God, the mighty one: You speak, you summon, and you shine forth
on the world you have made, created to be perfect and beautiful.
But we do not listen, we do not respond, we cover our eyes.
False prophets are all around us; leaders greedily exploit,
confuse us through deceptive words, lead us far astray.
We pollute earth and water and air, and they tell us
it doesn’t matter; out of our own greed we agree.
Teach us to listen to true prophets, even if we
must search in the wilderness to find them.
Open our hearts that we may obey their
call to change our ways; bestow upon
us a baptism of repentance, lest in
selfish confusion we despoil
all your beautiful creation.
Lectionary Readings
Psalms 50, 147:1-11, 53, 17
Isaiah 9:8-17
2 Peter 2:1-10a
Mark 1:1-8
Selected Verses
Psalm 50:1-2
The mighty one, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
Isaiah 9:16
…for those who led this people led them astray,
and those who were led by them were left in confusion.
2 Peter 2:3a
And in their greed, [false teachers] will exploit you with deceptive words.
Mark 1:4
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
Meditations inspired by readings from the Daily Lectionary as found in the Mission Yearbook of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
- Elmer E. Ewing
- 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.
"Elijah" - A bronze sculpture by a friend, the late Reverend Gurdon Brewster. Click on the image to see more of his sculptures.
Archives
Samples from the archives
- 3/19/18 Remedy for Hubris--A Child Could Do It
- 2/25/14 Unbind me, Jesus
- 10/26/13 Refreshing hearts, in Christ
- 8/9/13 When things I do displease you, God
- 2/7/13 Freed, saved, gathered in
- 1/1/13 For a joy that is complete
- 11/20/12 Though the fig tree does not blossom
- 11/19/12 Alas, my house is set on high
- 10/14/12 Held in your arms
- 9/14/12 The land cries out against us
- 8/29/12 The snare of false accusation
- 8/5/12 Tie up the strong man
- 4/5/12 We who dip bread
- 9/23/10 The right to be joyful
- 9/18/10 Chief cornerstone
- 7/27/10 Triumph over enemies
- 10/9/08 Our iniquity is great
- 5/14/08 When at night
- 2/17/08 The thin and ugly
- 1/17/07 We do not know you
- 1/3/07 Promises
- 1/2/07 For things not seen
- 10/3/06 Fear of you
- 10/2/06 Little we know
No comments:
Post a Comment