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.

March 15, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 5, 27, 51
Genesis 42:18-28
1 Corinthians 5:9-6:11
Mark 4:1-20

II. Selections
Psalm 5:4
For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil will not sojourn with you.

Genesis 42:28
[ One of Joseph's brothers] said to his brothers, "My money has been put back; here it is in my sack!" At this they lost heart and turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"

1 Corinthians 6:7
In fact, to have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?

Mark 4:8
" ...Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold."

III. Meditation: Surprises?
Joseph's brothers, finding their money returned, lost heart.
Shaking with fear, they blamed you
for what they deemed to be disaster.
We never know what surprises you have in store.

With gracious abandon you scatter your seed,
much of it wasted on poor soil like us;
but some falls into good soil,
which brings forth yields that amaze us.

You are not a God who delights in wickedness,
and evil will not sojourn with you.
Is it a surprise that we are to accept being wronged and defrauded,
if we follow him who for us endured grievous wrong and fraud?

No comments:

Post a Comment