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.


Binding--Aug. 9, 2011

[from August 14, 2007 archive]

There are different ways to be bound:
as prisoners who are doomed to die;

as a father to his son, even when estranged;
as a husband to his wife, though desiring separation.

Set free those who are oppressed,
especially if oppressed for your sake;
but cement the bonds of love.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 42; 146; 102; 133
2 Sam. 14:1-20
Acts 21:1-14
Mark 10:1-16

Selected Verses
Psalm 102:19b-20
     ...from heaven the LORD looked at the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
     to set free those who were doomed to die…

2 Samuel 14:13b
" ...For in giving this decision, the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again. ... " [The wise woman from Tekoa to King David]

Acts 21:13
Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

Mark 10:7-8
"...'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ..." [Jesus to the Pharisees who asked him about divorce]

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