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 Call is Different, Jesus--March 10, 2016


Our worldly leaders call us to joint action,
but your call is different, Lord Jesus.

They change, you do not.  We can depend
upon you, not always upon them.

They lure us with rewards, you tell us we must
deny ourselves and prepare to suffer. 

They make us compete with one another,
you ask us to share tears and joys.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 27; 147:12-20; 126; 102
Exod. 1:6-22
1 Cor. 12:12-26
Mark 8:27-9:1

Selected Verses
Ps. 126:5
May those who sow in tears
          reap with shouts of joy. 

Exod. 1:8
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 

1 Cor. 12:26
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

Mark 8:34
[Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  …"

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