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 16, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 98,104, 138
Job 38:1-17
Acts 15:22-35
John 11:45-54

II. Selections
Psalm 104:24
O LORD, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.

Job 38:6-7
" ...On what were [ the earth's] bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy? ... " [ God to Job]

Acts 15:31
When [ the members of the Antioch congregation read the letter delivered by Paul and Barnabas], they rejoiced at the exhortation.

John 11:45-46
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done.

III. Meditation: Together sing the morning stars

You give us every reason to rejoice:
a creation far beyond our comprehension,
wondrous in construction; dazzling in detail;
an earth full of your creatures, all wisely made,
all testifying how manifold are your works.
Together heavenly beings shout for joy,
and morning stars sing your praise.

Even more than these, we celebrate
teachings we received, by word and deed,
by exhortations and by lives lived in faith,
in spite of persecution and of death.

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