September 07, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 25, 40, 84
1 Kings 11:26-43
James 4:13-5:6
Mark 15:22-32

II. Selections
Psalm 40:17
As for me, I am poor and needy,
but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
do not delay, O my God.

1 Kings 11:30-31
...when Ahijah laid hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. He then said to Jeroboam: Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, "See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. ... "

James 5:4
Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

Mark 15:25-26
It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews."

III. Meditation: Two kings

There was a king, and he was exceeding rich,
and he oppressed the poor and the needy,
and their voices cried out against him,
and you took thought for them,
and the kingdom was torn
like a torn garment.

There was another King, who was poor;
and he cared for the poor and needy,
whose cries had reached his ears;
and at nine in the morning-
his kingship mocked-
he was crucified.