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.

Apps or Idols?--Oct. 19, 2014

[From Oct. 21, 2012 archive]

O God, you call us to praise you
and warn us against worship of idols.

We do not make graven images, or little gods,
but technology produces a host of idols to worship.

Perhaps we have no need to beat our smartphones to pieces
or lay waste to tablets and laptops, media players and apps;

yet if we adhere to Peter's confession, then Jesus is Lord,
and the gadgets that entertain and divert us from him

must take second place to his claim on our lives.
Let all the peoples praise you, O God.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 67; 150; 46; 93
Micah 1:1-9
1 Cor. 10:1-13
Matt. 16:13-20

Selected Verses
Ps. 67:5
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
          let all the peoples praise you.

Micah 1:7a
All [of Samaria's] images shall be beaten to pieces,
     all her wages shall be burned with fire,
     and all her idols I will lay waste…

1 Cor. 10:7a
Do not become idolaters as some of [our ancestors] did…

Matt. 16:15-16
[Jesus] said to [his disciples], "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

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