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.


The Sound of Our Weeping--July 1, 2011

O God, you hear the sound of our weeping,
and nothing can hinder you from saving--
even saving a persecutor of your disciples.
How could you bear to hear the women
weep and wail for Jesus?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 88; 148; 6; 20
1 Sam. 13:19-14:15
Acts 9:1-9
Luke 23:26-31

Selected Verses
Ps. 6:8
Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
      for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

1 Sam. 14:6
Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised; it may be that the LORD will act for us; for nothing can hinder the LORD from saving by many or by few.”

Acts 9:1-2, 4
Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. … He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Luke 23:27-28
A great number of the people followed [Jesus], and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. …"



Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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