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.

Comfort Us with Promises of Hope--May 15, 2017


Help us to stand mature and assured
in everything that is your will.
When we breathe out despair,
comfort us, O God, with promises
of hope.

Our sins are many, and you have
forgiven us; may our love
and our gratitude to you likewise
abound.

God, you love all who wrestle evil;
guard the lives of the faithful,
and rescue them from wickedness.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 97; 145; 124; 115
Jer. 32:1-15
Col. 3:18-4:18
Luke 7:36-50  

Selected Verses
Ps. 97:10
The LORD loves those who hate evil;
          he guards the lives of his faithful;
          he rescues them from the hand of the wicked. 

Jer. 32:15
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

Col. 4:12b
[Epaphras] is always wrestling in his prayers on your behalf, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in everything that God wills.

Luke 7:47
"…Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love.  But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”  [Jesus to Simon the Pharisee, in reference to the woman who anointed Jesus with ointment]

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