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.

Speak Peace to your People, O God--Oct. 20, 2014


Pray hold back the winds of destruction,
O God, and speak peace to your people,
that we may turn to you with our hearts.

Rebuke those who command fire to rain
down on the earth and consume it;
may your words do good to all
who would walk uprightly.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47
Micah 2:1-13
Rev. 7:1-8
Luke 9:51-62

Selected Verses
Ps. 85:8
Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
          for he will speak peace to his people,
          to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. 

Micah 2:7b
Do not my words do good
            to one who walks uprightly?

Rev. 7:1
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree.

Luke 9:54-55
When [Jesus'] disciples James and John saw [that the Samaritans did not receive him], they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"  But he turned and rebuked them.

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