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.

Because of Jesus, Division--March 5, 2013


 Because of you, Lord Jesus,
there was division in the crowd.
How many were your foes,
with what violent hatred
they hated you!

And we are still divided today.
You speak, we do not listen;
you call, we do not answer.

Give life to our dead spirits,
Jesus--call into existence
things in us we do
not know exist.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 34; 146; 25; 91
Jer. 7:21-34
Rom. 4:13-25
John 7:37-52

Selected Verses

Ps. 25:19
Consider how many are my foes,
          and with what violent hatred they hate me.

Jer. 7:27
So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

Rom. 4:17b
…in the presence of the God in whom [Abraham] believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

John 7:43
So there was a division in the crowd because of [Jesus].

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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