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.

How Comfort the Mother?--Aug. 4, 2012



You have made us, God, and we are yours,
your people, the sheep of your pasture.

You have given all authority to Jesus;
you exalted him at your right hand;

you gave him the promise of the
Holy Spirit to pour out on us.

But God, how do we comfort the mother
who peers out of her window and asks
why her son is so long in coming?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 122; 149; 100; 63
Judg. 5:19-31
Acts 2:22-36
Matt. 28:11-20

Selected Verses

Ps. 100:3
Know that the LORD is God.
      It is he that made us, and we are his;
      we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Judg. 5:28
"Out of the window she peered, the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice: 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?' …"

Acts 2:33
"…Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, [Jesus] has poured out this that you both see and hear. …" [Peter preaching to the crowd at Pentecost]

Matt. 28:18
And Jesus came and said to [his eleven disciples], "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. …"

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