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.

Your Ministry of Reconciliation, and Ours--June 5, 2017


Gracious and loving God, you are good to all;
your compassion is over all you have made. 
In gratitude help us to love and serve you
with all our heart, and with all our soul.

Through Christ we are reconciled to you,
and we receive the ministry of reconciliation.
You have not counted our trespasses against us;
make us ready to forgive those who do harm to us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47
Deut. 11:13-19
2 Cor. 5:11-6:2
Luke 17:1-10

Selected Verses
Ps. 145:9
The Lord is good to all,
          and his compassion is over all that he has made.

Deut. 11:13
If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today--loving the LORD your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul…

2 Cor. 5:18-19
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 

Luke 17:4
"…And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive."  [Jesus to his disciples]



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