I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

October 10, 2008

I. Readings
Psalms 51, 65, 142
Hosea 9:10-17
Acts 24:24-25:12
Luke 8:1-15

II. Selections
Psalm 142:2
I pour out my complaint before him;
I tell my trouble before him.

Hosea 9:10
Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree,
in its first season,
I saw your ancestors.
But they came to Baalpeor,
and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame,
and became detestable like the thing they love.

Acts 25:12
Then Festus, after he had conferred with his council, replied [ to Paul], "You have appealed to the emperor; to the emperor you will go."

Luke 8:13
" ...The [ seeds] on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in time of testing fall away. ... " [ Jesus to his disciples]

III. Meditation: Appeals and complaints

Faced with the lesser of two evils,
Paul appealed to the emperor,
and was sent to the emperor
(who did not treat him well).

But Paul was able also to pour
out his complaint before you,
to tell you all his trouble-
a much greater resource.

As you listen to our complaints,
remind us of your complaints:
how you have loved us first,
and we have betrayed you.

Extravagantly you have sown
your seeds among us; we
took them up with joy,
but then we fell away.

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