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.


When Our Gates Sink Into the Ground--April 4, 2012



O God, when you provide to us a cornerstone,
and we who would build rebel and reject it,
without your guidance, without vision,
our gates sink deep into the ground.

With anguish of heart and many tears,
out of much distress we come back to you
and find, amazing to our eyes, the cornerstone.
At last we know the abundance of your love for us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 147:1-11; 27; 51
Lam. 2:1-9
2 Cor. 1:23-2:11
Mark 12:1-11

Selected Verses
Ps. 5:10
Make [my enemies] bear their guilt, O God;
      let them fall by their own counsels;
because of their many transgressions cast them out,
      for they have rebelled against you.

Lam. 2:9
[Daughter Zion's] gates have sunk into the ground; [the LORD] has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; guidance is no more, and her prophets obtain no vision from the LORD.

2 Cor. 2:4
For I wrote you out of much distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain, but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.

Mark 12:10-11
"…Have you not read this scripture: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes'?" [Jesus to those who questioned his authority]

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