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.

Justice, Mercy, and Climate Disruption--July 5, 2016


Almighty and ever loving God, I know
nothing can separate us from your love,
but I also know you call us to respond
to your love by loving our neighbors.

We must not neglect the weighty
matters of justice, mercy, and faith.

What sense of justice, what kind of mercy,
permit us to defile not only our land,
but our world, as we continue to
spew out greenhouse gases
that will be a curse for
generations to
come?

Our mischief will return upon our
heads and also upon the heads
of our children's children.
Forgive us, and help
us to change.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 12; 146; 36; 7
Num. 35:1-3, 9-15, 30-34
Rom. 8:31-39
Matt. 23:13-26
           
Selected Verses
Ps. 7:16
Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
          and on their own heads their violence descends.

Num. 35:34
You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I also dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the Israelites.

Rom. 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matt. 23:23
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.  It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.  …"  [Jesus]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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