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.

Not Even Bread Fragments--March 11, 2013


 Lord Jesus, you were concerned that nothing
should be lost, not even bread fragments.

Gather us up, we who refuse to listen to you,
who instead follow our own stubborn will.

For the sake of your steadfast love, O Christ,
in the new life of the Spirit, deliver us.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 119:73-80; 145; 121; 6
Jer. 16:1-21
Rom. 7:1-12
John 6:1-15

Selected Verses

Ps. 6:4
Turn, O LORD, save my life;
          deliver me for the sake of your steadfast love.

Jer. 16:12
…and because you have behaved worse than your ancestors, for here you are, every one of you, following your stubborn evil will, refusing to listen to me.

Rom. 7:6
But now we are discharged from the law, dead to that which held us captive, so that we are slaves not under the old written code but in the new life of the Spirit.

John 6:12
When [the five thousand] were satisfied, [Jesus] told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)