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.

Your Purpose for Us: Love as You Love--Oct. 10, 2015


Your steadfast love endures forever.
Jesus had compassion on the crowds, harassed
and helpless as they were, sheep without a shepherd.
If we give away all that we have to the crowds,
but do not have love, we give nothing.

Can we not learn Christ's lesson and obey his words?
Fulfill your purpose for us: to love as you love--
O God of steadfast love, do not forsake us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 104; 149; 138; 98
Jer. 35:1-19
1 Cor. 12:27-13:3
Matt. 9:35-10:4

Selected Verses
Ps. 138:8
The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
          your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
          Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Jer. 35:13
Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Can you not learn a lesson and obey my words? says the LORD. 

1 Cor. 13:3
If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Matt. 9:36
When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

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