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.

For Justice…and For Mercy--Nov. 6, 2010

You are a God of justice—
not petty rules, but real justice.
Clearly you are grieved that
some are poor while others of us
enjoy our dainties in splendor.

You mourn for the outcast, the disabled;
the mercy you show calls us to mercy.
But dear God, the task is too big for us.
So many are oppressed and hungry,
weak and sick, helpless and hopeless.

Roar like the sea and fill
the world with your justice,
even if we tremble at the prospect.
And prod us to do our part
for justice…and for mercy.

Lectionary Readings
Psalms 104, 149, 138, 98
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Revelation 18:1-14
Luke 14:1-11

Selected verses
Psalm 98:7
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
      the world and those who live in it.

Zephaniah 3:19b
And I will save the lame
      and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
      and renown in all the earth.

Revelation 18:14
“The fruit for which your soul longed
      has gone from you,
and all your dainties and your splendor
      are lost to you,
      never to be found again!”
[The merchants of the earth, speaking to the “great city”]

Luke 14:3-4
And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, “Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?” But they were silent. So Jesus took [the man with dropsy] and healed him, and sent him away.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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