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.

For All the Tears in Your Bottle--Oct. 19, 2013


 You know the violence your people have suffered,
you have counted each tear shed,
each sleepless night of suffering,
the executions and the exiles.

The violence continues, the tears are still shed today;
will the killing never end, O God?
We pray for all those struck down;
may all be made alive in Christ.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 56; 149; 118; 111
Jer. 52:1-34
1 Cor. 15:12-29
Matt. 11:7-15

Selected Verses

Ps. 56:8
You have kept count of my tossings;
          put my tears in your bottle.
          Are they not in your record?

Jer. 52:27
And the king of Babylon struck [all those captured in Jerusalem] down, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath.  So Judah went into exile out of its land.

1 Cor. 15:22
…for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ.

Matt. 11:12
"…From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.  …"  [Jesus to the crowds]

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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