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.

And Do Not Keep Worrying--May 8, 2013


 Moses understood that you wanted your people
to make provision for the safety of a person who
accidently killed another and had to flee for his life.

We are apt to worry over more mundane matters--
striving over what to eat and what to drink,
or worry over our excessive worrying.

From all our worrying, one would never guess
that prayer can be powerful and effective;
or that you lift up the downtrodden
and you cast down the wicked.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 99; 147:1-11; 9; 118
Deut. 19:1-7
James 5:13-18
Luke 12:22-31

Selected Verses

Ps. 147:6
The LORD lifts up the downtrodden;
          he casts the wicked to the ground.

Deut. 19:3
You shall calculate the distances and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God gives you as a possession, so that any homicide can flee to one of them.

James 5:16b
The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.

Luke 12:29
"…And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying.  …"  [Jesus to his disciples]

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