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 Hope of the Poor--May 9, 2012



Someday, you promise, the needy will not be forgotten;
someday the hope of the poor will not perish--
but when will that day arrive?

Will it be the day when we do not strip
the vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes,
but we leave something for the poor and the alien?

Are you waiting for us to stop storing up earthly treasures,
so that our hearts will be ready to seek the good
of others, not the accumulation of wealth?

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 99; 147:1-11; 9; 118
Lev. 19:1-18
1 Thess. 5:12-28
Matt. 6:19-24

Selected Verses
Ps. 9:18
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
      nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

Lev. 19:10
You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the LORD your God.

1 Thess. 5:15
See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

Matt. 6:20-21
"…but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. …" [Jesus on the mountain, to his disciples and the crowds]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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