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.

You Whose Words Astound and Offend--Aug. 26, 2012



God, you speak, and the earth melts.
The nations are in an uproar,
and kingdoms totter,
and you speak.

Who listens?
Your words astound,
and, frankly, they also offend.
Yet who can keep you from speaking?

Worthy of glory and honor and power,
you who live forever and ever,
Creator of all things,
speak to us.

Lectionary Readings
Ps. 67; 150; 46; 93
Job 4:1-6, 12-21
Rev. 4:1-11
Mark 6:1-6a

Selected Verses
Ps. 46:6
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
      he utters his voice, the earth melts.

Job 4:1-2
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job]: "If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking? …"

Rev. 4:10-11
…the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing, "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created."

Mark 6:3
"…Is not this [Jesus] the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And [those who were astounded at what Jesus said in his home town synagogue] took offense at him.
Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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