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.


Did God Not Grieve? --July 5, 2011

If Samuel grieved over Saul, did not God grieve too?
God, you who save humans and animals, did not you grieve?

Peter prayed to you for Dorcas, and her eyes opened from death.
I pray, open my eyes to see your righteousness and judgments.

As the women found the tomb empty, empty my heart
of all that separates me from you.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 12; 146; 36; 7
1 Sam. 15:24-35
Acts 9:32-43
Luke23:56b-24:12

Selected Verses
Ps. 36:6
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
      your judgments are like the great deep;
      you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.

1 Sam. 15:35
Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Acts 9:40
Peter put all of [the widows] outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

Luke24:2-3
[The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee] found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body.

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