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.


More than Your Fill, O God--May 29, 2012



To the cynic, life is to be hated;
everything under the sun is grievous.

By the scornful in his hometown,
even Jesus was treated with contempt.

When we are suspicious of freedom in Christ,
we feed upon cynicism and contempt.

Surely you have seen far more than your fill
of suspicion, contempt, and cynicism.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 123; 146; 30; 86
Eccl. 2:16-26
Gal. 1:18-2:10
Matt. 13:53-58

Selected Verses
Ps. 123:4
Our soul has had more than its fill
      of the scorn of those who are at ease,
      of the contempt of the proud.

Eccl. 2:17
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a chasing after wind.

Gal. 2:4
But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us…

Matt. 13:56-57a
"…And are not all [Jesus'] sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?" And they took offense at him. [The reaction to Jesus in his hometown synagogue]
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)