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.

Seeing, not always Believing--Aug. 24, 2012



Those who claimed to be friends
with Job saw him from afar,
at first did not know him
in his great misery.

Seven long days
they sat watching Job--
they saw him in his suffering;
they saw but did not believe in him.

Some saw you, Jesus, and did not believe,
even after crossing the sea to see you,
you to whom darkness is not dark.

Saul saw darkness three days,
but blindness took Saul
on the path to see
you as Lord.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 130; 148; 32; 139
Job 2:1-13
Acts 9:1-9
John 6:27-40

Selected Verses
Ps. 139:12
…even the darkness is not dark to you;
      the night is as bright as the day,
      for darkness is as light to you.

Job 2:12a, 13

When [Job's three friends] saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him… They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Acts 9:9
For three days [Saul] was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

John 6:36
"…But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. …" [Jesus to those who crossed the Sea of Galilee to find him]

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