the Revised Common (RCL), Episcopal
(ECUSA), Roman Catholic, Canadian BAS, and the Church of England (Common
Worship) lectionaries. All readings are taken from the New Revised Standard
Version (NRSV) of the Bible. Unless noted otherwise, the ECUSA, C of E,
and Canadian lectionaries are identical to the RCL for this day.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>OLD TESTAMENT: Ezekiel 37: 1 - 14 (RCL)
<BR>
Ezekiel 37: 12 - 14 (Roman Catholic) </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Ezek 37:1 (NRSV) The hand of the LORD came upon me,
and he brought me out by the spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of
a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them; there were very
many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Mortal, can
these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." 4 Then he said to me,
"Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the
LORD. 5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you,
and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come
upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live;
and you shall know that I am the LORD." <BR>7 So I prophesied as I had been
commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the
bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on
them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no
breath in them. 9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal,
and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." 10 I prophesied as he
commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their
feet, a vast multitude. <BR>11 Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the
whole house of Israel. They say, "Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost;
we are cut off completely.' 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says
the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves,
O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall
know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your
graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and
I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the LORD, have
spoken and will act," says the LORD. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>
<DIV><BR>PSALM 130 (all) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Psal 130:1 (NRSV) Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. <BR>2 Lord, hear
my voice! <BR>Let your ears be attentive <BR>to the voice of my supplications!
<BR>3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, <BR>Lord, who could stand? <BR>4
But there is forgiveness with you, <BR>so that you may be revered. <BR>5 I wait
for the LORD, my soul waits, <BR>and in his word I hope; <BR>6 my soul waits for
the Lord <BR>more than those who watch for the morning, <BR>more than those who
watch for the morning. <BR>7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! <BR>For with the LORD
there is steadfast love, <BR>and with him is great power to redeem. <BR>8 It is
he who will redeem Israel <BR>from all its iniquities. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 8: 6 - 11
(RCL) <BR>
Romans 8: 8 - 11 (Roman Catholic) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Roma 8:6 (NRSV) To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind
on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the
flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law--indeed it cannot, 8
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. <BR>9 But you are not in the
flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who
does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is
in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of
righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in
you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies
also through his Spirit that dwells in you. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR>GOSPEL: John 11: 1 - 45 (RCL)
<BR>
John 11: (1 - 2) 3 - 7 (8 - 16) 17 (18 - 19) 20 - 27 (28 - 33a) 33b -
45 (Roman Catholic)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>John 11:1 (NRSV) Now a certain man was ill, Laz'arus of Beth'any, the
village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord
with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Laz'arus was ill. 3
So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." 4 But
when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is
for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." 5
Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Laz'arus, 6 after
having heard that Laz'arus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where
he was. <BR>7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea
again." 8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to
stone you, and are you going there again?" 9 Jesus answered, "Are there not
twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because
they see the light of this world. 10 But those who walk at night stumble,
because the light is not in them." 11 After saying this, he told them, "Our
friend Laz'arus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." 12 The
disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." 13
Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was
referring merely to sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, "Laz'arus is dead.
15 For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us
go to him." 16 Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples,
"Let us also go, that we may die with him." <BR>17 When Jesus arrived, he found
that Laz'arus had already been in the tomb four days. 18 Now Beth'any was near
Jerusalem, some two miles away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and
Mary to console them about their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was
coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. 21 Martha said to
Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even
now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." 23 Jesus said to
her, "Your brother will rise again." 24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will
rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the
resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will
live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you
believe this?" 27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the
Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." <BR>28 When she had
said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately,
"The Teacher is here and is calling for you." 29 And when she heard it, she got
up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but
was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 The Jews who were with her
in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed
her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When
Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him,
"Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw
her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly
disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He said, "Where have you laid him?"
They said to him, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus began to weep. 36 So the Jews
said, "See how he loved him!" 37 But some of them said, "Could not he who opened
the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" <BR>38 Then Jesus,
again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying
against it. 39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead
man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four
days." 40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would
see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward
and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. 42 I knew that you always
hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that
they may believe that you sent me." 43 When he had said this, he cried with a
loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet
bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them,
"Unbind him, and let him go." <BR>45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come
with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. <BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Chad Wohlers<BR>Woodbury, Vermont USA<BR><A
href="mailto:chadwohl@satucket.com">chadwohl@satucket.com</A><BR><A
href="mailto:cwohlers@bridgew.edu">cwohlers@bridgew.edu</A><BR></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>