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.

Lord Jesus, Bind up the Wounds


 We confess that we do not learn
from the mistakes of our forebears,
or even from the consequences
 of our own misdeeds.

Like your townspeople, Jesus,
we're blind to what God is doing
under our very noses--
which brings much woe.

There are also many who suffer
from no fault of their own--
some blame the work of the devil,
some blame chance or fate.

Whatever the explanation, Lord,
we pray for the brokenhearted
and for all who are suffering.
Heal them, bind up their wounds.

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 89:1-18; 147:1-11; 1; 33
Neh. 13:4-22
Rev. 12:1-12
Matt. 13:53-58

Selected Verses

Ps. 147:3
 [The LORD] heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.

Neh. 13:18a
Did not your ancestors act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city?

Rev. 12:12b
"…But woe to the earth and the sea,
          for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
          because he knows that his time is short!"
[A voice in heaven]

Matt. 13:57a
And [the people in his home town] took offense at [Jesus].

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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