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.

Broken Yokes, Snapped Bonds--Nov. 26, 2013


[from Nov. 22, 2011 archive]

Your steadfast love extends to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.

You have broken off the yoke from us,
snapped the bonds that bind us.

Now purify our souls and fill us
with genuine mutual love.

Make us like little children to
receive your blessing.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 12; 146; 36; 7
Nahum1: 1-13
1 Peter 1:13-25
Matt. 19:13-22

Selected Verses

Ps. 36:5
Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
          your faithfulness to the clouds.

Nahum 1:13
"…And now I will break off his yoke from you
          and snap the bonds that bind you."
                        [The LORD to Israel, referring to Nineveh]

1 Peter 1:22
Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart.

Matt. 19:14
…but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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