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.

Sweet the Sleep--June 4, 2016

[From June 5, 2010 archive]

You have made us; we are yours.
In the fullness of time you acted for us.

What you have not planted will be uprooted,
and what you have planted will flourish and grow.

Give us the sweet sleep of those who labor to do your will,
secure in the knowledge that you are at work even as we slumber.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 122; 149; 100; 63
Eccl. 5:8-20
Gal. 3:23-4:11
Matt. 15:1-20
       
Selected Verses
Psalm 100:3
Know that the LORD is God.
            It is he that made us, and we are his;
            we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Ecclesiastes 5:12
Sweet is the sleep of laborers, whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep.

Galatians 4:4
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children.

Matthew 15:12-13
Then the disciples approached and said to [Jesus], “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”  He answered them, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.”

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