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.

By Your Grace, Calm Our Fear--June 24, 2016

[From June 27, 2014 archive]

Loving God, in your grace you have given us
a free gift--the grace of Jesus Christ--
which has abounded for many.

Like the blind by the roadside
we call to Jesus to have mercy on us;
like Israel in the desert we cry out in despair.

But the terrible darkness that so frightens us
is not dark to you, O Lord, for to you
the night is as bright as the day.

By your light lead us;
by your grace,
calm our
fear.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 130; 148; 32; 139
Num. 20:1-13
Rom. 5:12-21
Matt. 20:29-34

Selected Verses
Ps. 139:12
…even the darkness is not dark to you;
          the night is as bright as the day,
          for darkness is as light to you.

Num. 20:5
"…Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to bring us to this wretched place?  It is no place for grain, or figs, or vines, or pomegranates; and there is no water to drink."  [The people to Moses]

Rom. 5:15b
For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many.

Matt. 20:30
There were two blind men sitting by the roadside.  When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!"

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