August 11, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 63, 90, 125
2 Samuel 12:15-31
Acts 20:1-16
Mark 9:30-41

II. Selections
Psalm 90:3
You turn us back to dust,
and say, "Turn back, you mortals."

2 Samuel 12:23
" ...But now [ my child] is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." [ David, explaining to his servants after Bathsheba's child died]

Acts 20:9b-10
Overcome by sleep, [ Eutychus] fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him."

Mark 9:31
...for [ Jesus] was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again."

III. Meditation: Matters of life and death

You turn us back to dust, and say,
"Turn back, you mortals."

For a week King David fasted and prayed,
but his baby son died.

Eutychus fell three stories and died,
but in Paul's arms he revived.

Jesus taught his disciples he would be killed
and that he would rise again.

You give us life, death, rising again-
all with you, all mysteries.