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.

Honey from the Rock--Nov. 20, 2014


Loving God, we do not know what tomorrow
will bring;
our life is a mist that appears for a little,
then vanishes.

And yet we trust: with the finest of the wheat
you would feed us,
and with honey from the rock
would satisfy us.

You would engulf us with your kingdom
if we would be faithful
to one another, not to profane the covenant
you made with our ancestors.

O, that it might be so!

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 143; 147:12-20; 81; 116
Mal. 2:1-16
James 4:13-5:6
Luke 17:20-37

Selected Verses
Ps. 81:5b-16
I hear a voice I had not known:
"…I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
          and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.  …”

Mal. 2:10
Have we not all one father?  Has not one God created us?  Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors? 

James 4:14
Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.  What is your life?  For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

Luke 17:20-21
Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, "The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!'  For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you."

No comments:

Post a Comment