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.

August 31, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 81, 116, 143
Job 8: 1-10, 20-22
Acts 10:17-33
John 7:14-36

II. Selections
Psalm 81:7
In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

Job 8:21
" ...[ God] will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouts of joy.

Acts 10:33
" ...Therefore I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say."

John 7:34
" ...you will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." [ Jesus to the crowd]

III. Meditation: Speak to us

When will you fill our mouths with laughter,
and our lips with shouts of joy?

We search for you and cannot find you;
where you are, we cannot come.

Yet we remember how in distress we called,
and you answered and rescued us.

Speak to us as you spoke through Peter
to Cornelius and his friends.

Make us as eager as they were
to hear what you have to say.

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