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.

You Know Our Needs--May 24, 2017

[From May 16, 2007 archive]

You cared for the homicide
who required safe haven,
and you will care for us.

You know our needs:
food, shelter, healing.

And spiritual needs:
to confess our sins;
to pray for others;
to give you thanks;
to sing your praise.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 9, 99, 118, 147:1-11
Deut. 19:1-7
James 5:13-18
Luke 12:22-31

Selected Verses
Ps. 147:1
Praise the LORD!
How good it is to sing praises to our God;
            for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.

Deut. 19:3
You shall calculate the distances and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them.

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.  The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Luke 12:30
For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

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