Rejected or Rejecting--August 08, 2010

I. Readings
Psalms 103, 150, 117, 139
Judges 11:1-11, 29-49
2 Corinthians 11:21b-31
Mark 4:35-41

II. Selections
Psalm 103:2
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
      and do not forget all his benefits…

Judges 11:7
But Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Are you not the very ones who rejected me and drove me out of my father’s house? So why do you come to me now when you are in trouble?”

2 Corinthians 11:29
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

Mark 4:38
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

III. Meditation

You call us to solidarity with the weak and the persecuted;
but we are like Jephthah, reluctant to offer help
to those who may have rejected us.

Then forgetting all your benefits,
we reject you.

We accuse you of not caring that we are about to perish,
and still we dare to approach you for help
when we are in trouble.

Lord, have mercy. Do not reject us
who have been so rejecting.