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.

November 29, 2005

I. Readings
Psalms 33, 85, 94, 146
Amos 3:1-11
2 Peter 1:12-21
Matthew 21:12-22


II. Selections
Psalm 33:10
The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

Amos 3:2
You only have I known
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.

2 Peter 1:12
Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you.

Matthew 21:13
He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."

III. Meditation: You who frustrate plans
Sovereign God, you frustrate and bring to nothing even the great plans laid by mighty nations-not to mention our puny schemes of grandeur. Remind us of the truth that you have already taught us, even if we think we know it already, lest in our scheming we defile what you have created holy. If we fail to remember the truth that has come to us, we-far more than those who have never known you-deserve to be punished.

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