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.

September 02, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 63, 100, 122
Job 9:1; 10:1-9, 16-22
Acts 11:1-18
John 8:12-20

II. Selections
Psalm 63:11
But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Job 10:9
Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
and will you turn me to dust again?

Acts 11:18
When [ the circumcised believers in Jerusalem] heard [ Peter's report], they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, "Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life."

John 8:15-16
" ...You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. ... " [ Jesus]

III. Meditation: The repentance that leads to life

You who fashioned us like clay,
who will turn us to dust again-
only you are in a position to judge,
for we judge by human standards.

Give us mouths that rejoice in you,
not mouths that judge or tell lies;
mouths that praise and exult in you
for the repentance that leads to life.

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