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.

Cast Out the Demons--Oct. 5, 2015


Cast out the demons, God,
the demons that dwell in us
and make us shed very much
innocent blood, denying justice
to the weak and the orphan,
doing evil in your sight.

As we partake of one loaf 
of bread remind us that we are
all one body in you, and for you,
so cast out the demons, we pray.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 5; 145; 82; 29
2 Kings 21:1-18
1 Cor. 10:14-11:1
Matt. 8:28-34

Selected Verses
Ps. 82:3
Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
          maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. 

2 Kings 21:16
Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he caused Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.

1 Cor. 10:17
Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. 

Matt. 8:32
And [Jesus] said to [the demons], “Go!” So they came out and entered the swine; and suddenly, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and perished in the water.

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