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.

Pray, Cure My Soul of Contempt--Aug. 20, 2013


 Joab had contempt and scorn for the man
who--in obedience to David's urgent orders--
refused to kill Absalom when he had the chance.

Those conspirators who plotted to kill Paul,
and the religious authorities who plotted
to kill Jesus, were full of contempt.

Contempt like that of the tenants
in Jesus's parable of the vineyard,
who held in contempt Master and Son.
I pray, cure my soul of prideful contempt.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 123; 146; 30; 86
2 Sam. 18:9-18
Acts 23:12-24
Mark 11:27-12:12

Selected Verses

Ps. 123:4
Our soul has had more than its fill
          of the scorn of those who are at ease,
          of the contempt of the proud.

2 Sam. 18:14
Joab said [to the man who refused to kill Absalom], “I will not waste time like this with you.”  He took three spears in his hand, and thrust them into the heart of Absalom, while he was still alive in the oak.

Acts 23:12
In the morning the Jews joined in a conspiracy and bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.

Mark 12:7
"…But those tenants said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'  …"  [Jesus telling a parable against the religious authorities who plotted to arrest and kill him]

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