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.

Bless Our Families, Jesus--Aug. 13, 2013


Bless our families, biological or faith-based,
and bless the children we bring to you.
How very good and pleasant it is
when we all live in unity.
How sad it is to part and
say farewell to one another.
Sadder still it is when we banish
family members or make them outcasts. 
You do not banish; may we work to reconcile.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 42; 146; 102; 133
2 Sam. 14:1-20
Acts 21:1-14
Mark 10:1-16

Selected Verses

Ps. 133:1
How very good and pleasant it is
          when kindred live together in unity!

2 Sam. 14:14b
"…But God will not take away a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from his presence.  …"  [The wise woman from Tekoa to King David]

Acts 21:5b-6a
There [outside Tyre] we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another.

Mark 10:13a
People were bringing little children to [Jesus] in order that he might touch them…

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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