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 23, 2006

I. Readings
Psalms 56, 111, 118
Esther 2:5-8, 15-23
Acts 17:16-34
John 12:44-50

II. Selections
Psalm 56:8
You have kept count of my tossings;
put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your record?

Esther 2:22
But the [ assassination plot] came to the knowledge of Mordecai, and he told it to Queen Esther, and Esther told the king in the name of Mordecai.

Acts 17:19-20
So [ the Athenian philosophers] took [ Paul] and brought him to the Areopagus and asked him, "May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? It sounds rather strange to us, so we would like to know what it means."

John 12:47
" ...I do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. ... " [ Jesus]

III. Meditation: What does it mean?

More than a king keeps under surveillance
those who conspire to do him harm,
you keep track of our welfare;
you record our anxieties;
you count every tear.

To save this world,
not to judge it, you came?
You don't judge our ignoring you?
We would like to know what you mean;
your teaching sounds rather strange to us, Jesus.

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