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.

In You We Do Not Labor in Vain--Oct. 23, 2013

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 There is suffering, real suffering in this world--
suffering so severe it is beyond comparing,
suffering as wide and as vast as the sea.
 How could we even begin to relieve it?

Jesus did not refuse to heal one person
because he was unable to heal everyone.
If we work in you, we do not labor in vain;
midst all of the misery your love surrounds us.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 65; 147:1-11; 125; 91
Lam. 2:8-15
1 Cor. 15:51-58
Matt. 12:1-14

Selected Verses

Ps. 125:2
 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
          so the LORD surrounds his people,
          from this time on and forevermore.

Lam. 2:13
What can I say for you, to what compare you,
          O daughter Jerusalem?
To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,
          O virgin daughter Zion?
For vast as the sea is your ruin;
          who can heal you?

1 Cor. 15:58
Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Matt. 12:12
"…How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep!  So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.”  [Jesus to those who criticized his healing on the sabbath]

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