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.

Compassion for All God Has Made--Oct. 23, 2017


God, you are good to all; your compassion is over
all that you have made; but we have difficulty
appreciating anyone or anything unlike us.
Therefore we seek to exclude refugees
and fail to see the glory in variety.
May all the world bless your name.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 57; 145; 85; 47
Jer. 44:1-14
1 Cor. 15:30-41
Matt. 11:16-24
Selected Verses
Ps. 145:9-10
The Lord is good to all,
          and his compassion is over all that he has made.
All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD,
          and all your faithful shall bless you. 

Jer. 44:14
…so that none of the remnant of Judah who have come to settle in the land of Egypt shall escape or survive or return to the land of Judah.  Although they long to go back to live there, they shall not go back, except some fugitives.

1 Cor. 15:40
There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 

Matt. 11:18-19
"…For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'  Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."  [Jesus to the crowds]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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